1. Building successful research partnerships

2. How can you make the most of partnerships?
Thinking about why partnerships are important
Identifying appropriate partners for your own work
How to build successful partnerships

3. Why are partnerships important?
Not a one-way process – mutual benefits for all involved
Research can be enriched – can help develop knowledge and uncover new areas to explore
Enhances innovation in research and connects academics to key issues beyond the university
Very hard to deliver impact without them

4. Why are partners important?
Partners can:
Apply your research directly
Bring it to a wider audience
Exert greater influence

5. Identifying the right partners: Why do you want to partner?
Research benefits:
External perspectives
New data, resources, audiences, equipment & expertise
Real world testing
Funding
Personal benefits:
New, transferrable skills and experience
Networking and job opportunities
Satisfaction of making a genuine difference
Profile and reputation

6. Identifying the right partners
What are your goals?
Who to achieve it with/through?
Who to engage with?
How best to engage these partners?
Co-producing plans and futures?

7. Identifying the right partners
The type of impact(s) you identify for your research will affect decisions you make when thinking about building partnerships.
Policy design and/or implementation
Public understanding/attitudes/ debate
Economic prosperity
Civil society
Cultural life
Health and wellbeing
Other…?

8. Identifying the right partners: Why would they want to partner?
Enhance their offering (products, services, information, policies…)
Help people
Become more efficient or effective
Stay relevant/cutting edge
Make/save money out of it

9. Making the initial contact
Put yourself in their shoes: what do you think are the boxes you need to tick in that first contact?

10. Making the initial contact
Why is your research relevant to them?
How can you present it to clearly demonstrate this relevance?
When is the best time to approach them?
What are the best channels to approach them?
What are their specific constraints or characteristics?
What about the potential partners that you don’t know about?

11. Building successful partnerships
Listen to your partner’s needs
Articulate your own needs clearly
Find the common ground.
Create a win/win
Make sure you have a common understanding of aims, resources, roles, obligations, ……….
Take the time you need to build up trust
If it doesn’t feel right, walk away – nicely!

12. Planning for impact and building partnerships in your own work

13. Why think about impact and partnerships now?
It’s never too early to start thinking about this!
Shaping your research ideas
Improving your knowledge
Identifying what’s important to your beneficiaries/end users
Relevant policies/legislation/practice
Impact and relationships take time to build
Future career trajectories

14. How can you develop your own impact plan?
What will help you in your research?
How can you make an original contribution?
What ‘difference’ can you make (be realistic!)?
Impact costs money!
Time and other pressures

15. The PhD experience: what I did
Attend (and present!) at workshops and conferences
Present (and recruit participants) at practitioner-focused events/network
Subscribe to a learned society
Join a committee/volunteer/relevant work experience

19. The PhD experience: what I would do next time!
Think about impact before setting research questions/focus
Think about potential beneficiaries/end-users (i.e. practitioners in my case)
Keep talking to your participants/partners!
Keep talking to colleagues, presenting, blogging.
Have a plan!

20. Thinking about partnerships at this stage in your career
Speak to your supervisors/mentors – who do they know? What do you want/need from a partner? What would be the mutual benefits? Why should they engage?
Think about dealing with negative findings! How would you present/discuss this? What could this do to future relationships?
Where could this lead?

21. Some tips!
Think early about a) who would be interested and benefit from your work b) what you could do to offer them benefits (and make an impact!) c) what is achievable
Talk about your work…criticism/negative responses ≠ your work is wrong! (& can help to justify arguments and choices – good viva prep.!)
Use social media: it’s a fast, efficient and affordable way to get your message out, make contacts, learn/find papers, events, workshops and test ideas in a [relatively] safe environment
Get involved: sign up to mailing lists (for example attend events/workshops (in your department, institution and externally), organise events, reading groups…

22. Workshop
Area of research (what is the research world problem you’re trying to address?)
Who? (stakeholders, beneficiaries, users, partners…)
Their interest (outline what their particular interest is within the area of research)
Impact (what could be the solution(s) to their interest/problem?)
Their need (what does the stakeholder/beneficiary/user/partner need to help make the change?)
Activity (How will they be reached? What activity/output will best meet the need of your intended audience?)

23. Workshop example More pleasant living space
Area of research (what is the research world problem you’re trying to address?)
Who? (stakeholders, beneficiaries, users, partners…)
Their interest (outline what their particular interest is within the area of research)
Impact (what could be the solution(s) to their interest/problem?)
Their need (what does the stakeholder/beneficiary/user/partner need to help make the change?)
Activity (How will they be reached? What activity/output will best meet the need of your intended audience?)
 Community environmental group
More pleasant living space
Techniques to create sustainable green spaces affordably
 Information, guidance and resources
Attending community events, contributing to newsletters and facebook page, arranging workshops, writing how-to guide

24. Q&A
If you have any questions after the session, please do get in touch: Sarah Geere, Impact Consultant, Research & Innovation Services, Gareth Young, Research Impact and Partnerships Officer,