The Impactful Researcher - with Professors Lise Autogena and Virginia Heath

Summary
All researchers are now encouraged to think about how their work could benefit the world outside academia. Impactful research is rewarded financially by QR funding from HEFCE, but it also adds to the reputation of the individual researcher, research centre and research institution.

The best way to generate impact from your research is to plan it from the outset and incorporate impact activities into your standard working practice. Impact should not be an afterthought at the end of a project - it should be an integral part of your project, influencing your research along the way.

This session will help you to understand how impactful researchers work, learning from their example. You will hear from two SHU researchers who have been recognised for their research impact.

Professor Lise Autogena is an artist and a researcher. Her practice-led research has involved large scale performances, site-specific works, and multimedia installations, usually developed in collaboration with organisations and individuals across many specialist fields. These projects have used custom built technologies and visualisations of global realtime data to explore how the economic, geographic, technological and societal systems we are creating, impact on our human experience and sense of self in the world. Lise's projects include Foghorn Requiem (2013), Black Shoals Stock Market Planetarium (2013 on-going) and Kuannersuit Kvanefjeld (2017).

Professor Virginia Heath is a writer, film-maker and researcher. Virginia has written and directed several award winning films and her films are screened at international film festivals including Berlin, Cannes, The Hamptons, New York, Vancouver, St Petersburg. Virginia's projects include 'My Dangerous Loverboy ' (2009) a powerful multi-platform project addressing human-trafficking and sexual-exploitation which formed the basis of an outstanding Impact Case Study for Unit of Assessment 34: Art & Design (History, Theory & Practice) in REF2014, and 'From Scotland with Love' (2014) a feature-length poetic documentary combining archive footage and original music composition which received a BAFTA Scotland nomination.

Who is this training for?
SHU researchers (at any level) who want to learn from seasoned, impactful researchers.

What will you learn?

• The value of planning impact from the outset of a research project

• Ways of working with non-academic partners

• How public engagement can boost your impact

• How to incorporating impact activities throughout a project

• Ways to maximise the reach and significance of your impact

Organised by
Alison Honnor (C3RI Impact Researcher), Jenny Dunn (Impact Officer, RIO)