Why caring about the social impact of research matters

There is a growing expectation that academic research should be impactful beyond the confines of university walls.

While there remains some suspicion that ‘social impact’ is another passing buzzword or not worth the additional effort, this cannot be further from the case. Social impact gives purpose to our work.

Our findings and conclusions have the potential to play significant roles in innovating and progressing our society and economies.

In the social sciences, research can bring light to corruption, inequality, power imbalances and numerous other social issues that can contribute to better societies. We pose careful solutions, bright ideas and formulate meticulous critiques on what could be approached differently.

But why do we bother producing such meaningful knowledge if it is then not shared, read and put into practice?

As social scientists, it’s in our best interests to not only conduct excellent research that plugs a research gap, but to make sure it gets into the right hands and has at least the opportunity to inspire change.

Critical for international development

For the international affairs and development sector, access to trustworthy knowledge could not be more critical.

NGOs and governments are not just curious about research findings, they need them. The conclusions drawn as an outcome of rigorous research can help to mitigate financial risk and strategise advancement of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Without access to trustworthy knowledge that informs on new ways, or strategies to avoid, it is hard for these organisations to change their approach and truly innovate.

With little wriggle room for mistakes, too often than not, new project designs remain replicas of an organisation’s past – perhaps slightly tweaked in an attempt to navigate some known issues.

But this cookie-cutter approach, which has become synonymous with the sector, is not suitable for changing times, cultures and societies and, thus, significantly limits the progress and impact potential that could have been achieved, which, within this sector, affects the livelihoods of real people.

For Africa, for instance, this can mean that the same outdated colonial aid structures from last century continue to be replicated and, as we all know, this does not lead to empowerment and progress.

In one conversation that I had with a former employee of ACDI/VOCA, a Washington-based development NGO in the United States working across 20 African countries, I was told: “Projects from Washington were so hard to implement in the field.

“Projects were designed by the headquarters’ memory and staff, and were not informed by local contexts, people or additional insights. This led to delays, wasted resources and awkward exchanges that otherwise could have been avoided.”

The need for new ideas

One way to start moving away from colonial aid structures is to arm professionals with new insights and ideas.

And not just any ideas, but ideas that are generated from rigorous research and are representative of diverse perspectives.

Academic research direct from the community or produced by academics who are representative of the region could not be more valuable for the international affairs and development sector’s ability to innovate.

Academic insights make transformation possible while minimising the risk. Academic knowledge offers a roadmap to a progressive society.

But that’s only if insights are read. Of course, this is an easier statement to write than to put into practice. How do we ensure research is read? We can’t.

But we can take a few actions to increase its probability of being read, to increase its chance of impact. Actions could be: using simpler language, translating it into usable blurbs, publishing on popular platforms – or even connecting insights directly to the end user.

But it is not down to one or two academics going that extra mile, otherwise we would have established a way to make every paper impactful.

Instead, it requires a huge shift across academia and the international affairs and development sector. [It needs] a re-engineering of how academics and professionals communicate and work together, and a change in how those outside of academia consume research.

Bridges need to be built, channels of communication need to be established, academics and practitioners collaborating, sharing knowledge and working together needs to be normalised. There is no easy fix.

But how do we achieve that?

Social impact discussion

This is a complex question, and its answer requires more depth than shallow remarks. We need to keep talking and come up with an action plan.

To discuss this important topic, the University of Johannesburg’s faculty of humanities and Acume, an initiative working to condense academic research for broader accessibility, has joined forces to host an open discussion at a social impact round table.

The online event, taking place on 31 January at 2pm (GMT+2), will bring together academics and professionals from across the international affairs and development sector, who will discuss, among other matters, practical strategies to maximise impact.

Speakers include Jennifer Chiriga, the chief of staff at the African Union Development Agency, Toyin Falola, a professor of history at the University of Texas, United States, Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos, the director of programmes at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and Professor Ruth Stewart of the University of Johannesburg and the chair of the Africa Centre of Evidence at the university.

If you are an academic – from early career scholar to executive dean – wanting to maximise your research’s societal impact, the round table will aim to explore the insights and tools to do so.

Registration for the event is open.

Yasmine Finbow is the director and founder of Acume. Acume is a tech initiative working to connect diverse academic knowledge directly to those who can use it to better society.