Fast Track Impact
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Episode 44: What is good practice engagement and impact?
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark talks through a series of good practice principles for engagement and impact, published in his recent blog post- Add your own feedba...
Episode 43: Evidencing engagement and impact for REF2029
18 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark explores what the recent REF2029 guidance means for impact, including a discussion of what we might be expected to write about in th...
Episode 42: Interview with Michael Parker from The Conversation about generating and evaluating impact from media engagement
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark talks to Michael Parker, Director of Operations at The Conversation, a news outlet that specialises in working with researchers, giv...
Episode 41: Tips for evidencing impact with evaluation expert Eric Jensen
08 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Jensen is an expert in impact evaluation who has written a textbook on many of the most useful methods you'll need and leading two companies th...
Evaluation Episode 40: Can software take the pain out of impact monitoring and evaluation?
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews Laura Tucker (Vertigo Ventures), Tobias Schoep (GrowImpact), and Sarah Morton (Matter of Focus) about the platforms they ...
Episode 39: How arts-based methods can enrich your evaluation of impact - with Dr Rachel Blanche
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews Rachel Blanche from Queen Margaret University Edinburgh to find out how arts-based methods can provide depth and rigour t...
Episode 38: What does a real impact evaluation look like?
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mark discusses a range mixed methods evaluation designs that can help you collect data to evidence impacts arising from industry, policy, media, and...
Episode 37: Getting creative with impact evaluation
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you design an impact evaluation? There is no blueprint, but in this episode, Mark gives you the tools you will need to choose an evaluation d...
Episode 36: How to monitor and evaluate your impact
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this first of a series of episodes on monitoring, evaluating and evidencing impact, Mark discusses one of the biggest mistakes that people make w...
Episode 35: How to work with skeptics and achieve impact from your research online without risking your mental health: interview with George Hope
17 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews George Hope, Communications Manager at Oxford Net Zero and Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, based at University of Oxford, abo...
Episode 34: Are you really doing all you can to make a difference?
26 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do you see when you hold the mirror up to your attempts to achieve impact? Are you doing enough? If not, what are your excuses and assumptions,...
Episode 33: New platform for researchers to communicate their work simply and drive impact: in conversation with Sarah Wijesinghe, Founder of Brijjd
05 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Disillusioned with how academia works, Sarah Wijesinghe left academia to set up Brijjd, a new social platform for researcher to communicate their re...
Episode 32: A story from "the middle of it": our collective experience of a broken system
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this final episode on mental health, Mark questions the assumption that we need to be fixed and find a happy ending, when so many people feel stu...
Episode 31: Getting academics to engage with mental and physical health issues and build resilience
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Building on the success of the “health resilient researcher” course and the launch of health coaching for academics by Fast Track Impact, Dr Joy...
Episode 30: Normalising failure - learning from a fieldwork fail with Ruby Annand-Jones and Paris Tuohy
11 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When Paris Tuohy and Ruby Annand-Jones failed to collect the data they needed for their research, they felt frustrated and guilty - not just about t...
Episode 29: Alternatives to the word "stakeholder"
04 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark reports back on the workshop to discuss alternatives to the word stakeholder, where the group discussed whether or not we should in fact be try...
Episode 28: Should we banish the word "stakeholder"?
19 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark discusses problems with the word "stakeholder" and discusses alternatives that could enable us to decolonise our vocabulary as resea...
Episode 27: Being well in academia - Interview with Petra Boynton
12 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark talks to Petra Boynton, social psychologist academic, consultant and trainer, about her work on "being well in academia". They discus...
Episode 26: Working with difficult line managers
05 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have a toxic relationship with your line manager or supervisor? This week, Mark discusses three ways you can tackle your relationship so you ...
Episode 25: Why we are made with mistakes
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark considers how to move beyond simply learning from mistakes, to understand how our mistakes have shaped who we are, transforming regr...
Episode 24: Fear of failure and transcending labels
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark discusses how to transcend the labels we often hide behind as academics, so we can embrace failure and mistakes as a necessary part ...
Episode 23: Self-compassion and workplace anxiety
15 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Anxiety is baked into many academic cultures, but for some that fear can be debilitating. In this episode Mark talks about his own struggle with anx...
Episode 22: Making friends with your imposter
09 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most researchers suffer from imposter syndrome at some point in their careers, but few talk about it, so it can feel like you are alone in feeling t...
Episode 21: Tackling the root causes of people-pleasing and perfectionism
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we say "yes" to things we later regret, or struggle to share early drafts of our work with collaborators? Why we get upset when colleagues as...
Episode 20: Leadership for impact (part 5): the radical transparency, humility and presence of empathic leaders
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark considers the difference between influential versus manipulative impact, and shares insights and practical tips that can help ...
Episode 19: Why ECRs are leaving academia, and what we can do
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews Dr Katerina Cidlinska from the Institute of Psychology at the Czech Academy of Sciences about research she conducted with...
Episode 18: Why every researcher needs a coach
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark is joined by Dr Joyce Reed, health coach and CEO of Fast Track Impact, to talk about the transformative power of coaching for ...
Episode 17: How to write an impact strategy
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark interviews Saskia Gent (Insights for Impact) and Jennifer Locket and Dawn Ashby (Plymouth Marine Laboratory) to learn from research that review...
Episode 16: How to avoid your research generating "grimpact"
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark interviews Professor Gemma Derrick from University of Bristol about her work to understand the characteristics and drivers of negative unintend...
Episode 15: Leadership for impact part 4 - the influence of empathic leaders
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark concludes his series on empathic leadership for impact by considering evidence from studies of expert negotiators that suggests empa...
Episode 14: Leadership for impact part 3 - being an expert at finding expertise
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark discusses how leaders that want to facilitate impact need to cultivate bridging expertise to bridge ideas and networks, bringi...
Episode 13: Leadership for impact part 2 - the purpose of leaders who facilitate impact
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark discusses how leaders need to have a deep understanding of their impact, to be authentic and therefore be able to connect empa...
Episode 12: Leadership for impact part 1 - introduction to empathic leadership
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark looks at a range of leadership models and discusses the sort of leadership needed to drive impact, drawing on his new book, Im...
Episode 11: Transforming the impact culture of an entire University from the bottom up - interview with Ged Hall about their Building Impact Momentum programme
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews Dr Ged Hall about an innovative rolling 3 month programme for researchers to build skills and community around impact, gi...
Episode 10: How Universities can disrupt "old power" hierarchies to drive social change - interview with Jonathan Grant
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Following his Reading Group appearance earlier this month, I'm interviewing Professor Jonathan Grant about his new book, The New Power University. H...
Episode 9: Building impact capacity
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the fourth and final episode that includes an audio chapter from his new book, Impact Culture, Mark discusses how to build capacity for impa...
Episode 8: Finding your impact community
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the third of four episodes that include audio chapters from his new book, Impact Culture, Mark discusses the importance of working strategic...
Episode 7: Purpose for a healthy impact culture
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of four episodes that include audio chapters from his new book, Impact Culture, Mark discusses some of the literature on purpose,...
Episode 6: Impact culture - how you can get involved in the book launch and community of practice
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
My new book, Impact Culture, is released on 25th March, and this is your opportunity to join the launch team and get involved in the&...
Episode 5: The research that underpins your impact culture
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of four episodes that include audio chapters from his new book, Impact Culture, Mark introduces the first of four components of a ...
Episode 4: Staying resilient in the transition back to in-person work - interview with Dr Joyce Reed, health coach and Managing Director of Fast Track Impact
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark is joined by his wife, Dr Joyce Reed, former hospital doctor turned health coach and Managing Director of Fast Track Impact. T...
Episode 3: Extreme coproduction
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark delves into some of the assumptions and world views that can prevent us doing research that is genuinely coproductive. He draw...
Episode 2: 5 lessons to co-produce impact when you have limited time
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark shares his top 5 lessons for co-producing impact with limited time, based on his forthcoming book, Impact CultureFind out who’...
Episode 1: What is your impact culture?
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Mark introduces Season 4, discusses why we need to think harder about the culture in which we do our work, and unpacks what a health...
What made a 4* case study in REF2014? Discussion between Mark Reed and Bella Reichard
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bella Reichard and Mark Reed discuss how their new paper analysing high- versus low-scoring impact case studies from REF2014 can be used to write mo...
What made a 4* case study in REF2014? Paper reading (part 2)
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bella Reichard and Mark Reed read from their new paper analysing high- versus low-scoring impact case studies from REF2014.
What made a 4* case study in REF2014? Paper reading (part 1)
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bella Reichard and Mark Reed read from their new paper analysing high versus low-scoring impact case studies from REF2014
Getting your most important work done
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark asks how you can make room for the most important work of your life. What priorities most authentically express your identity and va...
Using a policy seminar to establish relationships and build long-term pathways to impact
15 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In a bonus episode this week from the climate conference in Madrid, Mark provides a worked example of how to use a policy seminar to generate and bu...
Evidencing impact (part 2)
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this second part of his episode on evidencing impact, Mark reads the final sections of his forthcoming co-authored paper, describing five types o...
Evidencing impact (part 1)
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark reads from his forthcoming co-authored paper on evaluating impact, providing new definitions of research impact, reach and impact ev...
Advanced stakeholder analysis
30 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Take your understanding of publics and stakeholders to a new level with the 3i's approach. This week, Mark introduces a new Fast Track Impact guide ...
How to deal more effectively with conspiracy theorists on your pathway to impact
18 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us encounter individuals with deeply held convictions that run directly counter to all the evidence we know as researchers. It is easy to di...
7 things we could all do that would instantly improve our career
11 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When did you last think about what you could do to enhance your career, make things easier for yourself or enable yourself to do new and exciting th...
Celebrating your unsung impacts
05 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Announcing the winner of the Unsung Impacts prize! Listen to inspiring impacts that will never be celebrated by any University, based on the entries...
Generating significant and original research using the poet Keats’ creative process
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We’re all familiar with the publish or perish mantra, but for many of us it is less about the number of publications we produce, and more about th...
Is your disciplinary label holding you back? How to re-invent your career to find and express your authentic self
29 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How do you introduce yourself to others, and what do the labels you choose say about you? How do these labels influence how others perceive you? In ...
Managing competing goals to maintain motivation and productivity
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Few of us have enough time to do all the things that are expected of us, and when we have more goals than we can achieve we will trade them off agai...
Too much of a good thing: can too much trust and privilege be bad for impact?
12 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Interview with Bec Colvin and Chris Cvitanovic from Australia National University about their work with policy on climate change and first nations c...
Evidencing Impact from media engagement (part 2)
08 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark interviews Yamni Nigam, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, and Clare Lehane, Impact Support Officer, at Swansea University, about how ...
Evidencing Impact from media engagement (part 1)
01 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark discusses three ways you can evidence impacts arising from media coverage of your research, with a particular focus on understanding ...
Podcasting for Impact: interview with Prof James Daybell from Histories of the Unexpected podcast
26 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever thought about starting a podcast? This week, Mark talks to an academic whose podcast gets 1.5 million downloads a year and has spun of...
Increase the likelihood of your evidence being taken up by policy: interview with Rosmarie Katrin Neumann
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Rosmarie Katrin Neumann talks about her PhD research on science-policy exchange, explaining how you can increase the likelihood that evidence from y...
Valuing failure (Part 2)
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark continues to reframe failure as something that deeply affirms our values and leads to greater meaning and contentment. In part 2, he...
Valuing failure (Part 1)
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark explores how you can reframe the failures and rejections that are part of everyday academic life as something that deeply affirms ou...
Personalised impact training: interview with Emma Sutton, Davina Whitnall and Sandy Sparks
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week the podcast showcases a personalized approach to impact training being pioneered by Universities of Salford and Warwick. Find out how r...
Using social media to build engagement throughout the research process - interview with Jane Mills and Jasmine Black
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark interviews Jane Mills and Jasmine Black from CCRI at University of Gloucestershire about how they are using social media to generate ...
Creativity from dark places - how to find new depths of creativity by seeking challenge, procrastination and the irrational
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark considers how we can harness creativity in the research process to derive original insights, and shows how some of the best new ideas...
Managing power in meetings and workshops: Part 2
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this second part, Mark discusses a range of practical methods for managing power in meetings and workshops, including methods for opening up the ...
Managing power in meetings and workshops: Part 1
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How to make meetings and workshops with stakeholders and colleagues safe, fun and productive. This week, Mark explains how you can identify and mana...
Impact is a state of mind: interview with Saskia Walcott
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews Saskia Walcott, an independent impact expert who has helped researchers generate and evaluate their impact for over 15 ye...
The Productive Researcher: a day in the life...
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark gives us an insight into two days of his working week, to illustrate how he puts the lessons from his book, The Productive Researche...
3 ways to overcome imposter syndrome
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark shares three ways to overcome imposter syndrome, based on his own experience battling feelings of inadequacy as a researcher. The fir...
Research into Policy Part 3: Practical skills to inform and influence
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This is the third and final part of Mark's series of episodes on getting research into policy, and the last episode of 2018. Building on the ethics ...
Research into Policy Part 2: Getting heard is easier than you think (interviews with researchers and policymakers at the 2018 UN climate summit)
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of this three-part series on getting your research into policy, Mark interviews a researcher who ended up leading a country's negotiat...
Research into Policy Part 1: Four reasons you may be inadvertently manipulating rather than influencing policy
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark considers the moral premise of responsible policy engagement and discusses four ways that researchers often inadvertently lose the t...
Learning about impact from your teaching and evaluating pedagogical impacts
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark considers how you can learn from your experience in the lecture theatre to become more effective in your generation of impact, and h...
How to write more competitive impact sections in your next grant proposal
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark draws on his experience writing bids, as a reviewer and on funding panels, to explain how to write the impact sections of a grant pr...
How authentic are you as a researcher?
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark considers how researchers can become more authentic, and how this can reduce the likelihood of imposter syndrome and help you grow i...
Practical advice on "co-producing" research with the people who will benefit: interview with Dr Karen Laing
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews Karen Laing, Senior Research Associate and Co-Director of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at Newcastle University. K...
Tinder for researchers? Ideas from the Royal Society Research Culture Conference
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On Monday this week, Mark was at a Royal Society conference on changing research culture, where he was awarded a prize for changing research culture...
Learning to love what you do, and doing less to be more - lessons from training with The Productive Researcher one year on
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark revisits his most recent book, The Productive Researcher, published a year ago this month. As he has taken the book on the road over...
Transformative and disruptive impact. Part 2 - for you as a researcher
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark explores how you can become more resilient as a researcher, using grant and publication rejection and workplace bullying as ex...
Transformative and disruptive impact. Part 1 - for your research
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark asks questions that can enable you to achieve impacts from your research that disrupt old ways of doing things and lead to fundament...
How to create a positive research impact culture in your group
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark looks at emerging evidence that the impact agenda is creating institutional cultures that can lead to unintended negative outcomes. W...
The power of story to construct a pathway to impact that can inspire change
22 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark shows how you can use seven elements of powerful stories to plan for and create impacts that engage and inspire. He uses examples fro...
What is impact? My two super-clear definitions and new checklist
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of Season 3, Mark shares two new definitions he has developed that will enable you to become crystal clear about what impact is...
The challenges and benefits of generating impact during your PhD
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this final episode of the second series, Mark interviews Dr Jenn Chubb about how students can generate impact during their Ph.D. This is a cri...
The Productive Researcher is published on 11th October-update
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark updates on progress towards publishing The Productive Researcher, which is out on 11th October.Read more about the process of self-p...
Collaborating with the creative arts to generate impact
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark interviews Sarah Cook from University of Dundee and Liz Oughton from Newcastle University to explore the potential for researchers t...
Working with business for impact
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark interviews researchers who have gone from having no experience working with business to working closely with industry to realize i...
Getting support to empower your impact: an interview with Ged Hall
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Mark interviews Ged Hall from The University of Leeds to find out how researchers can get support from professional services staff and other researc...
Motivation Part 2: The radical thinking you need to get focus and work-life balance
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second week that Mark is reading from his forthcoming book, The Productive Researcher. In this episode, Mark explains how researchers ca...
What makes stakeholder and public engagement work?
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus episode, Mark talks about his latest paper, "A theory of participation". Although rooted in research on the environment, the paper pro...
Motivation Part 1: How to significantly increase your motivation and become a more productive researcher
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Mark explores the factors that increase motivation so you can become more productive in your work and find time and energy to generate mo...
Creative ways to evidence your impact
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week Mark looks at a variety of ways you can collect evidence to demonstrate whether or not your research has had (or is having) impact. This i...
Social media: four questions that will help you stop wasting time and start driving impacts online
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, Mark discusses four questions that can help you develop a social media strategy that can efficiently drive impact from your ...
How to get more from your digital footprint without risking your time or reputation
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark discusses how researchers can get more out of their digital footprint, enhancing both their research and impact, without spend...
Doing public engagement for impact
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this first episode of the second series, Prof Mark Reed discusses how to do public engagement or impact, not just for the hell of it. A lot of...
The future of research impact: from the ARMA 2016 conference
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mark is at the ARMA 2016 conference (Association of Research Managers and Administrators) to hear what leading thinkers think about...