9 November 2015
Doctoral students, especially those who engage with non-academic knowledge users (e.g. industry sponsors, government bodies and other collaborative partners) during their programmes, are considered to be significant contributors to both knowledge generation and knowledge exchange activities. Individual companies fund doctoral students, either fully or partly, as part of their research collaboration with universities. Doctoral students can nurture interactive relationships between academia and industry, and can enhance the knowledge flows across organisations.
Impacts arising from such collaborative research training are not always quantifiable, and the timescales for impacts can be short, mid, or long term. The impact of the collaborative doctoral research to industry is found at individual, organisational and sectoral levels, brought by the multiple levels of input and activity. The impact is also found within the university, by individual students, academics and at the organisational level.
Such complexity provides the key challenge in measuring and evidencing the impact of collaborative relationships over the years. Assessing the quantifiable ‘economic impact’ is one limited way of understanding the impact derived from doctoral research training. A broader range of routes to and forms of impact needs to be captured.
The aim of the IAA project was therefore to develop a conceptual model that helps capture and disseminate diverse and complex forms of impact from collaborative doctoral research training to industry. The conceptual model Four Routes to Impacts and a web-based interactive tool Four Impact Routes Map has been developed.
The project continues until April 2016 supported by the UEBS Impact Grant.