Making an Impact 2024 – Resources available for postgraduate research students

After five weeks, over 100 individual activities, 50 speakers, 800 attendees and 3 keynotes, Making an Impact 2024 has ended.

Linking to the University’s core values, a major theme of this year’s Making an Impact series was collaboration, with our three keynotes exploring the University’s links with Sumy State University, Knowledge Quarter Liverpool and our global partnerships. These were supported by a suite of innovative masterclasses and resources looking at industry partnerships, inclusive research collaborations, building effective relationships and working internationally and responsibly.

“From the keynotes to the career coaching and every workshop and masterclass in-between, Making an Impact is an inspirational series,” said Dr James Howard, Director of The Academy, “I’m incredibly proud that The Academy provides such a diverse and inclusive suite of events and resources to meet the research and career ambitions of our community, both at the University of Liverpool and at our partners around the world. This year was the first time that we included sessions that were specifically designed to build a knowledge exchange mindset in postgraduate research students and their contribution has helped to make this the best year yet.”

Making an Impact Resources

The Academy’s Researcher Development & Culture team take pride in designing Making an Impact to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, allowing all PGRs, researchers and research-related staff to engage with the series in a way that suits them.

The Virtual Delegate Pack offers a wealth of resources to help everyone engage with Making an Impact. It includes nearly 30 videos, 17 blogs, 3 podcast episodes, 2 self-reflection logs, 1 Pocket Book of Top Tips and much more.

And that’s just from 2024 – the Making an Impact Resource Hub contains resources from the past 7 years of the series. It’s a rich open-access resource freely available for all research staff and students to access. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re looking to design your research project, write your thesis, make connections beyond the University or consider your career.

Explore all Making an Impact resources here!

Let us know what you thought!

It’s been great to hear the experiences of PGRs from the University of Liverpool and beyond. Attendees have reported a range of impacts on their daily practice, including developing their research, teaching, communication, research dissemination and networking skills. The sheer variety of opportunities available has meant attendees have also reported increases in their confidence levels and self-belief, a widening of their horizons and a revaluation of their own professional value.

We run Making an Impact for the benefit of all our PGRs and we’re always looking to improve the series and ensure that it delivers the research impact and knowledge exchange development opportunities that benefit our staff and students.

If you’ve engaged with Making an Impact 2024 at all, and haven’t yet completed one of our evaluation forms, we’d really appreciate it if you could take a couple of minutes to do so. What did you like, what can we do better, what do you want to see in 2025? Let us know using the forms below:

Making an Impact 2025 – Save the Date!

The Academy are delighted to announce that Making an Impact will be back for 2025 from Monday 6 May to Friday 23 May 2025.

Save the dates in your diaries and stay tuned for further announcements, registration details, and the searchable programme of activities on our Making an Impact website and follow us on social media @LivResearcher, @LivUniAcademy and LinkedIn.

Don’t miss this opportunity to shape the future of your research and knowledge exchange at the University of Liverpool. We look forward to seeing you at Making an Impact 2024!

Further information

The Academy’s Researcher Development and Culture Team is committed to offering support for all researchers, academics, research-enabling staff and postgraduate researchers at all career levels, providing opportunities and developing initiatives that meet their career aspirations. Colleagues are encouraged to regularly access the Researcher Hub for a range of on-demand development opportunities to support professional practice.