Engaging with stakeholders can be one of the most rewarding parts of academic life, but also one of the least well understood. In our work on research impact, we’ve found that too often, engagement is treated as an administrative requirement or a single interaction (“to collect evidence”), rather than as a natural and essential part of good research.
If you’re approaching stakeholder engagement for the first time, our message is simple: start small, start early and understand why you’re doing it. Meaningful impact comes from genuine collaboration built over time, not from ticking a policy box. The following steps, drawn from our research and experiences, will help you get started.
1. Begin with ‘why’
Before you approach anyone outside academia, take time to reflect on why your work should matter to others. You may have been told to do impact because it’s expected – but compliance rarely produces meaningful results.
Ask yourself: What is the change I hope to see in the world because of this research? Your answer might relate to policy, professional practice, public awareness, innovation or a specific community. All of these are good goals, but the clearer you are on your motivation, the easier it is to communicate with stakeholders who share your concerns.
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When we interviewed impactful researchers, every one of them had a clear personal “why”. They were not driven by institutional metrics, but by curiosity and a belief that their work could make things better.
Practical step: Write a short, plain-language statement of why your research matters beyond academia. Use it to guide every conversation you have about impact.
2. Identify and understand your stakeholders
Stakeholders are anyone who can use, influence or benefit from your research. They could be practitioners, policymakers, charities, businesses, schools or community groups.
Start by mapping your stakeholder landscape. Think about:
- Who is directly affected by the issue(s) you study?
- Who makes decisions about it?
- Who communicates about it publicly or politically?
Once you’ve identified key groups, find out what they actually need. The best collaborations begin with listening. Don’t assume you know what evidence or insights they require – ask them.
Practical step: Arrange a few short conversations with potential stakeholders before your next project proposal or research plan. Ask what challenges they face and how research could help.
3. Engage early, not at the end
One of the most common mistakes we see is researchers waiting until the end of a project to “disseminate”. By then, it’s too late to shape the research around stakeholder needs.
Engagement should start at the design stage. Invite partners to help refine questions or methods. Co-develop goals. When stakeholders see that their perspectives shaped the work, they are far more likely to use its results.
In Andy’s research on online harms, early collaboration with schools, NGOs and policymakers led to policy change and improved safeguarding practice. This was because the relationships were built long before any reports were written.
Practical step: Build time and budget for engagement activities – workshops, roundtables or co-design sessions – into your research plan from the outset.
4. Communicate clearly and continuously
Academic writing is rarely accessible to non-specialists. If you want your work to make a difference, you must communicate in ways your stakeholders can understand and act upon.
Use short, focused outputs: brief summaries, blogs, podcasts or infographics. Avoid jargon and focus on why the findings matter. Make sure communication is regular – ongoing dialogue is more effective than one-off events.
Practical step: Share regular one-page research updates with your stakeholders. Highlight what’s new, what’s relevant to them, what happens next and how they would like to input.
5. Co-create, don’t just disseminate
Real impact happens when stakeholders become partners in the process. Collaboration deepens trust and produces richer outcomes for everyone involved.
We’ve seen researchers co-author reports with practitioners, co-present at conferences with policymakers and test findings directly in real-world settings. These partnerships blur the line between academic and external work – which is exactly the point.
Practical step: Replace dissemination plan with collaboration plan in your research planning. Ask: Who can I involve meaningfully at each stage of this project?
6. Record and reflect on impact
Impact is often happening even when you don’t realise it. Someone may cite your research in a policy document, use your ideas in training or shift their thinking because of your talk. Keeping track of this evidence helps you understand your own influence and can be vital for future funding or assessment.
In our research, we found that many academics underestimate their impact simply because they never documented it. Evidence doesn’t need to be complicated. An email from a stakeholder explaining how they used your findings, for example, can be powerful.
Practical step: Keep an impact diary. After every engagement, note who you spoke with, what was discussed, and any follow-up actions. Over time, this becomes a valuable record of your influence.
7. Use institutional support – but don’t rely on it
Most universities have knowledge exchange or impact teams who can help with logistics, funding or evaluation. Use them – but don’t wait for institutional permission to engage. The most meaningful impact work we’ve seen has come from academics who took initiative because they cared, not because they were told to, and whose stakeholder networks were theirs, not their institution’s.
Practical step: Find an experienced colleague who has done effective engagement and ask them to share their approach. Peer learning is often the best support.
8. Think long term
Impact is not a one-off project outcome; it’s a professional practice. The most successful academics we interviewed saw stakeholder engagement as part of their ongoing identity.
Each collaboration, conversation or policy meeting feeds back into your research, shaping new questions and strengthening future projects. Over time, you build an ecosystem of trust, relevance and shared purpose. That is what true impact looks like.
Practical step: Choose one or two stakeholder relationships to nurture between projects. Stay in touch, share progress and ask how your work continues to be useful.
We’ve both seen that good research and good impact are not separate things, they’re two sides of the same coin. Meaningful stakeholder engagement begins with curiosity, empathy and commitment.
Start small, listen deeply and follow through. Don’t chase case studies or metrics, build relationships. The result won’t just be stronger research – it will be research that genuinely matters.
Andy Phippen is professor of IT ethics and digital rights at Bournemouth University. Louise Rutt is senior research environment, culture and impact manager at the University of Plymouth.
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