Participant profile

Doctoral students of the UPV/EHU in the second academic year and subsequent years, from all fields of knowledge. Participants should have a genuine interest in improving their knowledge and develop their competencies and skills to promote research with societal impact.

Calendar

• Araba Campus: 6 – 7 November
• Biscay Campus: 4 – 5 November
• Gipuzkoa Campus: 11 – 12 November

Duration / Timetable

7h30 hours (2 sessions)

Time: 9:30-13:00 (day one) and 9:30-13:30 (day two)

Attendance Requirement

Students will be expected to attend 100% of the classes together with submission of all practical work assignments (see points 3 and 5 of the Basic regulations for participation in transversal training activities organised by the Doctoral School).

Language

English

Modality

Face-to-face

Pre-requisites

Participants should have their research topic defined before participating in the training. They should bring a laptop for practical exercises.

Location and dates

Speaker, Trainer and Profile

Igor Campillo is the executive director of Euskampus Fundazioa, and has led the Impact Task Force of the European University ENLIGHT during the last three years. He has a PhD in Physics and is co-author of more than 70 international scientific publications indexed in the Web of Knowledge and co-author of 3 patents extended to several countries. He has been recently acknowledged as one of the Spanning Boundaries Champions for university-industry-society cooperation by the UIIN.

Iñigo Puertas has a PhD in Human Rights at the University of Deusto, in the field of impact assessment from an ethical perspective. His degree in Social Work was followed by a master's degree in ethics for social construction at this university. As impact manager at Euskampus Fundazioa, he is in charge of the methodological development and application of tools for impact assessment. He is also a university professor, where he teaches subjects related to social research methods and techniques.

Glória Nunes Rodrigues is International Manager at Euskampus Fundazioa. She is actively involved in the implementation of the impact-related activities of the European University Alliance ENLIGHT. Previously, she worked as Research Adviser at the University of Deusto, where she was in charge of the promotion of the social impact of the university research activities. She worked as Policy Officer at the European Commission, DG Education and Culture, in the Unit “European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions and Innovation in Education". She was head of the projects and policy analysis unit of WindEurope and worked at the Instituto de Estudos Estratégicos Internacionais in Lisbon. Glória holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), a Master Degree in European Policy (Institut d’études européennes) and a Diploma from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Group size

25

Registration

Objectives

Doctoral students are at a pivotal stage in their academic and professional development. While the traditional focus of research has been on advancing knowledge within academic circles, there is growing recognition that the value of research goes beyond it and lies also in its broader impact on society, economy, environment, etc. Focusing on societal impact is not only an ethical responsibility it also offers a strategic advantage. It enhances the relevance of research work, opens up diverse career pathways, and contributes to addressing the world's most pressing challenges.

Competences to be acquired by the doctoral student

The course “How to direct your research towards societal impact?” will help doctoral students developing their knowledge, competencies and skills in embedding impact as a key element of their research journey. More specifically, the course aims at:

1. Providing knowledge and understanding of the concept of “impact”;
2. Providing an understanding about the institutional impact context;
3. Providing an understanding of the impact journey and the process of impact; and
4. Providing knowledge and tools for impact assessment.

 In accordance with the Personal Training Plan:

• Ability to conceive, design or create, implement and adopt a substantial process of research or creation.
• Ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and with society in general about their fields of knowledge in the modes and languages in common use in their international scientific community.
• Ability to promote, in academic and professional contexts, scientific, technological, social, artistic or cultural progress within a knowledge-based society.
• Ability to promote Open Science and Citizen Science, in accordance with Article 12 of Organic Law 2/2023 of 22 March, as a way of contributing to the consideration of scientific knowledge as a common good, through the evaluation of transversal activities carried out by the doctoral student related to different dimensions of Open Science and Citizen Science, as well as the training acquired in these disciplines in the form of micro-credentials or similar.

Format

The course has been designed around two modules, each aimed to answer two specific objectives of the training programme, as follows:

Content

Module 1 (Getting the Basics: Understanding Impact) has been designed to meet objectives 1 and 2 of the training programme and will focus in answering the following questions:

• Objective 1: Providing knowledge and understanding of the concept of “impact”.
  What is impact and why is knowledge and literacy about it important? What is the vocabulary around impact?
• Objective 2: Providing an understanding about the institutional impact context.
  How is impact supported and promoted in and beyond the University context? What is your role in promoting research with societal impact?

Module 2 (Going Deeper: Understanding the Tools used for Planning and Assessing Impact Getting the Basics: Understanding Impact) has been designed to meet objectives 3 and 4 of the training programme and will focus in answering the following questions:

• Objective 3: Providing an understanding of the impact journey and the process of impact.
  What are the different stages of the pathway to impact? How to design an impact pathway? How to plan for impact? How do you perform a stakeholder analysis?
• Objective 4: Providing knowledge and tools for impact assessment. How to monitor and assess the impact of research?
  How to get evidence of research impact? What are the possible strategies to manage the observed outcomes and impacts.

Course financed by the Euskampus Fundazioa.