Research impact training case study - Dr Jackie Kindell
The University’s research impact teams deliver a series of five online training modules throughout the year. They developed the programme collaboratively across faculties to ensure it is accessible to researchers from all disciplines. Open to early career, mid and late-stage researchers and Professional Services colleagues, where relevant to their roles, the modules provide support across the entire research lifecycle.
As an Early Career Researcher trying to write her first grant application, Jackie Kindell signed up to the ‘Introduction to Impact’ module in the hope that it would help to clarify her focus. It did that, but it has also had a more transformative effect on her thinking and research practice.
Jackie is a Clinical Senior Lecturer, whose work is currently centred on the everyday care practices of health care support workers (HCSWs) working with people with dementia. As she notes, because healthcare research is often a response to an issue, there can be a tendency to take impact for granted: “We think, ‘oh – people will be really interested in this and they’ll take it away and do this…’ And actually they don’t, for all sorts of reasons we’ve not properly worked through.”
What would your research change?
For Jackie, the training provided an opportunity to really stop and think through the ‘so what?’ of her research. What would actually change as a result of what she was doing? And what steps could she take to increase the chances that impact would take place?
Jackie was producing a framework of embodied and sensory skills as part of an ongoing project exploring how understanding the experiences of HCSWs can enhance education, research, and practice initiatives and, ultimately, support high-quality dementia care. However, as she paused to reflect on how the research might impact on practice and care, she realised how difficult it would be for HCSWs to access or use the materials, because they don’t receive ongoing training in the same way as registered professionals.
This made her consider research impact from different perspectives, particularly workforce development and how and when that's delivered in the NHS. In turn, this led her to the care certificate, which all the HCSWs have to do.
“Who are the key people who are going to make a difference and are we speaking to them?” Jackie said.
“It never would have occurred to me to speak to people that organise the care certificate, but actually, they organise the training for all the new healthcare support workers coming into the NHS.”
Long-term impact goals
It also encouraged her to think about the longer-term trajectory of her research and to view the grant application she’s currently working on as the next step in an ongoing programme. She began to look at national policy drivers and how the research might impact on the policy for training healthcare support workers in the field. In this respect, the training shifted the way she thought about and planned her research, from design to outcomes and impact.
“In a sense, it's also kind of thinking about even the project after the next one,” Jackie explained. “What is my ultimate aim impact wise, how can I get there and who are the key policy and practice players I’ll need to get onboard to do that? Surely that’s the essential thing, isn’t it? That we make a difference out there?”
The five impact training modules run throughout the year. There is also a self-service version of the ‘Introduction to research impact’ module for those who are unable to attend the live workshops. For more details visit our Research impact training and resources page.