Impact centres on other people having an interest in your project, with groups outside of academia gaining some benefit. But how do you work out who your stakeholders are – and how can you engage with them?

What is a stakeholder?

A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in your research and impact. This includes your beneficiaries, but it’s much bigger than that. In short, stakeholders are anyone who might be affected by your research and impact, whether good or bad. For example, this could be community members; funders; businesses or organisations; the University; or charities, researchers or organisations that work in a similar field. Any of these groups may perceive your work to have a positive or negative influence.

Identifying stakeholders

It’s important to think outside of the box when identifying stakeholders. You should consider stakeholders who are directly involved with the project and its outcomes but also those indirectly affected. This could be as a result of dissemination activities reaching wider audiences or users, ongoing actions by stakeholders using the outcomes of the research to influence their user/customer/audience, or secondary impacts from your research.

Ask yourself:

  • Who is directly involved in your project?
  • Who might benefit from your research?
  • Who might be negatively affected?
  • Who supports your research, directly or indirectly?
  • Who do you already have relationships with – whether positive or negative?

Also consider who the stakeholders that you have identified here may interact with – this could lead you to further stakeholder groups.

Prioritising stakeholders

Assessing the potential level of influence and interest of specific stakeholders can provide a framework for planning and prioritising engagement and impact building activities. Factors such as the amount of impact that you could potentially have on a group, their willingness to engage, or the likelihood that they will hinder your progress may all influence their importance to your project.

Engaging stakeholders

How you decide to engage with stakeholders will depend on who they are. The routes to engaging with policy makers, for example, could differ greatly from a local community group. There are a few key questions to consider that will help you decide how to engage.

  • When is the best time to engage them? Is this a stakeholder group who would benefit from involvement from the earliest stages of a research project, or a group who would be better to approach with an established base of evidence resulting from your research?
  • What is the best way to reach them? Can you engage via existing contacts; are there community groups which you can contact; could you engage through social media, for example?
  • What is the best type of language to use? Consider the level of experience that the group has with the types of terms you usually use. How can you make your communication more appropriate for each group?
  • Consider the stakeholder’s perspective. What is their role, interest level, and benefit to them engaging with you? Why should they want to engage back.

All beneficiaries are stakeholders, but not all stakeholders are beneficiaries.

Whilst beneficiaries are often the focus of impactful research, remember that this may come at a cost for others and consider stakeholders who may see negative change from your project. Consider the knock-on effects, how these may be detrimental to stakeholders, and how you can work to minimise these negative effects. You should also consider how these stakeholders may attempt to hinder your research and impact. Consider what risks this could pose to your progress, how you can mitigate these effects, or how you can engage and communicate with these stakeholders to facilitate the process.

Remember, impact is all about benefits outside of academia. Engaging with stakeholders can help you to design a project that fits your stakeholders needs and minimises detrimental effects.

When you’re ready to get stuck in, Fast Track Impact offers some great, free resources to help with identifying and engaging your stakeholders.