Types of research impact

The list below outlines a range of impact types, based on work by Fast Track Impact. These categories can help you recognise the breadth of possible benefits your research might contribute to:

• Understanding and awareness: Increased understanding or knowledge of an issue
• Attitudinal change: Shifts in public or group attitudes that benefit people or society
• Health and wellbeing: Improvements to public or individual health, including emotional, mental, or physical health outcomes
• Cultural change: Shifts in values, beliefs, discourse, or behaviours within communities or society
• Environmental impacts: Conservation, biodiversity, climate action, ecosystem restoration, or other benefits to natural environments – including benefits for people
• Policy: Contributions to the development, amendment, or implementation of laws, regulations, or public policies
• Capacity or preparedness: Strengthening skills, infrastructure, or systems to better respond to challenges
• Other social impacts: Benefits to specific social groups or broader changes, such as improved education access, equity, or human rights.
• Economic impacts: Monetary benefits such as cost savings, profit increases, new technologies or businesses, or economic development
• Decision-making and behaviour change: Influences on the decisions or behaviours of individuals, groups, or organisations – even when the outcomes fall outside traditional categories, such as health, environment, or policy

Research impacts are often multifaceted and interconnected. A breakthrough in one area can lead to ripple effects in others. For example:

• A new health treatment could improve patient outcomes and reduce public health spending, creating both health and economic impacts.
• A policy shift influenced by your research might also lead to changes in societal behaviour, creating long-term environmental or cultural impacts.

When thinking about the potential benefits of your research, it’s important to consider both intended and unintended outcomes, and to think beyond the immediate. Sometimes the most meaningful changes may take years, or even decades, to emerge.

It’s also useful to distinguish between two different points in the research timeline:

• Retrospective impact refers to benefits that have already occurred as a result of your research. This could include changes to policy, practice, public understanding, or community wellbeing. These are impacts you can evidence, and are often useful when demonstrating your track record.
• Prospective impact refers to the potential benefits your research may lead to in the future. This is the kind of impact you plan for, often described in the ‘benefits’ or ‘significance’ sections of proposals. While it hasn’t happened yet, it’s what you’re working toward.

Understanding the difference between retrospective and prospective impact can help you articulate your case clearly, depending on the purpose and stage of your research.

Academic or scholarly impact refers to the contribution your research makes within academia, such as advancing theoretical knowledge, influencing future research, or being cited by others in the field.

While academic impact is important, research impact goes further – it focuses on how your research makes a difference outside of academia. That difference might occur in communities, sectors, ecosystems, or policy settings. It’s the real-world change your work helps to shape, often in partnership with others.

Research Impact Team
Email: researchimpact@auckland.ac.nz