Identifying and mapping your partners

Research impact often arises through productive, respectful, and sustained dialogue between researchers and the wider world. The people and organisations you work with, and those who may use or be affected by your research, play a central role in shaping that impact.

Mapping partners helps you see who is most relevant, how they may be affected, and what role they can play in enabling outcomes and impact. By making these relationships visible, you can plan purposeful engagement strategies that give your research the best chance of making a meaningful difference.

1. Identify potential partners

Start by brainstorming the individuals, groups, organisations, and communities who might be connected to your research. This could include research collaborators, next users (e.g. policymakers, industry partners, practitioners), end users (e.g. communities, patients, the public), funders, and advocacy or community groups.

When brainstorming, ask yourself:

• Who might be interested in your research, and why?
• Who might be affected by your research, positively or negatively?
• Who could use or benefit from your research findings?
• Who is essential for achieving impact, or could block it?

2. Prioritising your partners

Not all partners will need the same level of engagement. To prioritise them, start by considering their interest and influence:

Interest: Are they openly interested? Do they have underlying values or cultural ties to the project area?

Ability to influence change: Do they have direct power to push or block an outcome? Do they hold a more subtle, network-based influence to shape the debate or engage others?

You can then use the interest–influence matrix to see where engagement might be most valuable:

• High interest, strong influence → work in partnership
• High interest, low influence → keep informed and involved
• Low interest, strong influence → consult or engage strategically
• Low interest, low influence → minimal effort, but monitor if relevant

Applying the Interest-Influence Matrix

Imagine you’re leading a research project to improve access to mental health support for young people. Mapping your partners using the Interest-Influence Matrix helps you decide where to focus engagement efforts.

The 3i framework

You can go one step further with the 3i framework developed by Reed et al. (2025), which introduces a third dimension to help you think more deeply about the potential effects of your research on different partners:

• Are they likely to benefit economically, socially, or culturally from the project? Could they be harmed, even if they are unaware of the risks?

To apply the 3i framework in your planning, use this analysis template from Reed et al. (2025) to map the interest, influence, and impact of your partners.

3. Develop an engagement strategy

Stakeholder mapping is more than a planning exercise; it sets the foundation for knowledge mobilisation. By identifying and prioritising your partners, you can begin to plan how you will build and sustain relationships with different groups.

Consider:

• Who needs to be consulted or co-designed with?
• Who should be part of governance or advisory structures?
• How can you ensure equitable and culturally appropriate engagement (e.g. with iwi and hapū in the New Zealand context)?

From there, you can determine:

• What engagement activities are appropriate (e.g. hui, advisory groups, co-design workshops, informal check-ins).
• What outputs you could create with or for them (e.g. tailored reports, policy briefs, visual summaries, training materials).

This process ensures your engagement approach is intentional, inclusive, and aligned with the values and needs of your partners, helping translate research into meaningful and sustainable impact.

Remember, stakeholder mapping is not a one-off activity. It should be revisited as your project develops, ensuring you are engaging with the right partners at the right time to support uptake of your research and maximise the chance of meaningful impact.

To learn more, explore this resource on how to do stakeholder analysis by Professor Mark Reed at Fast Track Impact.

Once you’ve identified your partners, the next step is to integrate them into your impact pathway, using frameworks like the iPEN impact pathways to connect your research activities, engagement, and intended outcomes.

To learn more about the different kinds of engagement, visit Engagement for impact.

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