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7 reasons to choose us

1 Get ahead fast with strategies to thrive

With increasing scrutiny from government, industry and the community, changing funding schemes, less funding to go around and more competition, it’s natural to feel lost sometimes. But savvy researchers and research organisations are turning to us to learn strategies and steps to not just survive, but thrive.

Through our consulting, membership and workshop services, we’ll help you demonstrate impact, become a top contender for funding and future-proof your organisation to manage research impact pathways and assessments. Central to your success is developing return on investment strategies right from the start and keeping them front-of-mind throughout your research.

Discover how to help your research spark a life of its own:

  • Plan for the prospective environmental, economic and social impacts of your research.
  • Adapt as your research unfolds so that you can successfully collaborate, innovate, implement and measure along the way.
  • Evaluate, report on and showcase your impacts.

2 Learn from the leaders

As Head Inspirer of the Research Impact Academy, Dr Tamika Heiden is passionate about helping researchers to realise their dreams and deliver meaningful impact to society.

Her success is the culmination of experience as a researcher, rare qualifications and fearless, tenacious practice in getting to the heart of what’s possible in research impact.

Trusted: From giving evidence to the Senate Legislation Committee hearing for the Medical Research Future Fund to a growing list of savvy clients it’s no secret that Tamika is Australia’s go-to knowledge translation and research impact consulting expert.

Qualifications: We are the only provider outside of North America of the Scientist Knowledge Translation Training from SickKids and one of a handful here with a SickKids Knowledge Translation Professional Certificate™.

Support: After over a decade as a researcher and research manager, Tamika knows what you’re up against and has the tools and expertise to help.

Networks: Interviewing over 70 research impact experts around the world has given Tamika a deep understanding of contemporary and emerging practice. Conferences, symposiums, workshops: you name it, she’s been there sharing her expertise, building connections and learning from others.

Collaborations: Our founder has teamed up with like-minded practitioners around the world—research impact is too big and important to do alone.

3 Relax working with trusted specialists

We have a reputation as an international leader in helping researchers and research organisations to create relevant and usable evidence for research impact.

Here’s what some of our happy clients have to say:
“The workshop was fantastic. It was one of the most useful training sessions I’ve ever attended.” Dr Natassia Goode, University of the Sunshine Coast

“The content was accessible, relevant, with enthusiastic and welcoming delivery.” Dr Colin McKerlie, The Hospital for Sick Children and The Centre for Phenogenomics, Canada

“What you do—bringing impact to the forefront of researchers’ minds is so important and valuable to society! Keep up the fantastic work!” Dr Anh L.H. Tran, Coventry University, UK

4 Enjoy a tailored approach to learning

At the Research Impact Academy, we’re passionate about understanding and supporting your research impact aspirations and challenges. We appreciate and love the fact that each researcher and research organisation is unique, so it’s only natural that we offer you a tailored approach to learning.

When you bring us on board in your organisation or team to run a workshop, you’ll have the flexibility to build your own workshop that suits your exact needs through choosing from easy to browse units. Your hand-picked workshop will come with the chance to work on your very own projects and develop an action plan.

Relationships are also integral to our tailored approach to learning. We want you to succeed and know that life can sometimes get in the way of even the most inspired action plan written with genuine intentions.

Recognising this challenge, we’ll work with you and your team or colleagues in a follow-up coaching session to help bring your efforts to life in an effective and measurable way. No matter where you’re at in your knowledge translation or research impact journey, we have a bespoke workshop solution that’s the perfect fit for you.

5 Feel inspired in a like minded community

When you join our thriving community of practice, you’ll connect with like-minded impact champions around the world on the research impact journey. You’ll feel inspired and cheered on as you learn how to apply translation strategies to your own research and generate more impact.

It’s a huge asset to be part of an extensive community that shares your passion for creating research impact. Through exclusive membership benefits, you’ll access support and advice, bounce ideas and collaborate and connect with researchers and impact experts.

Facilitated by Tamika, monthly online Q&A sessions give you the chance to ask the community for advice or to help fellow members find success.

You can also join a private online forum anytime to share ideas and access support or participate in quarterly webinars from key speakers around the globe. You can also connect with our wider community for vibrant discussion and exchange through our LinkedIn group, Twitter and Facebook.

6 Challenge the status quo for a competitive advantage

The Research Impact Academy is one of the first services of its kind in the world that facilitates the movement of research knowledge into life.

Integrating traditional research approaches with new perspectives and disciplines from the world’s best practitioners and thinkers, we’re masters at disrupting research-as-usual for positive outcomes. We believe your research is too important to fade away and are passionate about helping you to adapt and thrive.

We challenge the status quo of peer review and journals as the end game in a fun and accessible way, working with you to ensure that your research is relevant, useful, usable and ultimately providing value to society.

Our pioneering research impact consulting services will guide you on your journey to meaningful impact. We’ll take you beyond reports, publications, conferences and workshops, breaking free of technical language and into new realms of connection with your audiences.

7 Tap into international networks - for free!

We’ve found that two of the biggest struggles for researchers and research organisations are typically time and money—does this sound familiar? While there are plenty of conferences that you might like to join each year, the time away from your research and the prohibitive price tags can make those new connections and learnings a mere pipe dream.

Driven to make connection and learning more accessible to achieve greater research impact, we removed time and money from the equation and shared knowledge with as many researchers around the world as possible.

In our world-first online and free Research Impact Summit, we drew an international crowd and created vibrant conversations. Initially run as an experiment in 2016, the Summit delivers a research conference of a different style and price tag.

Over the first two years, we filmed over fifty interviews with industry thought leaders and academic experts about their stories, the nitty-gritty of the “how-to”, and the lessons they learned along their research impact journey.

We made these interviews available for free for three days and were excited to see the enthusiasm out there for knowledge translation. The numbers were pretty phenomenal—we’re onto something special here and hope you’ll join us for the ride!

People really care, they want to connect, they want to learn. By removing the hefty price tag and time commitment, the Summit drew around 1,500 participants in 50 countries in each of its first two years. If this sounds like something that you want to get on board with, be sure to connect with us on our LinkedIn group, Twitter and Facebook for all the latest updates.