RESEARCH IMPACT CONSULTING
Unique and inspiring solutions
Our research impact consulting is…
Research Impact Consulting is a specialised service dedicated to maximising the real-world significance of academic and scientific research. Our mission is to bridge the gap between cutting-edge discoveries and practical applications across industry, policy, and society. We adopt a results-oriented mindset, ensuring you receive measurable outcomes within a timeframe that suits your needs. Our recommendations are both analytical and creative—grounded in evidence yet tailored to each unique context. Furthermore, we embrace an engagement-focused approach, using collaborative co-production to enhance every stage of your project’s success.
Our research impact consulting offerings cover a wide spectrum, including research impact grant reviews, research impact evaluation, grant writing support, assistance with research promotion and tenure applications, and evaluation of funding bodies’ return on investment. By combining strategic insight with hands-on collaboration, we help transform research into tangible, meaningful impact and evaluate impact to ensure returns on investment.
Research Impact Grant Reviews
Expert Review and Support can Improve Your Research Proposal
Securing research funding is increasingly challenging—demand often outstrips supply, leaving exceptional ideas to compete in a crowded field. With evaluators reviewing dozens, if not hundreds, of proposals, even the smallest detail can influence the outcome. That’s why bringing professional eyes and proven strategies to your grant application is vital.
At RIA, we guide you through each stage of the process. Our expert review and editing services refine your proposal’s narrative, clarify your objectives, and ensure every section is aligned with funders’ priorities. By highlighting the strengths of your research and presenting a cohesive, compelling case for support, we help you put your best foot forward. With our dedicated involvement, you’ll gain the confidence and clarity to stand out, increasing your chances of securing the investment that will drive your work forward.
At RIA, we can support any grant application, be it local, national or international. Below are some major grant rounds we support regularly, but if you are working on one that is not listed, reach out for a quote.
Grant Specific Help
NHMRC Investigator Grant
NHMRC Ideas Grant
NHMRC Synergy Grant
ARC Discovery Grant
ARC Industry Fellowships
MRFF Grants
Impact Case Study Support
Demonstrating the value of research is increasingly important, yet the reasons and requirements vary by region and stakeholder. Assessments like the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF), Hong Kong’s Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and Australia’s Engagement and Impact (E&I) assessments show that a compelling impact case study can shape reputations, influence policy decisions, secure funding, and highlight tangible benefits to society. Across different contexts, a well-crafted case study ensures your research is understood, recognised, and ultimately used.
At RIA, we bring together a global team of impact experts who have worked on a diverse range of assessment frameworks and supported over 1,000 impact case studies for grant proposals. Drawing on international best practices and a deep understanding of what stakeholders look for, we refine your narrative, highlight evidence of change, and align your messaging with the standards of each assessment environment. From initial concept to final polish, our specialists will help you present your research’s story with clarity, credibility, and confidence—no matter where your work is making its mark.
Impact Planning
Planning for Impact: Ensure Your Research Makes a Real Difference
Achieving meaningful impact from your research requires more than producing quality findings—it demands a proactive approach to connecting with those who can truly benefit from your work. Rather than leaving knowledge translation as a last-minute task, we encourage researchers and research centres to integrate dissemination, communication, and engagement strategies from the very start of a project.
By identifying key stakeholders, research users, and potential beneficiaries early in the planning process, you lay the groundwork for more targeted messaging and informed decision-making. With RIA’s guidance, you can craft tailored plans that ensure your insights reach the right audiences—be they policymakers, practitioners, industry partners, or communities—through carefully selected channels and formats. By embedding impact planning into the project’s foundations, you ensure your research stands every chance of informing practice, shaping policy, and delivering lasting societal value.
Organisational impact audit
Build your organisational capacity for research impact
We provide training and strategy sessions to identify the best way to prepare your organisation for impact assessment.
- Do your staff have the key skills and the necessary resources to ensure the best impact pathways are being developed and followed.
- Are you an impact literate organisation?
- Would you like to understand how others are operating in the engagement and impact space to see if there are strategies you can learn from?
Celebrate your achievements and explore opportunities for more
Let us review and identify translation/implementation activity already achieved and further work required
- Work with organisation staff and research partners to review previous and current project translation plans/opportunities to determine what has been achieved so far.
- Review outcomes from any evaluations and assessments of research implementation and impact activities.
- Assist in the identification of key decision-maker audiences and the ideal message champions.
- Identify opportunities and activities to advance translation and implementation of research knowledge into practice.
- Provide information, advice and strategies to create sticky messages for targeted audiences and assist in the implementation strategies for those findings.
Plain Language Summaries and Reports
Why Plain Language Summaries Matter
In today’s fast-paced and information-rich environment, simply conducting excellent research isn’t enough. Decision-makers, policymakers, and practitioners need to swiftly identify how new findings matter to their work. Plain language summaries distil complex research into accessible, engaging formats—enabling wider audiences to understand what was studied, how it was done, what was learned, and why it matters. They offer a powerful means to bridge the gap between researchers and the communities they seek to serve, helping to drive better-informed decisions, more effective policies, and greater uptake of proven solutions.
How We Can Help You Write a Summary
Drawing on the proven, research-informed format championed by Research Impact-Réseau Impact Recherche (RIR)—a Canadian network of 11 universities—our approach condenses critical information into a concise, user-friendly two-page summary. By highlighting the most important insights and guiding readers through the research process, this structured, standardised format ensures consistency in branding and messaging while speaking directly to stakeholder interests.
Through our editorial and content support, we’ll collaborate closely with your staff, researchers, and partners to craft clear, compelling summaries and reports for a range of mediums: proposals, publications, websites, and more. We’ll ensure clarity of key messages, helping you engage the audiences that matter most and laying the groundwork for sustained impact.
Our Consulting Clients
How our research impact consulting has helped…
I really felt Research Impact “Academy took the time and effort to truly understand and appreciate the work that AIVL does and co-designed an evaluation tool to capture and evaluate this in ways that far exceeded my expectations. They were an absolute pleasure to work with.”
AIVL, Consulting Project feedback
“I wanted to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for your invaluable assistance with editing the case study. Your keen eye for detail and thoughtful suggestions have greatly improved the overall quality and clarity of the content. I truly appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to this task. Thank you once again for your exceptional work!”
Zack Shan
University of Sunshine Coast