The Catalyst project is a 3-year EPSRC research project from 2011-2014 that aims to understand citizen participation and develop new technologies to enable social change. It uses an interdisciplinary approach and citizen-led research partnerships to co-create tools and solutions. The project measures its impact through both qualitative and quantitative methods to demonstrate its effect on various areas like policy, society and the economy. It communicates results through publications, conferences, social media and other academic channels to maximize research impact.

1. Catalyst – Impact Strategy
#catalystas
@catalystproj www.catalystproject.org.uk

2. About Catalyst
3 year EPSRC research project 2011-14
• Citizen-led agenda
• Understanding behaviour
– Why do people participate (or not) in
society/civic actions?
• Tools for change
– Next generation {digital} technologies for
social change
• Reflecting on Interdisciplinarity

3. Impact
“the effect on, change or benefit to the economy,
society, culture, public policy or services, health,
the environment or quality of life, beyond
academia”
• Digital Economy Impact Framework
• Research Excellence Framework
• Pathways to impact
• Catalyst Impact strategy

4. Citizen-Led Research partnerships

5. co-research & co-production:
mutually beneficial activities
• Research Sprints
• Launch pads
• Serendipity Cafes
• Research Relays
• Protee dialogues
• Public
engagement with
research

6. *Interfacing Research & Impact
Systems Toolset
1. Map Impact Network
2. Opportunity: When might impact occur in
research process?
3. Evidence collection methods
4. Create impact content for dissemination
5. Communication Channels
http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/computer-
science/research/impact/iris/

7. 1. Catalyst Impact Network
• Local, National & International Academic
networks – network bid
• Local & National Community Groups
• Policy Makers – local, regional, national
• Industry practitioners - local
• Public engagement network – regional, national

8. Twitter

9. 2. Catalyst Impact opportunity
• Serendipity cafes: sharing challenges, making
connections
• Setting research agenda & question in
partnership with community organisations
• Undertaking research in partnership with
community organisations
• Knowledge exchange: Protee dialogues & Relay
• Public Engagement with research
• Interdisciplinary Academic engagement

10. Lessons Learned: Protee
• Project dialogues
• Learn from failure
and success
• Insights:
– innovation
– management
– interdisciplinarity

11. Sprints & Launch pads
Patchworks Success in Activist Tweets Local Trade, Local Wealth

12. Research Sprint - #Patchworks
Research Sprint – 8 Months
Is it possible to co-design, with homeless communities, a
simple and cheap health monitoring and communication tool
using the methods and materials of ‘personal
manufacturing’ (DIY-Bio/garage science)?

13. Interdisciplinary
community-academic partnerships
Rod Dillon Rebecca Ellis Sharon Calverley Asa Calow
Biomedicine Environment Centre Signposts Madlab
Maria Angela Ferrario Will Simm Jen Southern
Management Computing Sociology

14. #Patchworks

17. Key activities: Patchworks
Wider presentation and discussion of project at conferences
Wider presentation and discussion of project at conferences
vide
vide Writing academic papers
Writing academic papers
vide
vide oo
oo vide
vide
oo
Decided
Decided Relay
Relay
Building
Building
which
which prototype
prototype
prototype
prototype
User testing
User testing
Research
Research
proposal
proposal
Exploratory workshops
Exploratory workshops How to
How to
w/shops
w/shops
research observation and documentation of organisations & workshops
research observation and documentation of organisations & workshops
PROTEE
PROTEE
Literature review
Literature review PROTEE
PROTEE
dialogue
dialogue dialogue
dialogue
Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct

18. Enhancing impact: knowledge
exchange & public engagement
Knowledge exchange Public engagement

19. 3. Catalyst Evidence Collection
Self-assessment
• Case study
• Surveys
• Feedback forms
Proprietary tools
• Pathways to Impact
• Digital Economy Impact Framework
• Ethnographic videography
• External evaluator
• Alt-metrics

20. 4. Catalyst Content
• Impact publication
• Publications & Case Studies
• Workshop content
• Videos & photographs
• Social Media: youtube, twitter, facebook, menderley,
slideshare
• Slide presentations
• Open access knowledge repositories
• News articles & blog posts
• Games

21. 5. Catalyst Communication
Channels
• Academic Journals
• Catalyst Website
• Social media: youtube, twitter, facebook, slideshare,
menderley, flickr
• Advisory Group
• Co-Investigators via departmental meetings & seminars
• Blogs (internal & external)
• Conferences including annual Research Relay
• Serendipity cafes

22. 6. Impact challenges
• Tracking impact within and across projects
• Demonstrating Impact: ‘must create a change’
• Attribution: Interdisciplinary nature of Catalyst
• Advisory Group
• Impact must be underpinned by 2* research
• Resourcing implications
• Timing – i) impact to manifest ii) research underpinning
• Storing evidence beyond life of funding period
• Maintaining connections with project participants
• Community acknowledgement

23. 7. Useful impact links
• RCUK pathways to impact toolkit:
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/kei/impacts/Pages/home.aspx
• LSE impact of social sciences blog:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/
• Resources: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/resources/
• Describe project: http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/describe/
• NCCPE-JISC impact analysis: facilitation & synthesis:
http://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/about/impact-analysis
• ESRC: Pathways to impact toolkit: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-
guidance/tools-and-resources/impact-toolkit/index.aspx
• Toolkit for the impact of digitised scholarly resources:
http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/tidsr/
• Alt-metrics aggregator: http://impactstory.org/