Hello everyone,

In this month's edition, I’m sharing a selection of webinars, training opportunities and practical resources focused on Open Science, research culture and research impact.

You’ll find upcoming sessions from Fast Track Impact exploring how researchers and institutions can build more ethical, inclusive and sustainable approaches to Open Science in practice, alongside free training opportunities designed to strengthen impact planning and engagement skills.

There is also a curated selection of resources and reading on topics including societal readiness, social media and impact evidence, research impact literature, and practical methodological guidance for researchers across disciplines.

Together, these materials offer practical support if you're looking to strengthen how your research impact is designed, delivered and communicated across different contexts.

Enjoy!

News from Fast Track Impact

FREE WEBINAR: OPEN SCIENCE AND RESEARCH CULTURE IN PRACTICE

Open Science commitments are difficult to sustain without research environments that actively support collaboration, transparency and inclusion. Join this free webinar on Thursday, 11 June 2026, from 4 to 5 pm (CET), where Daniela Martin (Institute for Methods Innovation) and Eunice Mercado-Lara (ORCA) will examine how institutional incentives, recognition systems, funding structures and leadership support affect who can participate in Open Science. Register here.

FREE WEBINAR: ETHICAL OPEN SCIENCE IN PRACTICE

Designing Open Science initiatives that are ethical, inclusive and practically workable requires more than good intentions. Join this free webinar on Thursday, 25 June 2026, from 2 to 3 pm (CET), where Sarah Noles (Institute for Methods Innovation) and Chrysostomos Peppos (Citizens in Power) will introduce a practical framework for engaging communities responsibly and inclusively from the outset. Register here.

RECORDING: INFLUENCING POLICY TRAINING COURSE

If you missed the recent Influencing Policy training course I presented on 6 May, you can access the full recording on the Fast Track Impact YouTube channel.

FREE ONLINE IMPACT TRAINING FOR RESEARCHERS

Looking to build your research impact skills? Access this free five-week course to help you fast-track the impact of your research, no matter what career stage or discipline you are in. It takes about 10 to 20 minutes per week to work through the course materials over 5 weeks. The course covers the core decisions that shape strong impact work: identifying who needs to engage, building credible routes to change, and gathering proportionate evidence. It is intended as a foundation for researchers who want to plan impact more deliberately. 

Check out our growing catalogue of courses here (worth checking out the new ones if you haven't looked for a while!) and get in touch to set up a call to discuss your needs. 

Research impact news

• I found a useful list of 9 books on research impact that you should know about. These offer practical insights, tools, and inspiration to help move your work beyond publications and into real-world impact.

   

  On the list is the third edition of The Research Impact Handbook from Routledge, which I recently updated with new tools, recent case studies and insights from current practice.        
  
  

• The Hidden REF is open for submissions, seeking to value and celebrate work that gets missed by the Research Excellence Framework. This includes training materials and courses, citizen science, community building, grimpact, public engagement and campaigns. Find out more and submit your work for evaluation here.
  
  
• Most research impact problems start early, when projects are designed without enough attention to the people, organisations and systems that may use, question or be affected by the work. This is where the idea of 'societal readiness' comes in. You may already be familiar with technology readiness, which asks whether an innovation is likely to work. Societal readiness asks whether those ideas are likely to be accepted, adapted and used responsibly. This free training from the REINFORCING Project will give you everything you need to know about this concept and how you can apply it in your research and impact.
  
• Social media is increasingly used to evidence research impact, but not always effectively. A new analysis of REF impact case studies by Mark Carrigan and colleagues found that social media was mentioned in 46% of REF2021 case studies, up from 25% in REF2014.
  
  For more guidance on using social media to measure impact, see the Media Impact Toolkit I developed with The Conversation UK. 
  
  
• I've just ordered a copy of Maximizing Research Impact: Practical Strategies for Enhancing Research Visibility by Hamed Taherdoost. For a limited time, you can enjoy 20% off.    
  
  

• Remember that Prof. Eric Jensen’s social research methods textbook, Doing Research in the Real World (6th Ed.), is now available. It offers a clear, practice-based introduction to designing and conducting robust research across disciplines. A free preview is available for anyone interested in updating their teaching materials or refining methodological skills.

I hope you've found something useful in this newsletter. If you think others would benefit from future emails, they can subscribe here.

We'll be in touch again next month with another newsletter edition.

Take care till then,

Mark