Research Impact Team

Here at LJMU we firmly believe in cultivating a rich impact culture within our academic staff and postgraduate student communities. Impact is an integral part of our ethos as a civic university and ties in with our values of inclusivity, courageousness and community. The university is committed to supporting researchers in their endeavours to benefit the environment, society, culture, the economy, commerce, processes, practice and policy for the greater good of the world. Our world-leading and internationally excellent expertise provide innovative and creative answers to the global challenges we are facing.

Meet the Team

We support researchers to plan and evidence the meaningful changes that stem from their research. We provide training workshops, 1:1 impact planning sessions, help to develop Impact Case Studies for REF and also help researchers develop strong impact narratives for funding bids.

Image of Lucy DayLucy Day - Impact Officer

Email: L.J.Day@ljmu.ac.uk

Supporting: Faculty of Science and Faculty of Health

Image of Emily WalkerEmily Walker - Impact Officer

Email: E.J.Walker@ljmu.ac.uk

Supporting: Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Business and Law and Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies

What is Impact?

Impact is a positive change that takes place outside academia because of your research. If you would like to plan the impact of your own research, please contact Lucy or Emily. We now have Impact Planners to help you map out your stakeholders, plan activities, identify impacts and evidence types. We can also provide training on how to use Impact Tracker and Track Impact.

Impact Tracker

LJMU has triumphed in two of three categories at the first-ever TrackImpact.org Global Project Competition.

The competition recognises some of the exceptional societal, economic, environmental and cultural impact delivered by researchers around the world, with entries drawn from projects live on the TrackImpact.org global collaboration platform.

With three categories open to contestants, Dr Emma Ashworth and Dr Joanna Kirkby from our School of Psychology triumphed in the People’s Choice for Most Engaging Project category for their work on Act, Listen, Act.

The project was conducted across a range of schools in Liverpool, analysing the impact of the pandemic on children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and delivering priorities for policy and practice to support recovery going forward.

We were also recognised with the Most Overall Votes prize for our collective entries, driven by our wide range of impact projects including the work of our FaceLab.

TrackImpact.org spoke with Impact Officer Emily Walker and pupils from Liverpool Hope School. Watch the videos here:

Impact at LJMU

The Bornean orangutan is one of only two great ape species found in Asia and according to the IUCN Red list is critically endangered. There is currently no accurate rate of decline and no detailed analysis of the drivers of decline. Professor Serge Wich in the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences have produced the first integrative trend analysis for a great ape species in Borneo with results recently published in Scientific Reports. This study used a new approach that overcame some of the methodical challenges that come with determining populations. It has now provided an underlying population trend through time. They used a dynamic population model that has allowed the abundance and distribution of the Bornean orangutan to be assessed over time. The research has not only found a more accurate estimate of decline but has analysed the possible causes of such decline. The main anthropogenic causes of decline are habitat loss and fragmentation due to deforestation, killing due to human-orangutan conflict and hunting for food or at the edge of the forest and agriculture during human-orangutan conflicts. Climate change is intensifying these problems, as indicated by earlier studies.

Read more of our case studies and find out about our world-leading research.

To find out more, please follow us on Twitter.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognise that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection. At LJMU we are working towards the UN SDGs via our impactful research. You can read more about the SDGs on the UN website.