We are sharing the following LinkedIn post with permission from Wade Kelly, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Wade comments on an article published in the LSE Impact Blog written by Anna Przybyło-Józefowicz. Wade writes:
I just read this excellent piece from the LSE Impact Blog. It captures something I often see when researchers are asked to discuss impact: impact claims fail when it stays abstract.
We often treat impact narratives as exercises in scale, innovation, or technical sophistication. We explain the architecture, the methodology, the breakthrough. And of course, that rigour matters. But it isn’t what makes people care.
People care about trust. About safety. About cost of living. About their health. About whether the lights stay on. About whether the systems they rely on are resilient or fragile.
Research may focus on complex infrastructures, emerging technologies, health systems, etc., but an impact narrative isn’t really about the technical components themselves. It’s about what changes for households, workers, patients, and communities because of them.
The strongest research stories don’t open with definitions or disciplinary detail. They begin with a human stake. What’s at risk? Who feels the consequences? What improves or fails in everyday life?
Complexity can follow. But connection has to come first!
If we want research to travel beyond academic audiences, we have to answer one question clearly and early: Why does this matter to someone’s life?
Link to the LSE Impact Blog article: Good impact narratives must connect to our everyday lives – LSE Impact