Submitting an application will give you a chance to:
SGSSS defines impact using the terms of the ESRC, as the “demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy”. Impact is what comes from engaging collaboratively with different stakeholders about your research.
For the purposes of the SGSSS Impact Competition, this can include:
There are two categories, depending on your year of study. Any social science PhD student in Scotland is eligible to apply for the relevant category, no matter how your research is funded.
Find out more information about previous winners by choosing from the menu below:
Details for the SGSSS Impact Competition 2025 are coming soon!
Research impact may be classed as either: instrumental: influencing the development of policy, practice or service provision, shaping legislation, altering behaviour; or conceptual: contributing to the understanding of policy issues, in so doing allowing the reframing of debates; or capacity building: facilitating the building of capacity through technical and personal skill development1.
Knowledge Exchange (KE) is often regarded as a stepping stone to research impact. According to a recent report to ESRC from the University of Cambridge, KE may be people-based or problem-solving; it may take the form of community-based engagement or of commercialisation. It helps to foster ‘co-production’ of knowledge and the ‘co-definition’ of problems. The researcher integrates into a wider system which embraces community groups and networks of professionals, thus creating a research loop, with dialogue taking place as part of the research process2.
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