Exploring approaches for lasting impact at Engagement Day 2025

From identifying the impact that we aim to have, to measuring and evaluating it, this year’s Engagement Day Conference delved into how we can ensure greater impact through our societal engagement activities.

On Wednesday 26 November, staff and students from across Imperial came together to share skills and experiences and explore the many facets of impact across the societal engagement spectrum.

Peter Haynes (Provost and Deputy President) helped open the conference by welcoming delegates alongside Maggie Dallman (Associate Provost, Societal Engagement), who shared an update on the exciting new Centre for Societal Engagement. Building on Imperial’s long-standing commitment to societal engagement, Maggie expanded on the Centre’s vision to “ignite curiosity for STEMB and optimise our ability to achieve societal impact with an emphasis on underserved groups.”

The power of play

Tom Doust, Associate Director at the Institute of Imagination, delivered a fun and interactive keynote, complete with a Lego challenge. Tom, whose work is centred around utilising the power of play in engagement, encouraged delegates to connect, collaborate and reflect on what they could learn from one another’s creations. The audience was prompted to link this back to their work at Imperial, posing the question - how can we collaborate to strengthen the impact of our engagement?

Going beyond numbers

A panel chaired by Vicky Brightman-Hahn (Director of Public Engagement at Imperial) featuring Katherine Mathieson (Director of the Royal Institution), Mohammed Attaur Rahman (Founder and Chief Executive Director of Rochdale Science Initiative) and Dr Lesley Paterson (Director of Mesh Associates), shared experiences and explored the question ‘what does good impact look like?’

Despite representing contrasting organisations with different audiences and purposes for engagement, the panellists all agreed that good impact requires evaluating the change that has occurred beyond quantitative data. While there are important external measures in place such as the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), delegates were encouraged to look beyond this and consider the true difference they want their engagement to make. “Awe, wonder, and joy is just as important an outcome” commented Katherine.

After lunch, delegates had the choice of three Deep Dive sessions, each exploring different themes. Options included an informative presentation on the history and evolution of impact, a workshop on planning your impact story using a Theory of Change, or a discussion showcasing a real-life example of how collaboration can enhance impact.

Quick-fire presentations

In the final session of the day, speakers were challenged to deliver punchy ‘Lightning Talks’ where the slides automatically changed every 20 seconds. The presentations were on fantastic initiatives such as The Pimlico Connection, What The Tech?! and the art of learning by doing – a study on public involvement conducted by the Patient Experience Research Centre.

The final Lightning Talk, ‘Let’s work it out on the remix’, delivered by Siobhan Markus and Alexandra Rayner (Research Impact Management Office) revealed how adapting existing engagement activities led to the creation of ‘Supermarket sweep’. Inspiring and entertaining, their presentation highlighted the value of authenticity in engagement and the need to recognise and celebrate our collaborators.

Final remarks

Earlier in the day, the panel emphasised that meaningful impact is defined by the difference made rather than numbers alone. This sentiment was reinforced in the closing remarks, where Dr Amy Seakins reflected that “whilst metrics are important, impact exists beyond what we measure.”

Get in touch with the Public and Community Engagement team to learn more about Engagement Day or register for the Societal Engagement newsletter to hear about upcoming opportunities to get involved.