Z. Sheikh, Psychology, The University of Manchester (2023 cohort)

One aspect that I deeply value about the North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) is the emphasis on training and professional development. I have always reflected on my skills and pushed myself out of my comfort zone to grow both professionally and personally. The PhD is a perfect opportunity to do this, and I am often getting involved in many activities to become a well-rounded researcher and psychologist. In December 2025, I had the opportunity to attend the Start Your Impact Journey: Practical Pathways for SHAPE Academic Research training workshop hosted by Kindling Ventures at the University of Liverpool.

What were my expectations for this workshop?

Going into the training, I felt confident in my understanding of what it means to conduct ‘impactful’ research. The concept was not new to me – one of my first tasks within my first research post involved exploring strategies to maximise research impact, and I had designed my doctoral project with these strategies in mind. However, I did think that it would be beneficial to explore further how to overcome barriers to delivering this impact, particularly within my doctoral project. My project aims to address ethnic inequalities in care for South Asian women in maternity journeys after baby loss. I often speak to professionals who immediately recognise the need for my work, but highlight the challenges in finding time to engage in training that may help to address ethnic systemic inequalities in this context.

While my project also incorporates stakeholder involvement, I am highly conscious of this barrier faced by staff working in an overstretched system. I did not expect the workshop to provide a simple solution to this complicated issue; instead, I hoped to gain insight into how to work within these constraints.

What did the workshop cover?

The workshop started by prompting us to map the network of groups that would be affected by our research and its intended outputs. As a group, we reflected on the risks that could threaten the impact of our projects such as the level of interest from stakeholders, with discussions grounded in real life examples.

Knowing that I was unsure on how to tackle the time constraints that may prevent me from sharing learnings from my work with professionals, I raised this with the training facilitator. The facilitator suggested that perhaps emphasising the importance of training on care safety may help to encourage organisations to prioritise time for staff to attend training programmes that may be developed from my work. This seemed particularly relevant given the recent national inquiries that highlight safety concerns in service, legal cases following poor outcomes, and the growing focus on ethnic equity in maternity care.

These reflections led into the next activity, where we each developed a ‘value proposition’. This involved thinking carefully about our target group, including the goals, barriers, and facilitators that might influence whether they engaged with training resulting from my work. We were also encouraged to consider any unexpected benefits that the audience might gain. The structured exercise formed the basis of a paragraph that could be tailored to each audience that may be impacted by our work to clearly communicate our offering to those who might benefit.

An unexpected benefit of my own…

It turned out that I had an unexpected gain of my own when attending this event. The workshop also included discussions of Intellectual Property (IP) and ownership. It might resonate with you that the legal aspects of research and IP ownership feel complicated, but the simple explanations provided have empowered me to feel comfortable reaching out to the relevant teams within my own University and have got me thinking about future consultancy work.

In sum

I left the training with a new sense of resilience and practical ideas for overcoming barriers to conducting impactful research. I now feel equipped with the tools to communicate the potential for impact in a way that anticipates and addresses these barriers. The resources provided at this workshop will guide my plans for ensuring my research has a thoughtful pathway to delivering meaningful impact.

I am thankful to Kindling Ventures and The University of Liverpool for facilitating this event, as well as the NWSSDTP for advertising this opportunity and offering funding to attend. It was also a wonderful opportunity to connect with other researchers from other universities and disciplines, many of whom are also funded by the NWSSDTP at a PhD or postdoctoral fellowship level.