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ÉëÒ÷Ö®Íõ researcher Dr Shola Ajide reflects on how connecting academic expertise with professional networks can help turn research into policy and societal impact.

How can academic knowledge move beyond the university and make a meaningful difference to policy, practice and society?

That question was at the heart of a recent Policy Impact Day Training event, which I was delighted to organise in collaboration with Associate Professor Abiodun Egbetokun from ÉëÒ÷Ö®Íõ’s Institute of Responsible Business and Social Justice.

The event created an opportunity for academics and researchers to explore how their expertise can reach beyond traditional academic settings, helping to inform policy, influence professional practice and respond to real-world challenges.

As part of the event, I was also pleased to draw on my professional networks to invite the Lord Mayor of Leicester to ÉëÒ÷Ö®Íõ to engage with our academic community and contribute to the wider conversation around research and policy impact.

Connecting research with the real world

For me, the experience reflects an important part of my pracademic identity.

My work sits at the intersection of academic research, professional practice, leadership, stakeholder engagement and societal impact. I am particularly interested in how universities can translate knowledge into practical solutions, build meaningful relationships with external organisations and ensure that research contributes to the decisions and challenges that matter to society.

Being a pracademic means more than occupying a space between academia and practice. It means connecting the two deliberately and bringing academic rigour into professional and policy contexts while also bringing real-world challenges back into research, teaching and knowledge creation.

The Policy Impact Day reinforced for me the value of:

🔹 Building bridges between universities, policymakers and communities
🔹 Creating opportunities for researchers to understand and communicate their impact
🔹 Using professional networks to open doors for meaningful institutional engagement
🔹 Turning research and knowledge into actionable insights
🔹 Developing academics who are confident not only in producing knowledge, but also in influencing practice and policy

Creating impact beyond the university

Universities have an important role to play in addressing complex societal challenges. Achieving this requires researchers who are able to engage across traditional boundaries and develop relationships with policymakers, businesses, public organisations and communities.

Experiences such as the Policy Impact Day provide researchers with opportunities to think differently about the reach of their work and the different routes through which research can create change.

I am grateful to Associate Professor Abiodun Egbetokun for the collaboration and to the Lord Mayor of Leicester for joining us on campus and engaging with our research community.

For me, this is what pracademic leadership looks like: connecting knowledge, people and practice to create meaningful impact beyond the university.