Societal Impact Proposal Cycle

Planning

PLAN the envisaged outcomes/objectives of your Societal Impact research project.

Requirements Gathering

When choosing a journal to publish your research, you strive for one with the most reach (scale) and impact (scope) in your discipline.

Wizard (Online Form)

Use the online form to capture all your content/data for your (Draft) SI proposal.

Collaboration

Contact the CEU on campus which will assist researchers and project proposal writers in developing effective SoE for Societal Impact proposals/projects. Alternatively, contact your SoE-SI Team in your Faculty/Directorate/Operational Entity.

Amendments

Amend your SI Project approach (where applicable) after collaborating with your colleagues.

Create (Draft SIP)

Use the online form wizard to capture all your content/data of your SI proposal. The output will be stored in our SoE-SI central database.

Create (FINAL version of SIP)

Use the content/outline of your (Draft) Societal Impact Proposal (SIP) you created to complete the (FINAL) version of your Societal Impact Proposal.

Planning

Go to Stage 1

Plan your (Draft) Societal Impact Proposal

Just like any project you undertake, it is important to PLAN the envisaged outcomes/objectives of your SoE for Societal Impact research. This SoE-SI Wizard provides support in defining the key elements of an effective SoE for Societal Impact (SI) plan.

NOTE: You must, at a minimum at least try to:

Identify/Plan whom you will work with to achieve the objectives
Identify/Plan how and where you will work with them
Identify/Plan what effective practices will support your proposed approach
Identify/Plan how you will know if the approach you followed has been successful/effective
Identify/Plan how much will all this cost to achieve the objectives.

SOE-SI Wizard

Go to Stage 3

Follow the following steps when using the Wizard:

The following guidelines will assist you with creating your SIP and sending it for evaluation and possible funding (if applicable).

NOTE: You must, at a minimum at least try to follow these steps:

Stage 1: Start with Planning your SoE-SI project
Stage 2: Collect and create the framework/outline of your SI project plan
Stage 3: This SoE-SI Wizard framework
Stage 4: Share and collaborate your SI project plan (approach) with your peers/colleagues
Stage 5: Amend your SI Project approach (where applicable)
Stage 6: Use the online form to capture all the content/data of your SoE-SI project plan for your (Draft) SIP
Stage 7: Use the output of your (Draft) SI proposal with recommendations from your evaluator(s) to create your (Final) SI proposal

Requirements Gathering

Go to Stage 2

When choosing a journal to publish your research, you strive for one with the most reach (scale) and impact (scope) in your discipline.

When crafting a SI plan, a similar approach is applied. Gather your requirements and strive to build partnerships that can help you achieve your desired reach and impact with a target audience not just for the duration covered by your SI proposal, but partnerships that could thrive and grow over the course of your career.

Determine: Who will you work with?:

Everyone on your team should have clearly defined roles and tasks that reflect their motivations to contribute to the project and produce measurable Societal Impact (SI) results.
By being thoughtful about identifying the right partners and target audience in the proposal writing phase, you will ensure a positive experience for all involved when you are funded.

Determine: How and where will you work with them?

When deciding whom to select as a target audience, you should contemplate how they will benefit from the proposed SI activity. When considering the potential target audiences below, keep in mind NRF's commitment to Societal Impact participation in HDI-STEM.

Focus your efforts on:

Engaging with underrepresented groups and diverse institutions across all geographical regions
Supporting the preparation of a diverse, globally-engaged science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (HDI-STEM) workforce
Integrating your research with education
Building infrastructure and capacity
And most importantly, think about working with your target audience and partners instead of doing something for them.

Partners & Target Audience:

Partners can help you accomplish your goals and result in a positive impact on your target audience.

Collaboration

Go to Stage 4

To assist researchers and project proposal writers in developing effective Societal Impact projects, the CEU has compiled several relevant references to assist you in your planning. These literature connections align with the general Target Audiences we tend to focus on.

The following guidelines will assist you with creating your SIP and sending it for evaluation and possible funding.

Relevant References:

Partners / Partnerships
Costing / Budgeting templates
Relevant Literature references
Project success criteria to determine the effectiveness of your SoE-SI project plan
Relevancy of your SoE-SI research on Society

SOE-SI Amendments

Go to Stage 5

Amend your SoE-SI Project approach (where applicable).

As a reminder, this SI Wizard provides support in defining the key elements of an effective SoE for Societal Impact (SI) plan.

The Wizard will help researchers answer these important questions:

Who will I work with?
How and where will I work with them?
What effective practices support my proposed approach?
How will I know if I have been successful/effective?
And how much will all this cost?

Creation & Storage of SIP

Go to Stage 6

Use the online form wizard to capture all the content/data of your (Draft) SoE-SI proposal. The output will be stored in our SoE-SI central database.

This SoE-SI Online form Wizard provides support in defining the key elements of an effective Societal Impact (SI) plan.

The online form focuses on researchers to answer these important questions:

Who will I work with?
How and where will I work with them?
What effective practices support my proposed approach?
How will I know if I have been successful/effective?
And how much will all this cost?

The online form wizard will also provide ‘hints & tips’ in every section of the online capture of your SI content/data to create a (Draft) Societal Impact Proposal to be reviewed by the relevant stakeholders (where applicable).

Creation & Storage of SIP

Go to Stage 7

Use the content/outline of your (Draft) Societal Impact Proposal (SIP) you created to complete the (FINAL) version of your SoE for Societal Impact Proposal (SIP). Send this version for evaluation (if applicable) & submit for funding.

Now that you have gone through the online form wizard and collected your notes, you're ready to start writing your SoE-SI project plan into the (FINAL) version of your SoE for Societal Impact proposal (SIP).

What should you do NEXT?

Things to think about …

What do you think your audience will be able to do/say/feel, etc. as a result of this SoE-SI activity?
How and where will I work with them?
What, if any, products will come out of this activity?
What are the long-term outcomes of this activity?
How will it impact your audience in the future?

NOTE: as a reminder

Upload a copy of your (FINAL) SoE for Societal Impact Proposal (SIP) to the SoE-SI Repository (Database) or alternatively ask your Faculty SoE-SI coordinator to assist.

SipSumm