ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Award

Dr Christine Grant

Coventry’s ESRC IAA enabled the acceleration of impact from Christine’s research project: Disability, neurodiversity, and remote e-working: Promoting the creation of an inclusive workplace: Remote 4 All. Christine ran a webinar for the 2023 Festival of Social Sciences involving local SME stakeholders, which was co-delivered with the charity ‘neurobox’. Capitalising on the event’s success, short videos were produced outlining key findings and recommendations for employers and employees, resulting in considerable engagement across LinkedIn and other social media.

Christine also won Partnership Development Award funding to co-develop a Line-Manager Toolkit working with stakeholders including Vodafone, NHS Employers, UKAEA, neurobox, Costain and others. In May 2024, she presented written and oral evidence, recommending use of the toolkit, to the UK Work and Pensions Select Committee on Disability and Employability.

Professor Heaven Crawley and Dr Katharine Jones

The Migration for Development and Equality (MIDEQ) project aims to ensure that south-south migration reduces inequalities and contributes to development in six migration ‘corridors’. Katharine utilised IAA Follow-On Funding to disseminate MIDEQ's findings and policy recommendations to UN audiences at a symposium in Geneva, while also facilitating network-building between MIDEQ Global South scholars and international stakeholders.

This activity introduced new UN audiences, such as UN Women, to MIDEQ's work on gender, and has enabled the development of follow-up activities including a round table with UN Human Rights representatives, a second symposium to introduce new stakeholders to the network and a website with a stakeholder-facing research repository.

Read Katharine’s blog post about the symposium.

Professor Marina Orsini-Jones and Professor Katherine Wimpenny

Professor Orsini-Jones and Professor Wimpenny deployed IAA Rapid Response Funding to organise an international conference - and two follow-up workshops – to promote the results of research into Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) – Virtual Exchange with higher education stakeholders.

Underpinning research for this activity is part of a  global south-north project which focuses on female voices and a contextualised South African concept of Internationalisation of the Curriculum. IAA funds enabled 70 attendees from 17 countries to attend the three-day event between 18-21 March 2024, with many positive outcomes, including: testing of COIL toolkits, embedding COIL-VE into curricula, knowledge-sharing on research-informed COIL-VE South-North case studies and a rich array of subsequent collaborative endeavours including joint bids and publications, seminar participations and visiting professorships.

Read the blog post about these IAA-funded activities.

By Professor Maureen Meadows, Professor Nick Henry and Profesor Scot Delhunta

The Creative Accounting project investigated how creative methodologies can disrupt traditional business mindsets and promote integrated approaches in accounting. The research team used IAA Follow-On Funding to disseminate research findings and recommendations to accounting stakeholders at a participatory workshop in London in January 2024. A keynote speaker from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) opened the event and attendees were able to build networks across the accounting industry to influence professional collective action around sustainability and the digital economy.

Following the event, the research team have continued to engage with key accounting bodies including the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) to plan for future participatory activities around sustainability and the digital economy within the accounting industry.

By Professor David Bek

David’s ESRC IAA funding helped to establish a multi-stakeholder group drawn from different parts of the UK cut-flower industry, comprising small-scale grower florists, event florists, wholesalers and suppliers into retailers. The group was established to tackle the sustainability challenges arising from usage of plastics and packaging and the creation of waste by the floriculture sector. The development of the group is based upon David’s extensive research into promoting the value of sustainable practice in global flower supply chains. Since June 2023, the group has met regularly to build networks and develop sustainable solutions for UK floriculture packaging and waste. This has culminated in the development of a guidance booklet targeted at florists in particular which will help people make better decisions in terms of managing plastics, packaging and waste issues within the floriculture sector. The booklet was launched as part of an event held by the working group at Coventry Cathedral on Thursday 26 September 2024. Click the video link below to see how Coventry University engages with the floriculture industry to promote sustainability. Video link  here.

By Professor Hazel Barrett and Dr Helen Liebling

Hazel and Helen utilised IAA funding to run a policy engagement event in November 2023 that engaged policy stakeholders in Uganda with the findings and project tools from their research which focused on improving cultural and gendered-sensitivity within the health and justice sectors for women and men refugee survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and torture living in Uganda. The event was attended by 26 stakeholders including representatives of UN Women, UNHCR, Refugee Office of The Prime Minister, Commanders of Refugee Settlements, the British High Commission, Medical Research Council and African Humanitarian Action (INGO) and was covered widely in the Ugandan media. A policy briefing for developing and implementing more culturally and gender sensitive services for refugees in Uganda was developed, with input from refugee experts and stakeholders that attended the event. The briefing has been shared with key stakeholders and refugees in Uganda and with the UK Government.