Overview

Cornerstones of Impact Management is a comprehensive and practical guide to all aspects of impact management. It provides insights and expertise from leading practitioners from around the world, who have decades of experience in starting impact management from scratch, shifting cultures, developing systems and processes, and establishing leading-edge practices. It explores planning, implementing, scaling and assessing impact interventions, particularly within research and innovation, and policy, contexts. Whether you’re a seasoned impact practitioner or just starting your journey, Cornerstones of Impact Management is the definitive resource for understanding and optimising the impact contribution of your project, team, organisation or broader system of operation. It provides invaluable insights for researchers and research managers, policy makers, evaluators, knowledge mobilisers and quality improvement practitioners.

Full Product Details

Author:   Anne-Maree Dowd (CSIRO, Australia) ,  Thomas Keenan ,  Kathryn Graham
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.790kg
ISBN:  

9781041125150

ISBN 10:   1041125151
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   07 October 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Foreword iii Acknowledgement of contributors (in alphabetical order) ix Preface x Introduction: The foundations of impact xi Cornerstone 1. estABLIsH tHe ConteXt For IMPACt 1 1. Impact by design 3 With contributions from Anne-Maree Dowd, Karen Cosgrove, Kathryn Graham, Alex Pollitt and Mark Taylor Engagement 4 Leadership 11 Impact is an asset 15 Source material 23 Helpful links or resources 24 2. Inspiring and fostering a positive impact culture 25 With contributions from Kathryn Graham, Reesa John, Paula Adam, Karen Cosgrove, Anne-Maree Dowd and Thomas Keenan What is an ‘impact culture’? 25 Impact culture readiness: The four key components 27 Strategies for fostering a positive impact culture 39 Source material 42 Helpful links or resources 43 3. Managing your culture shift 44 With contributions from Kathryn Graham, Paula Adam, Anne-Maree Dowd and Thomas Keenan A model for managing complex change for impact 45 Your impact capacity 48 Taking a team-based approach 51 Attracting the right talent 53 Source material 57 Helpful links or resources 57 4. Mitigating risks to impact 58 With contributions from Peter Duffy, Anne-Maree Dowd and Thomas Keenan The nature of risk to achieving impact 58 Practical approaches for identifying and analysing risks to impact 60 Risk mitigation and management in impact management 61 Source material 68 Helpful links or resources 68 v vi Cornerstones of Impact Management Cornerstone 2. PLAn For IMPACt 69 5. Integrated impact planning approaches and processes 71 With contributions from Thomas Keenan, Kathryn Graham, Anne-Maree Dowd, Gert Balling, Mark Taylor and Adam Kamenetzky Impact frameworks can help guide your planning 73 Types of impact planning approaches 75 Impact planning in practice 83 Source material 94 Helpful links or resources 94 6. Communication and engagement at the planning stage 96 With contributions from Alex Pollitt, Anne-Maree Dowd, Mark Taylor, Kathryn Graham, Adam Kamenetzky and Thomas Keenan The need to communicate and engage when planning an impact intervention 96 Who do you need to communicate and engage with when planning for impact? 99 Understanding and engaging relevant parties at the impact planning stage 101 Planning for knowledge mobilisation: Harnessing intellectual capital 105 The relationship between knowledge mobilisation and implementation science 107 Source material 110 Helpful links or resources 110 7. Risks at the planning stage 112 With contributions from Peter Duffy and Anne-Maree Dowd The nature of risk to achieving impact (revisited) 112 Risk identification at the impact planning stage 113 When and how to address your risks to achieving impact for an intervention 114 Source material 120 Helpful links or resources 120 Cornerstone 3. IMPLeMent, sCALe AnD Assess IMPACt 121 8. Monitoring progress and risk 124 With contributions from Anne-Maree Dowd, Kathryn Graham and Thomas Keenan What is ‘monitoring’ and why do you need to monitor your impact pathway? 124 Measuring impact in practice: Steps in planning and conducting impact monitoring 125 Technological innovations in monitoring 157 Monitoring of risk 158 Source material 160 Helpful links or resources 161 9. Why and when to undertake impact evaluation 162 With contributions from Anne-Maree Dowd What is an impact evaluation? 162 Why is an impact evaluation needed? 163 When is it the best time to conduct an impact assessment or evaluation? 165 How do I know I am ready to evaluate? 166 Who do I involve in an impact evaluation? 166 Contents vii To what extent do you involve others in an impact evaluation? 168 When do I start to develop my evaluation approach? 169 Source material 174 Helpful links or resources 175 10. Impact evaluation principles and approaches 176 With contributions from Anne-Maree Dowd Establish your purpose, audience and questions 176 Ensuring you are on the same page when it comes to impact 177 What are the different evaluation designs to choose from? 179 How do you select an appropriate design for an impact evaluation? 180 The types of questions you could ask and answer 181 Aggregating and comparability of impacts across your portfolio 182 Challenge of measuring and reporting aggregated impacts from a diverse portfolio 183 Structuring your impact evaluation report 185 Source material 187 Helpful links or resources 187 11. The role of economics in assessing impact 188 With contributions from Alan O’Connor and Amanda Walsh What is economics and how is it linked to impact? 188 Economics is much more than financial analysis 189 How does economics help us understand benefits 191 What is the role of economic evaluations and who uses them? 192 How do we ‘monetise’ benefits? 193 Source material 195 12. Assessing the value of impacts 196 With contributions from Alan O’Connor, Amanda Walsh, Jasper Buys and Anne-Maree Dowd Economic analysis designs 197 Non-economic analysis designs 210 Source material 225 Helpful links or resources 228 13. Quality assurance for impact assessments 230 With contributions from Alan O’Connor, Amanda Walsh and Anne-Maree Dowd Overarching quality assurance checklist 231 Understanding the differences between attribution versus contribution in impact assessments 233 How counterfactuals support impact evaluations 234 Ensure credible attribution and counterfactual scenarios 235 Particular areas to watch for and question in economic evaluations 236 Source material 240 Helpful links or resources 240 viii Cornerstones of Impact Management 14. The art of making impact visible 241 With contributions from Anne-Maree Dowd, Alex Pollitt, Thomas Keenan, Kathryn Graham and Peter Duffy Key principles and approaches to communicating impact findings 242 Raising awareness of impact findings within your organisation 248 Integrating findings into continual improvement processes 251 Embedding impact findings into risk mitigation 253 Source material 256 Helpful links or resources 257 Cornerstone 4. FUtUre settInG For IMPACt 259 15. Forecasting impact: Potential value from innovation 261 With contributions from Anne-Maree Dowd, Paula Adam and Kathryn Graham The importance of potential impacts 261 Leading indicators for assessing the impact from interventions 264 Advancements in data analytics and modelling techniques for impact predictions 266 Enhancing the reach, significance and speed of innovations 268 Maximising the reach and significance of policy-facilitated impact 269 Enhancing absorptive capacity for industry 270 Source material 272 Helpful links or resources 273 16. What’s on the horizon for the impact field 274 With contributions from Anne-Maree Dowd, Paula Adam, Pavel Ovseiko and Karen Cosgrove A global imperative for impactful progress in the R&I ecosystem 274 Knowledge mobilisation: Unlocking the potential for a transformed future 277 Integrating system level challenges into impact planning and assessment 279 The distribution of consequence from innovations 280 Responsible innovation 282 Unveiling bias in impact investing and addressing ‘impact washing’ 282 Towards a more inclusive and participatory impact assessment 283 Embedding gender equality considerations 285 Conducting interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary impact assessments 288 Capturing the value of shared knowledge, open access publications, and collaborative networks 290 Leveraging advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) tools for impact assessment 292 Developing talent with impact thinking and impact competency 294 Source material 296 Helpful links or resources 297 Glossary 298 Bibliography 304 Index 315

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Author Information

Anne-Maree Dowd PhD is the Executive Manager of Performance and Evaluation at Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. She has led the impact agenda within CSIRO since 2014 and has been involved at the international level on research impact. Thomas Keenan PhD is the director of Tractuum, an impact management consultancy based in Queensland, Australia. He led the planning and evaluation activities of the CSIRO Impact Team from 2016 to 2019 and continues to support the advancement of the CSIRO approach to impact management as a consultant. Kathryn Graham PhD, FCAHS is a Professor of Research Impact Assessment at the University of Calgary, Canada, and was previously at Alberta Innovates. Her name is synonymous with advancing both the science and practice of impact. She has 30 years of experience in advising impact driven organisations on how to strategically design, measure, scale and maximise their impact performance.

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