The Impact Unit

The Impact Unit is committed to strengthening impact orientation and meaningful evaluation in German science communication. To this end, it offers tools, analyses and individual advice. Workshops on the topics of evaluation, impact and quality facilitate the exchange and further training of various stakeholders. The Impact Unit’s entire range of services is free of charge and aimed at communicators, communicating researchers, decision-makers and funders of science communication.

We work at the interface between theory and practice of science communication. Within this framework we address questions concerning the desired impact of science communication, its target groups and the formats and channels which can be used to communicate scientific content effectively. To do so, our project is active in the following areas:

1. Tools for practice
   We develop extensive tools and information that practitioners can use to conduct meaningful evaluations of their science communication activities. These tools are complemented by an online evaluation platform that practitioners can use to evaluate their activities by means of quantitative surveys.
2. Consultation
   The Impact Unit provides personal and easy to understand advice on all questions related to your evaluation projects. We give you direct answers and individual approaches for meaningful evaluation.
3. Events and Networking
   Through our events we draw attention to the role of impact and evaluation for science communication. In workshops we present and test our evaluation tools for the community of practitioners. In our special program “Wissen, was wirkt”, we train communication professionals in scientific institutions to offer consultation and support in evaluation matters at their institutions. Moreover, the needs of our stakeholders are central to our project. The exchange with and establishment of close relations between actors from science communication research and practice as well as actors from science management and policy are key to our project. 
4. Analyses and insights about science communication
   The Impact Unit wants to contribute to filling knowledge gaps and perform a synthesis of scientific insights in order to make them accessible for science communication practice. To do so we collaborate with scientific partners and address open questions at the interface of science communication research and practice.

Resources

Since the Impact Unit is a project situated and active in Germany, most of the material we produce is provided only in German.

Nevertheless we believe that international cooperation is vital to improving science communication both in practice and in research and aim to contribute to ongoing international debates. To do so, we take part in international conferences to present our insights as well as our evaluation tools and offer workshops for researchers and practitioners to foster cooperation. We also aim to provide translations of the key analyses we have done in order to give international researchers and practitioners alike the opportunity to access our results.

Below you find links to all the English language material that we have produced in our project. The list is constantly updated.