The course provides an understanding for the dimensions, processes, and effect mechanisms of societal impact and offers multiple possible forms to translate academic knowledge to specific audiences.
Impact beyond academia is a core aim of any research endeavor and currently receives increasing attention from research organizations and science funders. In the Netherlands for instance ‘Relevance to society’ is one of three criteria in the national protocol for research assessments.
dr. Lalin Anik
Lalin Anik is an Associate Professor of Marketing and the Director of the MBA in International Business Program at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Previously, she was a visiting faculty at Columbia Business School, an Assistant Professor at University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. She holds a doctorate degree in Marketing from the Harvard Business School (2011) and a B.A. degree in Psychology and Business from Brandeis University.
Maria Carmen Punzi
Maria Carmen Punzi is a Post-Doctoral researcher, lecturer and consultant. Since 2017, she has bridged the academic, non-profit and corporate worlds to champion menstrual health as a critical yet overlooked component of gender equality. She currently co-leads a funded research project on the ethics of AI-driven period and fertility tracking apps at the KIN center of the Vrij Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work has been published in the Journal of Management Studies, the Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies and Contraception. As an engaged researcher and science communicator, she actively translates research into advocacy and social change, contributing to public debates and media pieces on Femtech, menstrual equity and reproductive rights.
Course Description
Impact beyond academia is a core aim of any research endeavor and currently receives increasing attention from research organizations and science funders. In the Netherlands for instance ‘Relevance to society’ is one of three criteria in the national protocol for research assessments. Despite the fact that impact is a key objective of academia, it hardly plays a role in the education of young scholars. That is why this course provides an introduction to different forms of societal impact as well as to different quality regimes. In the course, participants learn, which strategies scholars can apply to have societal impact, which methods work in which cases, and how to develop an impact strategy that fits the specific type of academic work the individual scholars are engaged in.
Please download the course manual here.
Study Characteristics
- Study period: January 2026 (Period 3)
- Credits: 2 ECTS
- Tuition fee: €500 (20% discount for early bird registration)
- Registration deadline: 18-12-2025 (early bird registration: 30-11-2025)
- Recommendation: We recommend students taking this course no sooner than in the second year of the PhD trajectory.
- Teaching methods: The course is taught in two blocks: an input block where we explain the fundamentals of academic impact and a workshop block in which students devise their own impact strategy. Each block will cover a full day. In between students have to work on an assignment, which will be presented in the second block.
- Assessment: Written impact strategy, presentation of assignments, attendance obligation. Students who miss more than 20% of the time are not eligible to pass the course.
- This course is only available for research master and PhD students.
- Admission requirements: All participants are expected to be proficient in English
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Course Description & Study Characteristics
Course Description
Impact beyond academia is a core aim of any research endeavor and currently receives increasing attention from research organizations and science funders. In the Netherlands for instance ‘Relevance to society’ is one of three criteria in the national protocol for research assessments. Despite the fact that impact is a key objective of academia, it hardly plays a role in the education of young scholars. That is why this course provides an introduction to different forms of societal impact as well as to different quality regimes. In the course, participants learn, which strategies scholars can apply to have societal impact, which methods work in which cases, and how to develop an impact strategy that fits the specific type of academic work the individual scholars are engaged in.
Please download the course manual here.
Study Characteristics
- Study period: January 2026 (Period 3)
- Credits: 2 ECTS
- Tuition fee: €500 (20% discount for early bird registration)
- Registration deadline: 18-12-2025 (early bird registration: 30-11-2025)
- Recommendation: We recommend students taking this course no sooner than in the second year of the PhD trajectory.
- Teaching methods: The course is taught in two blocks: an input block where we explain the fundamentals of academic impact and a workshop block in which students devise their own impact strategy. Each block will cover a full day. In between students have to work on an assignment, which will be presented in the second block.
- Assessment: Written impact strategy, presentation of assignments, attendance obligation. Students who miss more than 20% of the time are not eligible to pass the course.
- This course is only available for research master and PhD students.
- Admission requirements: All participants are expected to be proficient in English
Would you like to register or want to know more?
Both lecturers do not work at the VU. Please use the email of the course coordinator if you have any questions about the course.