This week, I attended the last session in a series on valorisation at Uppsala University, titled “Do Research with Impact in Mind”. This seminar series turned out to be a very inspiring event and brought lots of ideas on how research can contribute to society, not just through publications but by becoming part of real-world solutions, services, and policies. The seminar series was organized by UU Innovation, a support function at Uppsala University that offers guidance and support for researchers to explore potential ways for their research to achieve societal impact.
The seminar focused on valorisation, described as the process of translating research and knowledge into societal or economic value. This could mean anything from influencing policy and public health to developing new technologies, services, or educational approaches. Valorisation is not just about commercialization but about recognising the broader potential of research to shape the society around us. This definitely broadened my initial view of the types of research that could create societal impact.
To me, one of the most interesting points from the seminar series was the “professor’s privilege,” which means that teachers at Swedish universities own the rights to their research results. Despite the name, this applies not only to professors but to all researchers at the university and means that we have the possibility to choose if, how, and when our results might be used outside academia. That is a powerful opportunity, but also a responsibility.
The key takeaways from the seminars were to plan for impact early in the research process and that societal impact can take many shapes and forms. Overall, it was an inspiring event that made me reflect on the broader potential of research and how impact can (and perhaps should) be part of our research process from the very beginning.