Participant Information Sheet: Communicating research beyond academia / konfer collaboration clinic

Title of study: Developing Business-Aware Academics

Researcher name: Dr Jo Bowler

You are being invited to take part in an academic research study. Before you decide to participate in this study, it is important that you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take the time to read the following information carefully.

Purpose of the research 

The Developing Business-Aware Academics (DBAA) project brings together academics, industry, non-profits and policy makers to inspire collaborative and impactful research that addresses today’s most urgent societal and environmental challenges. The project is designing initiatives that will offer doctoral and early-career researchers from all disciplines the knowledge, skills, and networking opportunities to engage effectively beyond academia.

Communicating research beyond academia is a pilot workshop that is intended to offer an introduction to jargon-free research communication, to prepare participants for connecting with non-academic organisations. The in-person workshop will be delivered by an experienced member of the DBAA team. Participants will actively engage in practical activities designed to help them begin to consider, design and deliver messages with clarity for non-academic audiences. Evaluation surveys will be conducted before and after the event. The results will contribute to the project evidence base and will help to refine future iterations of the session.

Konfer collaboration clinic is a pilot workshop that is intended to introduce researchers to konfer, one of the main UK-based digital platforms for networking between academics and businesses. Delivered by the konfer team at the National Centre for Universities and Business, the workshop prepares participants to present ideas, build partnerships and accelerate knowledge exchange between academia and industry. Evaluation surveys will be conducted before and after the event.

Who is doing this research? 

The lead researcher of this study is Professor Alison Truelove. Professor Truelove is an Associate Professor in the University of Exeter Business School. Other researchers on the team include Dr Jo Bowler, Dr Kate Ellis, Rachel Vowles and Dr Felipe Nascimento Rodrigues.

Ethical review of this Research 

This study has been reviewed by the University of Exeter Business School Research Ethics Committee and received a favourable review. The review reference is 10129498. The Business School Ethics Committee  may be contacted by email via the Co-Director, Steven Boyne, S.Boyne@exeter.ac.uk and Co-Director, Dr Helena Fornwagner, H.Fornwagner@exeter.ac.uk.

Procedures of this study 

The pilot workshops will be run with small groups of participants to assess the effectiveness and suitability of the sessions for inclusion in the wider DBAA programme. Evaluation questionnaire surveys before and after the workshops invite participants to share their views on how the workshops have equipped them for engaging with organisations beyond academia and their perception of their confidence and capabilities before and after the events. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected using open and closed questions including some scored on a Likert scale and with free text boxes for further information.

Further follow-up questions may be sent to participants by email one month and six months after the workshops to assess the longer-term impacts.

We will also take observational notes during the sessions themselves, so that we can improve the process of delivering of these workshops in the future and add to research outputs so that others can learn from the insights that we gain. We will not observe individual behaviours or responses during the workshops. The observational data will not contain any personal data (data that would allow an individual to be identified).

Benefits and risks of taking part 

As these are pilot initiatives, that have not yet been evaluated, we cannot guarantee any immediate direct or personal benefit to participants. However, the workshops have been designed to support researchers develop the skills, confidence and networks to connect with organisations beyond academia that participants may find useful in their career. We anticipate the evaluation questionnaire results will inform future development and refinement of training and development initiatives in business skills, competencies and mindsets for doctoral and early-career researchers that would be of general benefit to researchers. There may be some benefit to society; but this cannot be assured at the start of the research project. There are no risks to taking part in this research greater than that which you may encounter on a daily basis in your normal life. If you feel any discomfort or doubt about taking part, you can stop at any time. The well-being of participants is our primary consideration, and you can meet with an experienced member of the research team to discuss your participation before and after the events should you wish to do so.

Voluntary participation and your right to withdraw 

Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. You are under no obligation to take part, and you may stop at any time. As set out above, the project team will take general observational notes during the session, but the evaluation questionnaire is the only research data being collected from you from this event. If you stop before completing the evaluation questionnaire, your information will not be saved, and your responses will not be considered in the analysis of the survey results. You will be given a unique participant number upon registration. If you wish to withdraw your evaluation data after completing the event, inform the researcher, citing the participant number. The researcher will remove your data and send you confirmation of the removal. You will not be able to have your data withdrawn after the results have been published. Publication of the results is likely to take at least six weeks from the date of completion of the questionnaire.

Anonymity 

Your participant data will be link-anonymised; your name and contact details will not appear in the evaluation dataset, but will be linked through the consent form, so that the researcher can contact you with follow-up questions or withdraw any data on your behalf, if required. Some personal characteristics such as age, ethnicity, gender and disability will be linked from the consent form to the evaluation data, to ensure that research findings and outputs are inclusive and accessible. An anonymised version of your evaluation data will be shared with the Konfer team, via a secure SharePoint folder controlled by access permissions. This is so Konfer can learn from the evaluation and work with the DBAA team to improve future iterations of the workshop.

The Data Controller for this research is the University of Exeter. You may contact the Information Governance office of the University of Exeter by emailing dataprotection@exeter.ac.uk 

University of Exeter Data Protection for Research Statement 

Microsoft Forms privacy statement

The Results 

Results will be published or presented in academic papers and presentations. If you wish to be updated about the results of this study, please email dbaa@exeter.ac.uk.

Consent 

• I have read and understand the information provided above.
• I understand that my participation is voluntary.
• I understand that I may withdraw and stop participating at any time during the pilot initiatives and / or survey without detriment.
• I understand that the sessions themselves will not be recorded, but that the researchers may take their own notes.
• I understand that, once submitted, my data will be link-anonymous to the researcher, meaning that my name and contact details will not be linked to the evaluation survey responses, but will be linked through this consent form, so that the researcher can withdraw my data, should I request that.
• I understand that once submitted, my data will be fully anonymised prior to publication and cannot be withdrawn once published.
• I understand that my anonymised evaluation data will be shared with the Konfer team, to inform their quality improvement.
• I understand that my anonymised data will be deposited into a data repository for long-term preservation and sharing.

If you have any questions or you are interested in finding out more about this research you may contact the researcher, Jo Bowler, by email at J.Bowler2@exeter.ac.uk.