We’re continuing a series of posts to mark 10 years of the UK Data Service Data Impact Fellows scheme, celebrating the many high points and looking forward to applications for the 2027-2028 cohort.
Over the past few months, the UK Data Service Impact team have been asking Data Impact Fellows – past and present – about their experiences of the scheme.
Why did they apply in the first place? What did they do with their Fellowship funding? What did they get out of the scheme? And, perhaps most importantly, what stayed with them after the Fellowship ended?
In part 1, Finn Dymond-Green looked back at how the scheme has developed over the past decade. In part 2 they highlighted some of the projects, activities and achievements that Fellows have delivered with support of the programme.
This post brings some more of those conversations to life.
It explores the motivations that brought early career researchers to the scheme, and how two years as a Data Impact Fellow changed the way that many of them think about impact itself.
The 2023 cohort of Data Impact Fellows
Why did the Fellows apply?
Ask a Data Impact Fellow why they applied to the scheme, and you will hear the same word again and again: impact.
For most Fellows, applying wasn’t just about adding another credential to their CV. It was about a frustration that they were already sitting with: how could they make good research reach beyond the academic world and contribute to wider conversations, understanding and change.
“I am fully behind the idea that research should have impact. Too often, in my view, academics produce really interesting research that the public and policymakers are unaware of – rather than leading to change. […] The DIF scheme was an opportunity for me to think about how I can create impact with my research.”
Ben Brindle, Data Impact Fellow 2019
Ten years and many cohorts later, this same instinct – wanting research to matter – is still drawing people to the scheme.
“I wasn’t entirely sure where to even start, and so the fact that this scheme has really been about learning different ways to maximise research impact… This was definitely a main motivator for me to apply in the first place.”
Michaela Pawley, Data Impact Fellow 2025
The research areas, career stages and experiences of Fellows have changed over the years, but the underlying motivation has remained remarkably consistent: to do something with research, rather than simply publish it.
The 2019 cohort of Data Impact Fellows
What did Fellows get out of it?
The Data Impact Fellow scheme gives early career researchers two main things: funding to try something new and practical support to make it happen.
Over ten years, Fellows have used this to create public events, organise conferences, develop creative projects, build communication skills and reach new audiences.
You can read some of these stories in part 2 of this series – from Ben’s Changing Perceptions Challenge to Bram’s Living Library and Esmeralda’s postgraduate conference.
A shift in how Fellows think about ‘impact’
But, when we sat down with the Fellows, often the lasting change from the scheme wasn’t just about these outputs – it was a change in how they think about impact and engagement.
“While I was a Data Impact Fellow, my understanding of impact really changed. It’s not just about people seeing the work you’ve done, but also about that then leading to some sort of change.
It doesn’t need to be grand, it doesn’t need to end up with a vote in Parliament. But whether that’s just changing somebody’s perspective or having somebody mention your research to other people, just that change in mindset is enough.”
Ben Brindle, Data Impact Fellow 2019
For Bram, the shift was about widening what counts as impact in the first place, particularly from the perspective of being an early career researcher.
“Impact does not mean necessarily a parliamentary question or an opinion piece in a newspaper. While that’s very important, I think this is often something that happens at higher levels with people who have lots of experience and connections.
There are other ways of impact. It can be more on the street, more local, in a neighbourhood or in a library. So impact is actually kind of a broad church.”
Bram Vanhoutte, Data Impact Fellow 2016
And for James, this shift went further still.
“It opened up the door to understanding how different stakeholders are trying to influence policy making and how communication can be different between lots of types of research and the stakeholders that you’re trying to influence.”
James Cockett, Data Impact Fellow 2019
Fellows have picked apart this same question in writing over the years, asking themselves – what does impact mean to me?
Esmeralda wrote about how difficult impact is to measure as an early career researcher – weighing citation counts and download figures against harder-to-quantify feedback. Even then, she suspected that shifting one person’s thinking might matter more than being cited by a roomful of scholars.
That questioning has stayed with her and followed her into new roles and projects, and has become part of how she approaches research more broadly.
“I prioritise impact in all my work. It goes beyond considering the ‘So what?’ question.”
Esmeralda Bon, Data Impact Fellow 2017
It’s a realisation that runs through other Fellow’s reflections on the scheme too – from the 2023 Fellow’s account of reaching the end of their Fellowship to Sarah Knight’s, a 2019 Fellow, thoughts on what being a Fellow meant to her.
2026 Impact event for early career researchers
A lasting legacy
This, perhaps, is one of the most important legacies of the Fellowship: a lasting change in how researchers think about what impact can look like – and who gets to be part of creating it.
Across ten years of Fellows, that shift shows up again and again: in the questions they ask of their own research, in the audiences they now think to reach, and in the confidence to try something that doesn’t look like a typical academic output.
These things – a motivation for impact, a questioning of what impact is, and a confident to pursue it differently – will continue to shape the scheme as we search for our next cohort.
We’ll shortly be launching applications for the next round of the UK Data Service Data Impact Fellows scheme.
About the author
Eve Little is the Research Impact and Engagement Manager at the UK Data Service.
Before joining the UK Data Service, she worked in student support and wellbeing, and in participatory research evaluation with underrepresented communities.
Comment or question about this blog post?
Please email us!