Accelerating Uptake, Use and Impact

ACCELERATE Uptake, Use, and Impact?

The ACCELERATE project seeks to support the VLIRUOS community and its stakeholders in creating the conditions for uptake, use, and real-world impact of higher education research and innovation insights.

This dynamic initiative is led by an interdisciplinary team of researchers and university administrators from UCuenca (Ecuador), MUST (Uganda), KU Leuven, and Hogeschool Gent (Belgium).

What is Uptake, Use and Impact?

Uptake is understood as the usof research and educational outputs from higher education institutions by non‑academic actors (or society at large). Creating the conditions for uptake refers to all activities that enable, facilitate, and actively promote the use of these results, with the aim of maximising their contribution to positive and sustainable societal impact.

What’s in it for you?

The project offers concrete opportunities to strengthen your practice. Through a series of open learning events, you can deepen your skills in areas such as knowledge communication, stakeholder engagement, capacity strengthening, and impact-oriented monitoring and evaluation. These sessions are designed to be practical and interactive, providing tools and approaches you can immediately apply in your own project.
In addition, the project is developing hands-on training modules tailored to the needs of VLIRUOS project teams. These modules, made available online, will support you in embedding uptake, use, and impact more systematically in your project design and implementation — from working with stakeholders to tracking and demonstrating results.
Behind the scenes, the project also works on aligning these efforts with VLIRUOS policy, ensuring that the support you receive is consistent with the outlined strategy.

Learning Events

The project will organise a series of five learning events (LE) addressing key dimensions of Uptake, Use and Impact (UUI) in research and education:

Learning Event 1 – Getting started (15 June 2026 – 15:00 to 17:30, Brussels time): introducing UUI and how to integrate uptake strategies into project design and the project cycle.
Build a clear understanding of uptake, use and impact, and learn how to integrate UUI in the project cycle. The session explores actor focused project design methods such as outcome mapping, Theory of Change, approaches for context analysis, and guidance on selecting appropriate uptake strategies.  
More information about the programme
Learning Event 2 – Knowledge communication (10 September 2026 - 15:00 - 17:30, Brussels time): approaches and tools for communicating research results to non-academic audiences.
Strengthen your ability to exchange knowledge in meaningful and effective ways.  Focus will be on strategies to disseminate research results and reach non-academic audiences. Topics include the role of knowledge intermediaries and brokers, science communication, dissemination channels (media, policy briefs, toolkits, videos, demonstration sites), and how to develop accessible communication products.

More information about the programme and the speakers can be found here
Register for this event through this link
Learning Event 3 – Stakeholder engagement (November 2026): identifying and involving relevant stakeholders to strengthen ownership and use of results.
Explore different approaches to identify relevant stakeholders, involve them throughout the project cycle, and foster ownership and trust in research outcomes. Examples include the establishment of an advisory board, training intermediaries and end-users, participatory research methods including citizen science and service learning as well as transdisciplinary collaboration.

Learning Event 4 – Building capacity for Uptake Use, and Impact (February 2027): skills and institutional mechanisms that support uptake and use of research results.
Discover approaches to strengthening capacities for both knowledge producers and knowledge users. Topics include skills for researchers, institutional support structures (e.g., technology transfer offices, incubators), and training methodologies such as training-of-trainers and experiential learning.

Learning Event 5 – Impact-oriented monitoring and evaluation (May 2027): approaches to monitor and capture uptake and impact throughout the project lifecycle.
Become more familiar with UUI-oriented monitoring and evaluation methods. The session will focus specifically on actor- and learning-centred  approaches that promote participation, results-based learning and adaptive management throughout the project cycle.

Get involved

Colleagues interested in collaborating on the project may do so in three ways:

Option 1: JOIN US AS SPEAKER: Sharing your expertise, experience or good practices related to one or more of the following sessions during the learning events.
Option 2: JOIN A LIGHT_TOUCH REFERENCE GROUP: Members may occasionally be invited to provide feedback (e.g., via email or a short form) on draft concepts or program outlines as preparation progresses.
Option 3: JOIN US AS PARTICIPANT: Attend the Learning events to expand your knowledge regarding these topics and connect with an international network of peers. (Recordings of the learning events will be made available on the VLIRUOS website)

If you are willing to contribute in either capacity, please fill out this form

Contact

If you have any questions, feel free to reach us at UUI.vliruos@gmail.com

Accelerate Uptake, Use and Impact - Introductory Webinar 20/02/2025 (ppt)