While undertaking your research you may hear a lot of talk about "impact". Impact is not just the effect of your work upon academic discourse, but also the societal impact of your work - how it contributes to reframing public debates, illuminating policy and regulatory issues, and shifting economic policy. One of the ways you can cultivate your research impact is by developing your public engagement skills.   

Public engagement means bringing researchers and the public together. In this section. The University's Public Engagement office provides a number of different training opportunities for students looking to develop their communication skills in new and creative ways. In addition to providing training in practical skills such as illustration, filmmaking, animation, podcasting, creative writing and social media engagement, the Public Engagement office's Engaged Researcher training portfolio is designed to help students find their confidence and identify resources and platforms that will enable them to connect with new audiences in imaginative ways. Students can sign up for the Rising Stars or the Cambridge Creative Encounters programs, or apply to the Public Engagement Starter Fund to host an event of their own devising.

The Cambridge Festival is an interdisciplinary event that aims to bring together researchers and intellectuals from across the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, social sciences, the arts, and the humanities to showcase the world-leading research taking place at the University of Cambridge. Postgraduate researchers are welcome to submit event proposals to the festival each year around up to two of the festival's four key themes: Society, Health, Environment, and Explore. If you would like to co-ordinate an event, there is more information on their Coordinators' page, while further information about the festival can be found by visiting the website, or by checking out the festival's Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube channel.  

Another means of disseminating your research beyond the university is through industrial partnerships and connections. Cambridge Enterprise is an organisation that exists within the university to help connect researchers with business. Whether this is through helping researchers engage in entrepreneurship and consultancy, or through advising researchers how best to develop and license their ideas and secure funding, Cambridge Enterprise seeks to help researchers identify potential avenues of commercialisation for their intellectual property and expertise. Cambridge Enterprise runs monthly drop-ins with its technology transfer, consultancy services and seed fund teams, and provides a range of training sessions throughout the year aimed to help students identify and pursue commercial avenues for their research.