Communities for impact: Empowering early-career researchers in the pursuit of impact

Abstract

Impact-driven early-career researchers are conducting research that matters and generating insights that help tackle grand challenges. While this group is passionate about transforming organizations and society, these researchers tend to be held back by institutional barriers and to be marginalized in academia. We propose the concept communities for impact as spaces to help researchers (especially early-career researchers) cope with the challenges of impact-driven research. These communities can give their members a voice, legitimate their actions, and provide resources for unleashing the impact potential of their research. Communities for impact may be able to mitigate the uncertainties and challenges experienced by early-career researchers, but they cannot eliminate persistent institutional barriers. Therefore, we invite scholars at all career stages to join a community for impact to help change the narrative and empower early-career researchers to meaningfully address grand challenges.