Six research teams from ENLIGHT universities have been selected as the new Impact Ambassadors within our alliance. These teams have distinguished themselves as trailblazers, setting new standards in planning and achieving tangible impact through their research. Over the coming months, they will serve as role models and inspirational figures for the broader research community across the ENLIGHT network.
Recognised as “Impact Awardees” during the prestigious Bilbao Impact event in June 2024, these ambassadors will carry the torch until the next edition, where new role models will be unveiled.
As ENLIGHT Impact Ambassadors, these teams will showcase their remarkable research impact pathways, raise awareness about the significance of research impact, and champion ENLIGHT's mission to drive meaningful change. Additionally, they will receive mobility grants, allowing them to attend a workshops or conference of their choice to further advance their impact-focused endeavors.
Diverse Researcher Profiles and Groundbreaking Initiatives
The awardees represent a diverse range of research profiles and topics, each addressing pressing global challenges. Meet the newly appointed ambassadors:
- CONN HOLOHAN, University of Galway: Immersive Empathy: Co-Creating Immersive Narratives on Home and Homelessness. This project is transforming social attitudes toward homelessness by empowering those who have experienced it to share their stories, boosting their self-confidence, and reshaping their sense of possibility. The methodology has already been recognized as a model of community engagement by service providers in Ireland and the US.
- GEORGE AZZOPARDI, University of Groningen: Enhancing National and Cross-Border Security: Automatic detection of Face Morphing Attacks. By developing cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning techniques, this project is significantly strengthening the integrity of identity verification processes, with impactful collaborations already established with the Dutch Driving Authority. The project has made significant strides in enhancing the security of identity documents and has led to improved detection techniques and contributed to National & EU security.
- INGE DE BO, Ghent University: EU-FarmBook: supporting knowledge exchange between all AKIS actors in the European Union. Aligned with the EU Green Deal, Farm to Fork objectives, and Impact of Digitization - an ENLIGHT focus area, this project enhances the management of agricultural and forestry data, usually self-published, ensuring that innovative practices are more accessible to end-users and intermediaries across Europe.
- KATHY REILLY, University of Galway: Challenging the Climate Crisis: Children’s Agency to Tackle Policy Underpinned by Learning for Transformation. Engaging over 2,000 young people, teachers and supporters of learning, this project is not only shaping youth perspectives on the climate crisis but is also influencing Irish governmental policies and civil society actions through co-created research and policy briefs. A policy brief was produced including recommendations for Irish Government Departments and civil society groups, which has so far informed the actions of two civil society education programmes & one regional climate action plan and it is being used by the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland.
- MARIA HÄGGLUND, Uppsala University: Nordic eHealth for Patients: Benchmarking & Developing for the Future. This project is pioneering ways to improve electronic health records (EHR) systems for patients and healthcare professionals, addressing significant challenges such as access issues and the prevalence of errors in EHR content. E.g. Loss of access to adolescents' EHR by minor and guardians due to poor policies.
- SANDER VAN LANEN, University of Groningen: Michi Noeki as social infrastructure and rest stop in the neighbourhood. In the realms of another focus area of ENLIGHT - equity, this project is impacting student learning, evaluating neighborhood interventions, and fostering professional networks between universities, municipalities, and community volunteers.
The Most Effective Pitch
During the ENLIGHT Impact event, runners-up received intensive coaching before presenting their projects. The audience had the opportunity to vote, and the most effective pitch was awarded to:
- Miren Itziar Alkorta, University of the Basque Country: Joint Research Laboratory on Environmental Antibiotic Resistance. Addressing the global health crisis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, this project is making strides in raising awareness and promoting measures to preserve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics. It has a direct impact on consumers, patients, health professionals, decision-makers and citizenship in general.
The next Impact Awards ceremony will take place at the University of Groningen during the second ENLIGHT Impact Conference on 27-28 March 2025. A call for new participants opens in autumn 2024 — this is your opportunity to join ENLIGHT's inspiring community and drive impactful change.
In the picture below are the 2024 Impact Ambassadors together with the most effective pitch awardee and the rector of the University of the Basque Country,Eva Ferreira García.