Lights, camera, impact! The Societal Impact Days 2024 at Erasmus University Rotterdam were nothing short of a dynamic celebration of our impact in education, research, and engagement. Over two action-packed days, attendees got to rethink the role of our university, build new connections and discover what we see as impact and engagement.
In case you have missed the events, this article will take you through some of the key moments of the two-day event in words and pictures.
Impact-Driven Education
On Monday October 14 the Societal Impact Days kicked off with an inviting walk-in lunch, offering attendees the perfect opportunity to mingle and exchange ideas before digging into the topic of the day: impact-driven education.
President of the Executive Board Annelien Bredenoord officially opened the event with words that are at place of such a celebration: “We are proud of the impact we have created over the past four years, and it’s only the start. We will continue to work towards an impact-driven university during the next strategic period.”
Impact at the Core has been a key player in building the foundation of impact-driven education at our university, but as we are stepping into the future, it’s time to hand over the work and trust that the Schools will continue to build upon the foundation that has been laid. That’s why the symbolic handover took place when Bredenoord received the Learning Landscape for Impact-Driven Education.
A truly inspiring example of impact-driven education was presented by Taslim Alade during his keynote on “Enhancing Societal Impact Through Impact-Driven Education” based on the Sustainable Business Model course of the Global Business and Sustainability track from RSM. His speech was followed by a Q&A session with a student, Esmay Zwartjes and an external partner, Geertje van Bavel from Fabienne Chapot, which showcased the importance of impact-driven education for both students and societal partners.
Impact Insights in Research, Education and Engagement
On Tuesday October 15, the Societal Impact Days moved from campus to the city as the event took place at Blue City Zalen. This switch of location emphasized that true impact can only be created together with society.
Over the past four years, societal impact has been at the core of EUR’s strategy. This does not mean that impact is something new as we have been creating impact for years already, but now our efforts have been intensified. We have learned that impact is complex and dynamic, and that there are many challenges to face. We have also learned that impact is a team effort and that it is a contribution that we want and must make with society. The event was a true celebration of our impact as a university, which became even more visible when the Evaluating Societal Impact (ESI) project presented the “Impact Report” to Maarten IJzerman and Harriet Schelhaas (as chairs of the steering board for Strategy 2030). The report showcases many inspiring stories of how our community has worked to enable and achieve positive societal impact.
Moreover, during an interactive and lively Impact Inspiration Fair, diverse initiatives, centers and organisations showcased how they work towards creating positive societal impact, emphasising that impact is created together. Some of these include the Convergence, Design Impact Transition (DIT), Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA), Engagement and Research Services (ERS), Erasmus Verbindt, Impact Centre Erasmus, UNIC and many more!
After this walk-in lunch, Impact Inspiration Fair and launch of the Impact Report, Mags Bradbury (Head of Social Responsibility & Civic Engagement, the University of Manchester) delivered the first keynote speech on the path to being a socially responsible and civic university. Some of her main take-aways were “to really listen, to the good and the bad of what people tell you and to be prepared to work on someone else’s agenda.“ She was followed by prof. Inge Hutter (Professor of participatory and qualitative research in population and development at EUR), who delivered a keynote on unlocking the potential of EUR for societal engagement. She explained that this requires us to look internally “into our organizational development and cultural change to best enable engagement.”
At the heart of the day were interactive sessions focused on impact through research, education and engagement. Attendees were encouraged to explore how our educational programs, research projects, and engagement practices can be further aligned with societal needs, ensuring that our university plays its part in driving societal change. Hosts of the interactive sessions, for example, presented concrete tools that can be used, shared good practices and lessons learned, or collected input for the development of Strategy 2030.
The day ended and was beautifully summarized with a performance by Nienke Leone van der Velde, who wrote and composed a song about societal impact and the various reflections of attendees during the day. The song is called ‘Impact is a pretty scary word’ and it captures the thoughts and feelings of many of us when it comes to creating impact: it referred to the needs and challenges, but also highlighted its importance and the need for intrinsic motivation by ending with:
‘Impact is the prettiest of words
Cause it means that we care about our work
And it’s never really finished
But if your heart is really in it
Then it’s only just beginning
Then this glass roof ain’t the limit’
In summary, the Societal Impact Days 2024 were a successful blend of knowledge-sharing, reflection and action, leaving attendees with a lot of inspiration, moments of connection, and renewed energy to making a lasting impact on society.
