33546Communications and impact management for research projects and programmesClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKResearch knowledge has traditionally been communicated as results published in peer-reviewed journals. Although journals are now available online, and open access versions are available for many articles, the primary format of scholarly communication - which has remained much the same since the 17th century - is not fit for purpose in an era where research funders increasingly seek to broaden the reach and impact of the work they fund. More cutting-edge approaches to communication present a huge opportunity to broaden awareness, engagement and outcomes of research. Funders around the world recognise this, and are strongly encouraging (and in some cases mandating) that researchers achieve and demonstrate broader impact for their work. This requires (a) a more strategic approach to communication, (b) activities designed to reach audiences beyond academia and (c) communication from earlier stages in the research cycle to increase engagement of, feedback from, and co-design with relevant stakeholders. However, despite a growing level of funding allocated to research communication, there is a gap between what researchers are expected to do (to reach and engage broader audiences), and their skills and capacity to do it. Kudos is building tools to address that gap. We will provide a platform to enable researchers to plan, action, manage and evaluate their communications - helping accelerate and broaden the positive impact of their research in the world. We also aim to help universities, funders and publishers understand and support these activities, so the entire research community can work together to share knowledge effectively to improve global health, wealth and happiness. This project will enable us to develop and launch a prototype "communications and impact management toolset" for research groups, which can be used to help teams work together collaboratively to accelerate and increase the impact potential of their work. These tools will enable researchers to: a) showcase their projects and programmes throughout the lifetime of the project, in language that is easy for a broad audience to understand; b) use a simple communications planning "wizard" to identify target audiences and goals, put together an action list, and allocate tasks to group members for implementation; c) access a range of metrics for projects and publications, all together in one place; d) create reports and output data for funders and universities to evidence reach and engagement; and e) learn which activities are most effective so they can constantly improve their potential for impact.