NEW DATE: October 20, 2025, 12-1pm ET. 
 
Think SSHRC PG or CFREF or CERC or large scale NSERC Alliance. Even modest applications to health charities. Funders want to demonstrate the impact of research on the lives of Canadians but they can’t do it without research that is designed for impact from the beginning. Impact can’t wait till evaluation at the end (ex post) to see (ok…to hope) if something happened. Impact needs to be planned from the beginning (ex ante). Even at the beginning you need to know the future data, tools and systems for collecting the evidence of impact and then the format of communicating impact back to funders. Presenting ready to use tools, this session will connect the dots between impact planning and impact assessment especially for large scale grant programs that need to demonstrate the change that research has made in the world.
Presented by: David Phipps and Erica Conte

David Phipps, Ph.D. is the administrative lead for all research programs and their impacts on local and global communities at York University (Toronto, Canada). He has received honours and awards from the Canadian Association of Research Administrators, Institute for Knowledge Mobilization, International Network of Research Management Societies and the EU based Knowledge Economy Network. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work in knowledge mobilization and was named the most influential knowledge mobilizer in Canada. He sits on knowledge mobilization committees around the world and is Network Director for Research Impact Canada.



Erica Conte obtained her PhD in Physiology from Western University, following which she completed a CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellowship in Turin, Italy. She has diverse work experience in academics, industry and research administration. Within these roles she has developed expertise in research assessment, strategic planning, communication, institutional leadership, as well as both traditional and philanthropic research funding. At Unity Health Toronto, she is currently the Director of Funding Strategy and Stewardship, where she supports the full breath of health research spanning fundamental science through to translational research, health services/policy and knowledge translation. She also works closely with the hospital Foundations and major donors to incorporate research in major fundraising campaigns and events, and working as part the team developing a new responsible research evaluation framework at Unity Health Toronto. She has been an active member of the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA) since 2014, and is a member of the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) Research Evaluation Group, where she helps to develop tools to support responsible research assessment and improve our use of global and national rankings in research.




Event Date: 20 Oct 2025 | City: | Venue: Online