Uniqueness of Geri approach

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Research by McKinsey highlights the importance of capability development for individual and organisational success (1). Engagement beyond academia is not new. However, limited attention has been paid to engagement capability development.

Investing in this increasingly matters because of:

  • The potential of research to make a difference in the world, particularly given the complexity and magnitude of so called ‘grand challenges’ and need for evidence based solutions

  • The scale of investment in research, and potential economic/societal benefits of research

  • Changing career opportunities inside and outside of academia

  • Changing funder / end user needs and expectations.

Helping people do so is the focus of Geri.

By design, informed by leading practice and refinement through client work, Geri is relevant:

  • Across academic disciplines / fields (e.g. science, humanities, education, business, arts)

  • Across domains of engagement (industry, public, policy)

  • Across levels of experience and seniority (from graduate research students through early and mid career researchers, to senior academic or institutional leaders, and non-academic university professionals)

  • At an individual, teams and or institutional level.

Spanning these audiences and domains is a unique features of Geri. It provides a common approach, language and platform, brought to life with audience specific curated content and insights.

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A number of other frameworks and professional development approaches focus on engagement to some degree, including Vitae’s Research Development Framework (UK).

However, Geri is unique in that it:

  1. Grows engagement, relevance and impact capabilities.

  2. Introduces and enables the 3D approach (demystify, diagnose, develop).

  3. Is informed by published research and leading practice in:

    • Capability development;

    • Academic professional development;

    • Adult education and curated learning; and

    • Engagement-related trends and developments.

  4. Is informed by capability development in other sectors (including trusted advisor approaches amongst global professional services firms);

  5. Has academia as core. Our focus is not about engagement for the sake of it, but engagement linked to research or teaching, typically in an institutional context.

  6. Avoids having to implement different solutions across domains and / or audiences, and drives synergies by doing so:

    • Relevant to individuals, teams, schools, faculties and at an institutional level;

    • Relevant across domains of engagement: industry engagement, policy engagement, public engagement;

    • Relevant across users, disciplines and fields, including disciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research;

    • Relevant across different types of knowledge transfer or exchange; and

    • Relevant across different research impact areas.

  7. By design, is a capability and sense making framework, and has been informed by sense making research and leading practice.

  8. Provides users with clear attribute-based proficiency levels (essential, advanced and leadership) for each Geri capability area.

  9. Enables the analysis, assessment and benchmarking of current and future state engagement capability profiles, for individuals, teams, faculties and institutions. 

  10. Promotes broad thinking - encourages individuals and teams to think broadly about their knowledge, skills and experiences, including different perspectives on the potential value of research.

  11. Not just a framework, Geri facilitators / trainers are genuine experts.