SOAS Impact Acceleration Account

SOAS has successfully secured a 5-year, £1.25 million Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) from 2023-2028, to develop impact in the areas of migration, displacement, minorities and marginalisation.

Co-managed by the SOAS Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies and the Research and Knowledge Exchange Directorate, the IAA will contribute to raising the profile and achieving greater impact for SOAS research in these thematic areas.

SOAS IAA models new approaches to impact, innovation and commercialisation by utilising a thematic research portfolio to work across disciplines and across sectors.

Key component of the SOAS IAA's activities include:

• Global thematic roundtables that foster knowledge exchange between SOAS academics, policy makers, social activists and migration practitioners.
• Development of an Open Online Shared Learning and Collaboration space for continuous sharing of information, resources and cross-network collaboration.
• An annual mobility programme of short-term, high impact knowledge exchange fellowships.
• Rapid response and strategic grants of £2,500 to £10,000 that support co-production of knowledge and impact-oriented outputs.

SOAS researchers will also be gaining expertise in knowledge exchange practices and approaches through partner-led capacity building, and will have the opportunity of showcasing their research and engaging with the public during the annual ESRC Festival of Social Science.

2025

The 2025 Festival of Social Science takes place on 3 and 4 November 2025, exploring the theme 'Our work lives' alongside SOAS' IAA theme 'Migration, marginalisation, displacement and minorities'. SOAS researchers are invited to propose interactive activities for young people aged 14-18. Join us in creating another impactful celebration of social science research. Submit your expression of interest to participate.

2024

SOAS has now held two successful ESRC Festivals of Social Science, the annual celebration of social science research that looks to engage audiences through a range of public events.

Last year, on 7 and 8 November 2024, groups of 13 to 18-year-olds learning English as an additional language were invited to explore engagement activities designed by SOAS researchers and research partners.

The theme for the 2024 festival was ‘Our digital lives’. In keeping with this theme, as well as SOAS IAA’s fourfold thematic focus, SOAS researchers conducted a series of interactive workshops and activities, including:

• The Power of Video Games for Social Justice: the potential of video games to promote education about anti-slavery and influence policies to combat modern slavery.
• Digital Solutions-making for Food Insecurity: the role of technology in tackling food insecurity.  
• What is a Home?: a series of creative activities that discuss what it is to be displaced from home, to rebuild it, and to imagine a future home. 
• Exploring Cultural Memory Through Creativity: how can theatre and creative practice help us to see history differently? 
• When Belongings Return: the role of objects in cultural memory, identity-making, and heritage activism.
• Reclaiming Your Digital Space: exploring how computers "think" and the role of coding in reclaiming personal space and identity in the digital world.
• Echoes From the Ruins: an interactive event exploring the plight of forcibly displaced people in Nigeria’s Northwest region due to armed conflict and banditry.

The SOAS IAA offers competitive strategic and rapid response grants for collaborative projects between SOAS researchers and non-academic partners, designed to amplify research impact.

The first round of grants, launched in March 2024, was a great success and culminated in the IAA Grant Celebration Event on 27 February 2025, hosted by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Laura Hammond, where we celebrated the creativity, innovation, and achievements of our grant recipients.

The second round of applications is now closed. The next opportunity to apply will open in Spring 2026, with full details of the application process to be shared closer to the time. For rapid response grants, please contact the IAA team directly for more information.