Chris Pahlow, Impact Consultant (Episode 73) | Chris is helping to build relationships which amplify research
For this episode of the Research Adjacent podcast Sarah‘s guest is impact consultant, Chris Pahlow. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Chris runs the consultancy business Amplifying Research and also hosts the podcast of the same name.
Relationships are at the heart of impact
Chris sums up his work as being about impact and relationships. Specifically he advises researchers and research organisations on how to prioritise and build the relationships that will lead to impact. This work stems from the frustration he felt seeing researchers who couldn’t quite reach the people their work could help.
“I just saw so many researchers doing incredible stuff in all sorts of fields and some of it very moving. I felt really humbled to be just sitting in on some of the meetings where people, they’re dedicating their life to really trying to make a positive difference and it just didn’t seem like they were getting the support they needed to, to drive that impact.”
A baptism of fire
Chris originally aspired to be a filmmaker, but looking for a way to make ends meet, found himself tutoring philosophy students.
“I went in and had my interview and they’re like, okay, have you read these books on the reading list? And I’m like, no, but I certainly could read them like. Terrific, go to this tute now you can watch what this tutor does and then you can do it tomorrow.”
This baptism of fire led to other teaching work and after ‘hanging around’ universities for long enough he was offered work that was more in his media-production comfort zone. Videos and podcasts are often produced to try and accelerate impact, but Chris found himself pushing back on the thinking behind some of the projects which led to the work he does now.
“I found myself in the very awkward position of having the media team at this university say, Hey Chris, can you come and take a look at projects, we wanna know what you think about it. And I’d have to say, I don’t think they should make a video, or I don’t think they should make a podcast. And eventually that led me to basically consulting on comms strategy.”
Independent and honest
Consulting on impact pojects can sometimes lead to difficult conversations, but Chris finds that being external allows him to be honest and perhaps say what others are too scared to say or don’t want to hear.
“I used to joke it’s lucky that I’m a consultant ’cause I can just throw a hand grenade into the room and if people don’t like what I say, I just don’t have to show up to the office for a few days ’cause I don’t work here.”
In line with the mission behind Research Adjacent, Chris has often noticed research professional staff being treated as second class citizens and would use his magic wand to improve their lot.
“It really made me upset to see how often professional staff and universities were treated like second class citizens and bossed around. A big part of my mission is trying to help amazing researchers drive impact, but a secondary mission, a personal mission, is trying to create a better work environment for those professional staff who are working so, so hard. And I think they deserve a lot better a lot of the time.”
Find out more
- Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
- Listen to the Amplifying Research podcast
- Find out about Chris’s business Amplifying Research
Theme music by Lemon Music Studios from Pixabay
