Narratives of Knowledge Exchange, Impacts and Impacts-in-progress

Consideration of future benefits to stakeholders has been woven into the BPD programme since its beginning. The multiple funders of the programme (UKRI, Defra, Scottish Government) all recognised the critical importance of fundamental research related to gaps in understanding of bacterial plant diseases and at the same time hoped to see ways in which the BPD research contributes to UK agriculture, forestry and the environment. To support this, Coordination Team members Laura Meagher and Mariella Marzano, both specialists in stakeholder engagement and impact generation conducted pan-programme activities and also worked with each of the projects individually as ‘Critical Friends’.

As critical friends they helped the projects to understand pathways to impact, plan for appropriate stakeholder engagement, and reflect on their progress. The results of these conversations are captured in this document as vignettes and narratives of knowledge exchange, impacts, and impacts in progress.