There's all sorts of little fun facts about how the UK
Tamika Heiden:stole Australia's idea on impact and started doing it before we did it.
Tamika Heiden:But what I realised really quickly is it doesn't matter what we call
Tamika Heiden:it, what it matters is that we make the difference we're trying to.
Tamika Heiden:11 years ago I decided that maybe I could help more people if I consulted.
Tamika Heiden:So I left my nice cozy job and became a consultant and hanging out
Tamika Heiden:that shingle was very, very scary.
Tamika Heiden:I'm seeing that good work is being dismissed or not funded purely
Tamika Heiden:because of the system, not because of the work in itself.
Tamika Heiden:And for me, that is really heartbreaking
Sarah McLusky:Hello there.
Sarah McLusky:I'm Sarah McLusky and this is Research Adjacent.
Sarah McLusky:Each episode I talk to amazing research adjacent professionals about what
Sarah McLusky:they do and why it makes a difference.
Sarah McLusky:Keep listening to find out why we think the research adjacent space
Sarah McLusky:is where the real magic happens.
Sarah McLusky:Welcome one and all to today's Research Adjacent podcast.
Sarah McLusky:I'm your host, Sarah McLusky, and before I welcome our guest, I just wanted to
Sarah McLusky:thank you for taking the time to listen.
Sarah McLusky:I know that your time and attention are precious, so it means a lot
Sarah McLusky:that you're choosing to spend that time with this podcast.
Sarah McLusky:If you want to show your appreciation, the most impactful thing you can do
Sarah McLusky:is subscribe to the show and leave a rating or review in whichever
Sarah McLusky:podcast app you are listening in.
Sarah McLusky:It really does make a big difference.
Sarah McLusky:Also, if you're listening around the time of release, I'll be taking
Sarah McLusky:a short summer break after this episode, but we'll be back in
Sarah McLusky:September, 2025 with some new guests.
Sarah McLusky:But back to today's guest.
Sarah McLusky:So Tamika Heiden is the founder of the Research Impact Academy, a consultancy
Sarah McLusky:based in Melbourne, Australia, serving clients all over the world.
Sarah McLusky:That global perspective on impact is something that we really dig into,
Sarah McLusky:including the perhaps controversial tale of how the UK stole the
Sarah McLusky:idea of impact from Australia.
Sarah McLusky:We also talk about how Tamika's career in business has evolved as
Sarah McLusky:the funding landscape and research priorities have changed, from
Sarah McLusky:researcher to research management to knowledge translation, and now impact.
Sarah McLusky:We also talk about the challenges of stepping out of her comfort zone and
Sarah McLusky:starting a business that has grown from a one woman band into an international team.
Sarah McLusky:If you are listening to this episode around the time of release, which
Sarah McLusky:is in August, 2025, make sure that you register for Tamika's free
Sarah McLusky:online Research Impact Summit.
Sarah McLusky:Now in its 10th year this event, which will be on the 1st and 2nd
Sarah McLusky:of September, will look back at 10 years of progress in research impact.
Sarah McLusky:You can register at researchimpactsummit.com or
Sarah McLusky:follow the link in the show notes, but don't go there just yet.
Sarah McLusky:Listen on for Tamika's story.
Sarah McLusky:Welcome to the podcast, Tamika.
Sarah McLusky:It is fantastic to have you here.
Sarah McLusky:I wonder if we could start by hearing a bit about who you
Sarah McLusky:are and what it is that you do.
Tamika Heiden:Yeah, that's a great question, Sarah.
Tamika Heiden:I ask myself some of that every day, but so I am the director of
Tamika Heiden:the Research Impact Academy, that's a consulting agency in Australia.
Tamika Heiden:And as part of that I get to work with a lot of academics all over the world,
Tamika Heiden:and obviously mostly in Australia as well, to help them have an impact.
Tamika Heiden:So that looks like, you know, training, coaching, providing other types of
Tamika Heiden:services to support them in grant writing, those types of activities.
Tamika Heiden:We do some stuff with government and things as well, but I guess my day
Tamika Heiden:job is a balance between running a business and being a business owner and
Tamika Heiden:operationally serving my clients as well.
Tamika Heiden:So a bit of both of those things.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:I think anybody who's listening, who is a, a, either a business owner themselves
Sarah McLusky:or is something like a project manager will understand that it's that, you
Sarah McLusky:know, little bits and pieces of this and sometimes delivering things.
Sarah McLusky:So yeah, it's interesting that you work on impact.
Sarah McLusky:And I think from what I've seen, the only places that people are
Sarah McLusky:really using the language of impact seem to be the UK and Australia.
Sarah McLusky:So how did you come into working in this sort of thing and, and is this impact
Sarah McLusky:agenda a big thing in Australia as well?
Tamika Heiden:It's an interesting point.
Tamika Heiden:There are other places in the world that look at it, I think Australia
Tamika Heiden:definitely started talking about it.
Tamika Heiden:There's all sorts of little fun facts about how the UK stole
Tamika Heiden:Australia's idea on impact and started doing it before we did it.
Sarah McLusky:Oh
Tamika Heiden:Well well that was really because one of our governments had decided
Tamika Heiden:we were gonna have an impact assessment.
Tamika Heiden:And a lot of people listening probably are aware of the UK Research
Tamika Heiden:Excellence Framework Impact Assessment.
Tamika Heiden:Well before it became the UK's.
Tamika Heiden:Research impact the assessment as part of the REF, they had decided
Tamika Heiden:they were gonna do it in Australia.
Tamika Heiden:Then we had a, a sort of a government reshuffle, somebody boosted out
Tamika Heiden:the current sitting Prime minister and they changed their tack and we
Tamika Heiden:didn't do it, but the UK ran with it.
Tamika Heiden:And so that was kind of an interesting development that happened with Impact.
Tamika Heiden:So Australia, we gave up that opportunity to do impact a little bit.
Tamika Heiden:We did try it a little bit later.
Tamika Heiden:But generally speaking, to kind of circle to your question, originally before I
Tamika Heiden:got you all excited about how you stole something from us, 'cause you know, I know
Tamika Heiden:you sent all the convicts to Australia.
Sarah McLusky:Oh.
Tamika Heiden:It, it I fell into it a little bit by accident, I guess.
Tamika Heiden:My, my passion was as a researcher, so I did a PhD and I, I really loved research
Tamika Heiden:and I wanted to stay in research, but it's very hard to have a career in that space.
Tamika Heiden:So I started to, I moved into sort of managing other people's research projects,
Tamika Heiden:and as part of doing that, I, I became a bit more administrative I guess.
Tamika Heiden:And then one day I went to this talk by somebody who had started
Tamika Heiden:working at our institute who was talking about research management.
Tamika Heiden:And I had never heard of that as a profession.
Tamika Heiden:And I was like, I think I've found my thing.
Tamika Heiden:It's like this mix of research.
Tamika Heiden:'cause you're, you're working with researchers and a mix of,
Tamika Heiden:you know, admin and all the other types of activities go with that.
Tamika Heiden:So that's perfect for me, I think.
Tamika Heiden:I think this is what I wanna do.
Tamika Heiden:So finally, I thought I knew what I wanted to do and I grew up, but in fact
Tamika Heiden:I then sought out jobs in that space and I managed to get a job managing
Tamika Heiden:a National Center of Excellence.
Tamika Heiden:And in doing that, they started talking about something
Tamika Heiden:called knowledge translation.
Tamika Heiden:I was fascinated.
Tamika Heiden:I was like, what's this knowledge translation thing?
Tamika Heiden:And so I started Googling.
Tamika Heiden:I found some people who knew all about it in Canada, in fact, and then I found
Tamika Heiden:a course in Canada that I went and did.
Tamika Heiden:And I thought this was gonna be my thing.
Tamika Heiden:I found my people, I was very excited.
Tamika Heiden:This was my forever job.
Tamika Heiden:Came back to Australia after my training, all very excited and started really
Tamika Heiden:bringing that aspect into my work.
Tamika Heiden:And then I, through doing that, I started to wanna do more.
Tamika Heiden:I was like, more people should be doing translation.
Tamika Heiden:I can help more people.
Tamika Heiden:And then 11 years ago I decided that maybe I could help more people if I consulted.
Tamika Heiden:So I left my nice cozy job and became a consultant and hanging out
Tamika Heiden:that shingle was very, very scary.
Tamika Heiden:So yeah, I guess I fell into it because of a passion.
Tamika Heiden:I became incredibly passionate about it, and it was over a number of years
Tamika Heiden:doing knowledge translation to start in my consultancy that then that morphed
Tamika Heiden:into impact because it turned out that what I was talking about was, was
Tamika Heiden:impact, but not end of line impact.
Tamika Heiden:I was talking about impact creation rather than impact measurement.
Tamika Heiden:In fact, I had said to everyone, I don't wanna do impact, impact's too hard.
Tamika Heiden:But it came, came about because really that's what the sector wanted.
Tamika Heiden:It's what everyone was discussing and I realised it's, it's all
Tamika Heiden:just words, it's terminology.
Sarah McLusky:I think yeah, really interesting that, about the terminology
Sarah McLusky:because I, I've, I've said this often in conversation, I can't remember if
Sarah McLusky:I've ever said it on the podcast, but that we, we talk about, yeah, knowledge
Sarah McLusky:translation, knowledge transfer.
Sarah McLusky:We talk about public engagement, we talk about, you know, public
Sarah McLusky:involvement, patient involvement.
Sarah McLusky:It's, and it's almost like.
Sarah McLusky:they're all, as you say, slightly different words for kind of the same
Sarah McLusky:thing for all sort of working in collaboration with partners to help
Sarah McLusky:get the research out into the world.
Sarah McLusky:And then all of those can be these routes impact and it's almost like impact's
Sarah McLusky:the end of the line no matter what the process that you're doing to get there.
Sarah McLusky:But yes, the language, what's your take on the, the language,
Sarah McLusky:the terminology around this?
Tamika Heiden:Yeah, it's, it's a huge area and you talk to different people.
Tamika Heiden:They have different ways of talking about it.
Tamika Heiden:Exactly as you said, you know, engagement, exchange, commercialization,
Tamika Heiden:dissemination, communication.
Tamika Heiden:There's so much about it, and it was quite fascinating when
Tamika Heiden:I first got into this space.
Tamika Heiden:I remember one of my early conferences, where they were talking about knowledge
Tamika Heiden:translation and there was an entire day dedicated to what we should call it.
Tamika Heiden:And I realised pretty quickly at first I was really clinging on to,
Tamika Heiden:which should be knowledge translation because that's what I'm used to.
Tamika Heiden:And you kind of, we love to hold on to things that we're used to.
Tamika Heiden:But what I realised really quickly is it doesn't matter what we call it,
Tamika Heiden:what it matters is that we make the difference we're trying to, and I like
Tamika Heiden:how you sort of mentioned that really they're all routes to the same thing.
Tamika Heiden:It's all about getting to change, to improving things,
Tamika Heiden:and to having that impact.
Sarah McLusky:So yeah, it makes sense how you've gathered all that
Sarah McLusky:knowledge, that experience together and decided to focus on impact.
Sarah McLusky:And what's really interesting is you're saying there that you did your training
Sarah McLusky:initially in Canada and then took that back to Australia and now you do a lot
Sarah McLusky:of work around the world, don't you?
Sarah McLusky:I know you do a lot of work in the UK so what is it like having
Sarah McLusky:that international perspective on impact and what we mean by impact?
Tamika Heiden:Yeah, Look, I learn so much from the UK.
Tamika Heiden:In fact, I really think what we thought for a long time in Australia
Tamika Heiden:and, and I still believe it, is that the UK had it all together.
Tamika Heiden:You guys were doing impact.
Tamika Heiden:You're all experts in impact because you're all doing it.
Tamika Heiden:We realised pretty quickly that that's kind of a generalisation, but we
Tamika Heiden:definitely learn from other things, and I'm learning a lot from the UK.
Tamika Heiden:I'm also learning a lot from our experiences growing here in Australia,
Tamika Heiden:but definitely in the early days it was looking at those international
Tamika Heiden:sectors, whether it's Canada and all the translation mobilisation work,
Tamika Heiden:whether it's the UK and the impact work, and even whether it's places
Tamika Heiden:like Hong Kong does impact staff.
Tamika Heiden:There's a bit in Asia and different ways of looking at it.
Tamika Heiden:Even New Zealand was doing things slightly differently.
Tamika Heiden:Ireland was looking at impact in different ways.
Tamika Heiden:So there was a number of countries that when you started to delve into
Tamika Heiden:it, you found all these little pieces, and it was really a great way to learn,
Tamika Heiden:was to say, what are others doing?
Tamika Heiden:In fact, one of the very first things, and the reason I kind of started my
Tamika Heiden:business, I guess, was because I kind of saw on the horizon that this was coming.
Sarah McLusky:Mm-hmm.
Tamika Heiden:Even though in Australia we had.
Tamika Heiden:Put our, our little impact agenda on the, on the back shelf.
Tamika Heiden:I realised that the UK had run with this pretty big time and other countries like
Tamika Heiden:Canada were talking about translation.
Tamika Heiden:And in fact, they'd been talking about it since I think the year 2000 in that stage.
Tamika Heiden:And, and this was, you know, I was saying we're still gonna be 20 years
Tamika Heiden:behind if we don't do something.
Tamika Heiden:So I kind of thought it was worth a risk.
Tamika Heiden:I think it's coming.
Tamika Heiden:Surely Australia has to keep up and meet the other requirements of
Tamika Heiden:other countries when it comes to funding and things like that as well.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Well, it sounds like certainly in terms of what I've seen happen in the UK in the
Sarah McLusky:last 11 years, that's definitely been the direction of travel and, and increasingly
Sarah McLusky:this focus more on impact as, as, as you say that the, the kind of end of the
Sarah McLusky:line, the thing that we're aiming for.
Sarah McLusky:So tell us a bit more about, you said that in your business you
Sarah McLusky:do sort of training, coaching.
Sarah McLusky:I know you organize events and conferences.
Sarah McLusky:Tell us a little bit, bit more about some of those things that you do.
Tamika Heiden:Yeah well the training used to be the biggest component,
Tamika Heiden:but these days the consulting has become one of the biggest components.
Tamika Heiden:So it's really interesting how things flip around.
Tamika Heiden:We now work a lot on grants, and I'm right in the middle of grant season
Tamika Heiden:at the moment, so we help academics to write their impact pathways,
Tamika Heiden:to write their track records.
Tamika Heiden:A lot of it's around language, it's around communication.
Tamika Heiden:But one of the other things I do, as you mentioned, I, I have a, a
Tamika Heiden:summit each year, so that's a big part of our business that we, that
Tamika Heiden:we produce each year and, and share.
Tamika Heiden:It's a, if I'm really honest, it's my way of learning 'cause I get to tap into
Tamika Heiden:all these experts and interview them.
Tamika Heiden:And so I'm kind of just sharing my own professional development,
Tamika Heiden:but don't tell everyone.
Tamika Heiden:And,
Sarah McLusky:That's exactly what I'm doing with the podcast.
Tamika Heiden:Excellent.
Tamika Heiden:Well, you know, it's a great way we get to meet people, we get to connect,
Tamika Heiden:we get to build great connections and relationships with people.
Tamika Heiden:We learn as we do it.
Tamika Heiden:I think it's a really, it underpins everything we do now, communication
Tamika Heiden:and learning from others.
Tamika Heiden:So yeah, they're the things that.
Tamika Heiden:I do mostly in my business.
Tamika Heiden:I mean, from time to time I like to dabble in other things.
Tamika Heiden:You know, someone will say to me, Hey, can you do an evaluation of a research center?
Tamika Heiden:And I'll say, oh.
Tamika Heiden:Yeah, okay.
Tamika Heiden:It might not be a standard thing that we do, but yeah,
Tamika Heiden:we'll definitely do that work.
Tamika Heiden:And we've done some big ones of those.
Tamika Heiden:We've done some reports for organisations in other countries.
Tamika Heiden:I'm doing some case studies for Hong Kong right now, so
Tamika Heiden:it's a lot of different pieces.
Tamika Heiden:And I guess what I love about that is it never gets boring, never gets boring.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah, it is definitely when you're always working on a
Sarah McLusky:slightly different area of research or a slightly different you know,
Sarah McLusky:country, different context that, yeah, definitely that sort of thing keeps
Sarah McLusky:it really interesting for me as well.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Tamika Heiden:I like the variety.
Sarah McLusky:Excellent.
Sarah McLusky:Oh, well, within that variety, I'm sure you've done a few things that really
Sarah McLusky:stand out as things that you're proud of or things that were really memorable.
Sarah McLusky:Tell us maybe about a couple of those.
Tamika Heiden:Yeah, well there are a few, and in listening to other speakers on
Tamika Heiden:your podcast, I was kind of listening to what other people have done and you know,
Tamika Heiden:you kind of have that imposter syndrome thing that comes through sometimes.
Tamika Heiden:But I really, in thinking through, you know, what am I really proud of?
Tamika Heiden:And I do this quite often, in fact, and I found it to be a good practice
Tamika Heiden:to do, is to not just reflect on the things that aren't working,
Tamika Heiden:but to reflect on those things that maybe have been really successful
Tamika Heiden:because it's easy to put them aside.
Tamika Heiden:One of the things that I did very early on maybe so around 10 years ago, is
Tamika Heiden:that I had lobbied a little bit, if you like but helped to shape one of our
Tamika Heiden:major research funding sources here in Australia in the medical area, and it's
Tamika Heiden:called the Medical Research Future Fund.
Tamika Heiden:And they were starting up this new fund, one of the biggest
Tamika Heiden:medical funds in the world.
Tamika Heiden:And, so I kind of lobbied around how I thought very passionately
Tamika Heiden:that knowledge translation should definitely be part of it.
Tamika Heiden:And I ended up presenting evidence to a senate committee inquiry.
Tamika Heiden:And then I guess my proudest moment of that is that they named me when they
Tamika Heiden:passed the bill in the in the parliament.
Tamika Heiden:So I was kinda like, oh, my, my claim to fame.
Tamika Heiden:That's my impact, right?
Tamika Heiden:So I, I think other things though, I think I'm, I'm really proud of.
Tamika Heiden:I guess my own bravery in starting a business.
Tamika Heiden:I mean, that's a, it's a pretty big leap to go from academic to business owner.
Tamika Heiden:And I realise that might sound a bit strange, but one of the reasons I
Tamika Heiden:left academia was actually because I used to get really scared presenting.
Sarah McLusky:Hmm.
Tamika Heiden:I couldn't stand in front of people.
Tamika Heiden:I couldn't run lectures and so.
Tamika Heiden:I had to have the bravery to stand up and start doing that.
Tamika Heiden:And I, you know, I remember my husband saying, you're gonna do what?
Tamika Heiden:He said, don't you hate that?
Tamika Heiden:And I was like yeah, but I'm really passionate about this, so it's different.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Tamika Heiden:I think that's, you know, that was the, the good thing.
Tamika Heiden:So I guess you know, I'm.
Tamika Heiden:I feel quite proud of the fact that I've become a bit more comfortable
Tamika Heiden:being uncomfortable, if you like.
Tamika Heiden:I love that saying.
Tamika Heiden:I'm, I guess I'm also kind of proud that I took a really niche
Tamika Heiden:area and built it into a business.
Tamika Heiden:I, people say to me, what do you do?
Tamika Heiden:And then I meet them again later.
Tamika Heiden:They go, I'm still not sure what you do.
Tamika Heiden:And people who are in academia and.
Tamika Heiden:And that area, they know what I do.
Tamika Heiden:But when I meet other business owners, they sort of say, I
Tamika Heiden:don't really get what you do.
Tamika Heiden:And so it's quite an, it's quite an interesting one,
Tamika Heiden:trying to explain what that is.
Tamika Heiden:So yeah, there're some of the things that I'm, that I'm proud of and, and one of the
Tamika Heiden:most successful things I think I've ever done is the summit, the Research Impact
Tamika Heiden:Summit, you know, it's in its 10th year.
Tamika Heiden:Every year I get.
Tamika Heiden:Around 1200 people register for the summit.
Tamika Heiden:And I'm, I think I'm really proud that it's free.
Tamika Heiden:I, I love that it has such a good following now.
Tamika Heiden:And you know, like we said before, it's how we get to
Tamika Heiden:meet people and learn things.
Tamika Heiden:And it's my professional development, but I think the fact that it's gone
Tamika Heiden:for 10 years and I now get people saying, when's the next summit?
Tamika Heiden:When's the next summit?
Tamika Heiden:Can I be a speaker on the summit?
Tamika Heiden:Is a really nice thing.
Tamika Heiden:And I'm sure that you kind of have that same feeling about the
Tamika Heiden:work that you are doing as well.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Oh, that's it is, I mean, 10, keeping an event going for 10 years is a remarkable
Sarah McLusky:achievement as you know, I've done in the past regular events and, and to keep that
Sarah McLusky:energy going, it can be a real challenge.
Sarah McLusky:So, yeah, that is an achievement.
Sarah McLusky:But I love what you said there, I've written it down on my notes, but
Sarah McLusky:being, getting comfortable, being uncomfortable, and certainly I think,
Sarah McLusky:that step out to start your own business is always, feels like a big risk, but
Sarah McLusky:also it's that opportunity, isn't it?
Sarah McLusky:And it, and it is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone,
Sarah McLusky:but it's remarkable to have almost deliberately leaned into the thing
Sarah McLusky:that scared you, scared you the most.
Tamika Heiden:I dunno if it's remarkable or just stupid,
Tamika Heiden:but I'll take it.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah, well, I think it is always, these are the places
Sarah McLusky:where we grow the most, aren't they?
Sarah McLusky:The places where we just really push ourselves out of our comfort zones.
Sarah McLusky:So yeah, a fantastic role model in that respect.
Sarah McLusky:But I'm sure that it hasn't all been plain sailing.
Sarah McLusky:So what are some of the, been some of the biggest hurdles along the
Sarah McLusky:way in what you've been doing?
Tamika Heiden:Yeah, there, there are quite a number of of hurdles.
Tamika Heiden:I think.
Tamika Heiden:When I think back originally and I started in my business, I think the biggest
Tamika Heiden:hurdle really was around my identity.
Tamika Heiden:My identity was no longer as an academic.
Tamika Heiden:My, my identity was no longer as being employed by someone else.
Tamika Heiden:Moving from that world, one of the things that happened is that most of
Tamika Heiden:my clients knew me as an academic.
Tamika Heiden:So here I was now coming back saying, I can help you to do better research.
Tamika Heiden:But they knew me as somebody they work next to.
Tamika Heiden:So,
Sarah McLusky:Mm-hmm.
Tamika Heiden:Seeing me in that different capacity, I think
Tamika Heiden:was difficult to start with.
Tamika Heiden:I mean, that's changed now, but at that first piece, it took a lot to
Tamika Heiden:convince people that I knew what I was talking about and knew what I was doing.
Tamika Heiden:But I think the, yeah, the identity of taking a risk, the identity of not
Tamika Heiden:having a job that someone pays you to go to of having to make your own living.
Tamika Heiden:There's this, the fear that you're not gonna survive and that
Tamika Heiden:people are gonna say, oh, you tried it, but it didn't work out.
Tamika Heiden:So you're constantly kind of carrying that with you.
Tamika Heiden:I think, the other challenge was that the first few years are really hard.
Tamika Heiden:You're on your own.
Tamika Heiden:You're wondering if it's gonna work.
Tamika Heiden:You're trying to convince everyone that you know what you're doing and
Tamika Heiden:you're trying to convince yourself that you know what you're doing.
Tamika Heiden:Imposter syndrome is a massive challenge to overcome because it just sits
Tamika Heiden:on your shoulder and says, really?
Tamika Heiden:You think you can do that?
Tamika Heiden:You think, who are you to do that?
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Tamika Heiden:so there are all of those elements that come, but I
Tamika Heiden:think really the biggest challenge is working well they say working in the
Tamika Heiden:business and working on the business.
Tamika Heiden:And so growing a business while you are the person doing the business, and
Tamika Heiden:that's probably the biggest challenge.
Tamika Heiden:And growing and being able to make enough money to bring on staff and
Tamika Heiden:to grow and to, you know, constantly realising that you, you're responsible
Tamika Heiden:for someone else's food on the table.
Tamika Heiden:Those types of things are actually very scary and very challenging and
Tamika Heiden:you know, it's taken a long time to get comfortable with that as well, I guess.
Tamika Heiden:But they have been the challenges.
Tamika Heiden:I think there's been other challenges around changes to the sector.
Tamika Heiden:I think when COVID hit, I thought, oh no, what's gonna happen?
Tamika Heiden:Because universities suddenly said, we don't have any money and people were,
Tamika Heiden:were a bit fearful about what was gonna happen that didn't end up eventuating.
Tamika Heiden:I'm still here that in, in fact, it turned out to be quite a positive thing
Tamika Heiden:in the end even though it was a challenge.
Tamika Heiden:I think I've been kind of lucky 'cause when I think about it now
Tamika Heiden:and as I talk about it, I feel like those challenges are so, like little.
Tamika Heiden:I'm sure there's been others.
Tamika Heiden:I just, maybe I've just buried them so deep.
Sarah McLusky:I think though you say little challenges, but I actually, the
Sarah McLusky:more I do this kind of work and the more people I talk to, I think the, the stuff
Sarah McLusky:that we've got going on in our own head is often by far the biggest challenge.
Sarah McLusky:So when you see those issues you had around imposter syndrome,
Sarah McLusky:around this sense of identity.
Sarah McLusky:You know, who am I if I don't do this thing, if I go and do something different?
Sarah McLusky:I think those for, for everybody.
Sarah McLusky:I mean, the people that I, that I often do talks and things for, you know,
Sarah McLusky:PhD students who are thinking about doing something different and, and not
Sarah McLusky:continuing in academia and, and they're like, well, who am I if I'm not a
Sarah McLusky:researcher in this, you know, an expert in this philosopher or whatever it is.
Sarah McLusky:And so I think that identity piece is really huge.
Sarah McLusky:Absolutely huge.
Sarah McLusky:So it can seem like from the outside that it's not a huge challenge, but
Sarah McLusky:actually those are exactly the sorts of things that keep people stuck.
Sarah McLusky:And so the fact that you've worked through them I think is, is again,
Sarah McLusky:that's overcoming a big challenge.
Sarah McLusky:Very definitely.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Tamika Heiden:I think, and I think there are definitely
Tamika Heiden:things that are attached to time.
Tamika Heiden:I think now.
Tamika Heiden:If I think about my identity, I refer to myself as an academic in some circles, but
Tamika Heiden:it's definitely not tied to my identity.
Tamika Heiden:I think now my identity is definitely tied to running a business.
Tamika Heiden:So it's the next step or being a consultant, however you wanna pitch it.
Tamika Heiden:But it's the next step now.
Tamika Heiden:And, and it's quite funny, I dunno if you have it in, in the UK, but
Tamika Heiden:when we arrive back in Australia, when we've been overseas, we have
Tamika Heiden:to fill in these forms and the form always says, what's your occupation?
Tamika Heiden:And I always grapple with what is my occupation.
Tamika Heiden:And I used to put researcher back in the day and, and then they would ask
Tamika Heiden:you questions at the, at the border, like, oh, what do you research?
Tamika Heiden:And now I've often been putting entrepreneur, I figure it'll
Tamika Heiden:ask a different question.
Tamika Heiden:I don't know if that's what my occupation is.
Tamika Heiden:Business owner, jack of all trades, who knows?
Tamika Heiden:But it's an interesting one to think about.
Tamika Heiden:What is my occupation, I guess when you kind of do all these things?
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:And how do all this almost like, well, I think all of us are a
Sarah McLusky:bit of a Venn diagram, aren't we?
Sarah McLusky:Of all these different overlapping parts of who we are and what we do.
Sarah McLusky:But no, I have faced exactly the same problem where I'm like, yes, what do I do?
Sarah McLusky:What do I do?
Sarah McLusky:I don't know, but yeah.
Tamika Heiden:You work it out when you grow up.
Tamika Heiden:I'm still working it out.
Sarah McLusky:That's exactly one day when I grow up, I'll figure it out.
Sarah McLusky:So speaking of all those things that you've gone through and, and forming
Sarah McLusky:this new identity as a business owner, if there was anybody else either listening
Sarah McLusky:to this who's either thinking about, just thinking about making a big change in
Sarah McLusky:what they do, you know, whether that's moving from academia into something
Sarah McLusky:completely different, whether it's starting their own business, is there
Sarah McLusky:any advice that you would give them?
Tamika Heiden:Yeah, they might not wanna hear it then.
Tamika Heiden:No.
Tamika Heiden:There's lots of advice.
Tamika Heiden:There's lots of advice, but I, I do like to laugh about it.
Tamika Heiden:I think I would say be patient.
Sarah McLusky:Mm-hmm.
Tamika Heiden:Things do not happen instantly.
Tamika Heiden:Maybe start something as a side hustle before you take a leap.
Tamika Heiden:I was fortunate I had support of, my husband has a job, so I had a
Tamika Heiden:capability to be able to take a leap.
Tamika Heiden:But if you don't have that backing, then start as a side hustle and be patient.
Tamika Heiden:Grow things slowly.
Tamika Heiden:I think finding your people, that's a big one.
Tamika Heiden:So for me, as I said to you when I did knowledge translation, I thought
Tamika Heiden:I found my people, which was great.
Tamika Heiden:But when I started my business, I started on my own again, and what I realised
Tamika Heiden:is I had to find my people in business.
Tamika Heiden:And so I found mentors and coaches and really seeking out, as you grow and you
Tamika Heiden:do new things, who are your raving fans?
Tamika Heiden:Who are the people who are your cheerleaders that are cheering you on?
Tamika Heiden:So whatever it is you choose to do, whether it's business or something else,
Tamika Heiden:get training and surround yourself with other people who maybe have been there.
Tamika Heiden:People who pull you up.
Tamika Heiden:We have this saying in business that you are, you are the sum of
Tamika Heiden:the five closest people to you.
Tamika Heiden:So you need to make sure that those five people are pulling
Tamika Heiden:you up, not pushing you down.
Tamika Heiden:The other one is be generous.
Tamika Heiden:The more you give people, the more you get in return.
Tamika Heiden:When I started this, I was, a bit green.
Tamika Heiden:I really thought that you shouldn't share anything because if you
Tamika Heiden:give away all your secrets, no one will pay you for your help.
Tamika Heiden:And what I realised, and this is again speaking of, you know, webinars
Tamika Heiden:and summits and things that, that I do that I don't charge for.
Tamika Heiden:The more of that that I do, the more people who come and speak to
Tamika Heiden:me because they wanna hear more.
Tamika Heiden:And it's that opportunity, but I also think be genuine.
Tamika Heiden:I, I used to think, you know, we would say fake it till you make it.
Tamika Heiden:And it's a really interesting thing to do it.
Tamika Heiden:And I think we do that a little bit to hide that imposter
Tamika Heiden:syndrome, you know, let's fake it.
Tamika Heiden:But what I have realised, very, maybe slowly, or maybe as I've gotten
Tamika Heiden:older, I've just gotten a bit more reflective on all of this stuff, is
Tamika Heiden:that it turns out that really being authentic is the most attractive
Tamika Heiden:quality, people are looking for that.
Sarah McLusky:Mm-hmm.
Tamika Heiden:attract people to you, you you, that helps you to surround
Tamika Heiden:yourself with those right people and find, other people who can support you.
Tamika Heiden:If you're just really authentic, if things aren't going well, you need people.
Tamika Heiden:You can say it's really not going well.
Tamika Heiden:If things are going well, you need people you can jump up
Tamika Heiden:and down and celebrate with.
Tamika Heiden:But it shouldn't just be a, I have to be okay all the time.
Tamika Heiden:We have this saying in business, you know, every time you meet a fairly new business
Tamika Heiden:owner, you'll say, how's it going?
Tamika Heiden:And they'll say, oh yeah, it's great.
Tamika Heiden:Really great.
Tamika Heiden:But you know, that.
Tamika Heiden:You know, they're not being honest with you necessarily.
Tamika Heiden:And it's great when you meet people and they can go, well, it's
Tamika Heiden:okay, but I wish it was better.
Tamika Heiden:Or, well, they can say, actually, it's been really bad, so I think,
Tamika Heiden:surrounding yourself with the right people will allow you to be more genuine.
Tamika Heiden:But yeah, be, be open and willing to learn and to do things differently and
Tamika Heiden:to self-reflect and to find people you can reflect with and take on all of
Tamika Heiden:those challenges, I think is probably the, the number one thing I'd suggest to
Tamika Heiden:anyone who wants to change their career.
Sarah McLusky:Oh, that sounds like really good advice.
Sarah McLusky:Thank you for that.
Sarah McLusky:And then speaking of, of changing things, I do like to ask all my guests, if
Sarah McLusky:they had a magic wand, what would they change about the world that they in?
Sarah McLusky:So what would you like to do with your magic wand?
Tamika Heiden:Oh, I would like to create more hours in a day.
Tamika Heiden:More weeks in a year.
Tamika Heiden:More minutes in an hour.
Sarah McLusky:What would you do with them?
Tamika Heiden:Oh.
Tamika Heiden:I'd probably still just work, which is very, very sad.
Tamika Heiden:I feel like I would like to do and achieve so much more, and I think
Tamika Heiden:that's a really bad hangover from being that A type personality that
Tamika Heiden:you know, wants to, is driven.
Tamika Heiden:I, I think, but to be, I guess, a bit more serious.
Tamika Heiden:One of the things, if I think about it, that I'd really love
Tamika Heiden:to change in the world that I'm working in and in my sector.
Tamika Heiden:I'd really like to change funding and the success landscape of
Tamika Heiden:academics and researchers.
Tamika Heiden:I'd like to make it a bit easier.
Tamika Heiden:So I guess I'd, I'd like to have more influence on how the funders
Tamika Heiden:are structuring what they're asking for, managing peer review.
Tamika Heiden:Because in an ideal world, I'd really like to see a bit more of a, a better
Tamika Heiden:or a more fair system that is helpful to the sector, and I guess I'm speaking
Tamika Heiden:really specifically in the Australian context on this because that's
Tamika Heiden:where most of our work on that is.
Tamika Heiden:But really I'm seeing that good work is being dismissed or not
Tamika Heiden:funded purely because of the system, not because of the work in itself.
Tamika Heiden:And for me, that is really heartbreaking because my entire purpose and reason
Tamika Heiden:for being as a business owner in this space is to make sure that
Tamika Heiden:those academics can have an impact.
Tamika Heiden:And the only way they can do that is to remain in academia and do great work.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:I think that it is interesting to see the conversation around this and to see some
Sarah McLusky:of the experiments that, that people are trying around how you distribute funding.
Sarah McLusky:But I think it's an ongoing challenge isn't it?
Sarah McLusky:So.
Tamika Heiden:It really is.
Tamika Heiden:And I, I, you know, I often joke, and every now and again, someone agrees with
Tamika Heiden:me, but I do just think, you know, once we decide that something is a, a good
Tamika Heiden:application and it's fundable, it should just be a lottery because we've gotta
Tamika Heiden:remove the bias out of these things.
Tamika Heiden:We, I think there's so much change.
Tamika Heiden:And that's the other thing, and we see this a lot, is all the changes
Tamika Heiden:that happen every time there's a new grant or the same grant, but the next
Tamika Heiden:year, the changes, they're always moving the goalposts for people.
Tamika Heiden:And I feel like people are spending so much time writing these grants that
Tamika Heiden:they could be using, doing the work.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah,
Tamika Heiden:that's where I start to get frustrated.
Tamika Heiden:So, you know, it's, something's gotta change.
Tamika Heiden:I don't know it, it probably won't in in my time, but
Sarah McLusky:I think there is a couple, I've seen a couple of reports recently
Sarah McLusky:where people are trialing a lottery system and it does seem to be, you know,
Sarah McLusky:where you have to meet a certain quality threshold, and then after that it's a
Sarah McLusky:lottery because there is this challenge.
Sarah McLusky:I mean, again, in the UK all the research funding is concentrated.
Sarah McLusky:You know, it's, it's like create a system where the people who are
Sarah McLusky:good at it then are, get better at it, get more money, get more money.
Sarah McLusky:You know what I mean?
Sarah McLusky:And it kind of snowballs whereas the other stuff just gets a bit lost.
Sarah McLusky:So, yeah.
Sarah McLusky:So it's interesting we shall see what's happened, but I mean, that's
Sarah McLusky:something that I've seen people talking about for or maybe five years and
Sarah McLusky:now it's actually starting to happen.
Sarah McLusky:So yeah, maybe with our, in our lifetimes, we might see some of it come to fruition
Tamika Heiden:Fingers crossed, fingers crossed, and before all the
Tamika Heiden:great researchers just give up and I don't know, go start a business.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah, maybe just everybody be doing private research
Sarah McLusky:or something, I don't know.
Sarah McLusky:But anyway, thank you so much for your time.
Sarah McLusky:We should think about wrapping up, especially because we are
Sarah McLusky:recording this on a Friday evening, which is very good of you, Tamika,
Sarah McLusky:because of the time difference.
Sarah McLusky:It's a Friday evening for you.
Sarah McLusky:So if people want to find out more about you, your events, get in touch, where are
Sarah McLusky:the best places for them to go and look?
Tamika Heiden:Well, we are on X now, I guess it's called rather than Twitter.
Tamika Heiden:We are on BlueSky.
Tamika Heiden:You can just put in Research Impact Academy across any of these channels.
Tamika Heiden:I'm on LinkedIn under Tamika Heiden.
Tamika Heiden:We have our company page as well, Research Impact Academy.
Tamika Heiden:We're on Instagram, I believe.
Tamika Heiden:We're on Facebook.
Sarah McLusky:All the places.
Tamika Heiden:We are in all the places.
Tamika Heiden:We do have a YouTube channel, so maybe that's a nice place to start as well.
Tamika Heiden:But I don't know if you give any little links with the the notes, but
Sarah McLusky:the links in the, I'll put all those links
Sarah McLusky:in the show notes so people can
Tamika Heiden:yeah, and if anyone wants to reach out, we
Tamika Heiden:can put email there as well.
Sarah McLusky:Perfect.
Sarah McLusky:Thank you so much.
Sarah McLusky:It's been great to hear about all the stuff that you're doing and yeah,
Sarah McLusky:good luck with the Summit and all the other things you've got coming up.
Tamika Heiden:Thank you so much, Sarah.
Tamika Heiden:It's been wonderful to talk to you.
Sarah McLusky:Thanks for listening to Research Adjacent.
Sarah McLusky:If you're listening in a podcast app, please check your subscribed and then
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Sarah McLusky:You can also find all the links and other episodes at www.researchadjacent.com.
Sarah McLusky:Research Adjacent is presented and produced by Sarah McLusky,
Sarah McLusky:and the theme music is by Lemon Music Studios on Pixabay.
Sarah McLusky:And you, yes you, get a big gold star for listening right to the end.
Sarah McLusky:See you next time.