Tamika Heiden:

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

Sarah McLusky:

use the links in the episode description to find full show notes and to follow

Sarah McLusky:

the podcast on LinkedIn or Instagram.

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.