Research translation is any effort to connect research to the needs or interests of institutions or individuals beyond academia. TRAC defines research translation as the process of “...advancing discoveries made while conducting academic research into tangible solutions that benefit the public (NSF ART). This endeavor could shape research processes, such as answering decision-makers’ questions, or the mechanisms for communicating findings, such as collaboration on problem-solving using existing evidence.

Research translation activities range from those that involve potential end-users in the initial research design and throughout the research process, to those that focus primarily on translating research that has already been completed. The end users of the research can include policymakers at multiple levels of government, non-governmental actors, community associations, private companies, or other actors whose engagement will benefit society.  

Prospective Impact Fellows will propose unit- or cross-unit activities that aim to increase the ability of AU faculty, staff, or students to translate research into societal and economic impacts beyond the university. Each Impact Fellow’s proposal should describe how their initiative will alleviate a specific barrier to conducting translational research and benefit a range of faculty, staff, or students. An individual faculty or staff member can submit a proposal. Faculty and staff members can also form teams, within or across units, and submit a collaborative proposal. Units include schools, colleges, departments, programs, centers, and institutes at American University.

Please note: The fellowship program does not support individual research translation projects in which faculty translate their own or others’ research for a broader audience. Instead, the fellowship will support efforts that increase unit or cross-unit capacity to facilitate the broader impact of research. All fellows will have the opportunity to apply for additional seed funding to translate their individual research projects (see phase 3 below). 

The types of initiatives proposed might fall within the following categories and include but are not limited to the following examples:

Identifying and helping to overcome a procedural or policy barrier

• Improving incentives for research translation, such as recognition in promotion and tenure.

Building new and needed support capacities

• Raising awareness of how to launch and implement research translation activities in your discipline or across disciplines.
• Supporting science communications or other efforts to communicate research to broader audiences.
• Improving the ability of AU faculty and staff to engage in technology commercialization and start-ups.
• Developing and disseminating measures of research impact.

Building skills and culture for and of research translation

• Developing skills in the co-creation of knowledge and co-implementation of evidence-based policies and practices with partners.
• Mentoring researchers on the creation of research-practice partnerships (with community members, practitioners, or policy makers).
• Building skills in program monitoring and evaluation for research translation.   

The Impact Fellows Program includes a commitment to three phases of work: 

Phase I: October 2026 - May 2027: Implement proposed cross-unit or unit-specific research translation capacity building initiative for AY26/27.  

Phase II: January - April 2027: Participate in TRAC’s five Research Translation Modules and provide feedback to help refine the modules.  

• Module 1: Introduction to Research Translation
• Module 2: Communicating Knowledge to Practitioners and the Public
• Module 3: Co-Creating Knowledge through Scholar-Practitioner Partnerships
• Module 4: Technology Transfer, Patents, and Legal Considerations
• Module 5: Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation

Phase III: May 2027 - December 2027: Fellows are eligible to apply for seed grant funding to support their individual research translation activities. Fellows will implement these projects in the summer and fall of 2027.  

All full-time faculty (tenured, tenure-track, and term) and staff members are eligible to apply. In addition, all applicants must have:

• Demonstrated experience in research translation; and
• Sufficient availability in the fall 2026 and spring 2027 semesters to implement their proposed research translation capacity building initiatives and participate in the five TRAC trainings.

Students can participate in a project team but cannot be the lead applicant.

• Design and implement their proposed unit-specific or cross-unit research translation capacity-building initiatives.
• Participate in five TRAC research translation training modules in spring 2027 (approx. 10 hours). TRAC will deliver these modules for the Impact Fellows and other interested AU faculty and staff. 
• Attend two cohort meetings (one per semester). 
• Submit a mid-fellowship and final report on the progress of the proposed initiative and concrete results.
• Distribute monitoring and evaluation surveys to initiative participants. Surveys will be provided by the TRAC team. The Fellows will determine whether initiative participants are a targeted audience or for the broader AU research community.
• Participate in an interview or survey with TRAC evaluators about the initiative.  

• All fellows will receive a $7,000 stipend to implement proposed initiatives and participate in the five TRAC training modules.
• Multiple fellows can submit a collaborative application. The $7,000 stipend would be divided across the fellows on the team.
• All fellows can request an additional $3,000 to hire a student on the project (approx. 10 hours per week at $20 per hour for 15 weeks).
• A limited budget for supplies or resources will be available. If your project requires supplies or resources, please provide an estimate.
• Upon completion of their unit-specific or cross-unit activity, Impact Fellows will be eligible for a Seed Translational Research Project (STRP) grant to implement a research translation project of their own or others' research.

Impact Fellows Application