ESRC Deputy Director of Impact and Innovation
Melanie Knetsch is Deputy Director of Impact and Innovation at the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Melanie leads on ESRC’s strategic knowledge exchange and innovation activities to ensure that our investments are visible to potential users, as well as creating opportunities for researchers to undertake impact-led activities. This includes helping to define what impact is, and how to evidence it from evaluations. Her teams also support the social science community to respond to impact opportunities in more flexible, responsive and creative ways via our Impact Acceleration Accounts, ensuring researchers are working with businesses and their insights are reaching business sectors. She is also looking at how researchers can sustain or scale up their impacts beyond the grant funding through commercialisation opportunities.
Melanie joined the ESRC in 2008 and has worked in a variety of roles since then including communications, public engagement, the Newton Fund and Deputy Director of the Office in India. She holds a Masters degree in Medical Social Anthropology from Keele University, and a Masters in Science Communication from the University of West of England.
Last updated: 4 September 2023