16.2.3 Identify and engage with local stakeholders
Srinakharinwirot University has developed a structured approach to identifying and engaging local stakeholders through the work of the SWU SROI Club and its capacity-building programmes on Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Social Return on Investment (SROI). Under the Social Services Office, the university organises regular workshops on SIA and SROI that train academic and support staff in stakeholder mapping, participatory impact analysis and outcome reporting for community-engagement and research projects. These workshops explicitly aim to equip staff with theoretical and practical skills to prepare results reports aligned with SWU’s social engagement strategy and SDG-oriented impact indicators, and have targeted groups such as lecturers, researchers who apply their work in communities, and leaders of academic service projects, with around 70 participants in the 2024 cohort. The methodology taught emphasises identifying primary and secondary stakeholders, working with local communities, government agencies and partner organisations to co-define expected changes, collect qualitative and quantitative data from them, and assess social value in ways that reflect their perspectives. Complementary SROI workshops on research impact further strengthen the ability of SWU researchers to translate “research to social value” in collaboration with community and policy stakeholders. Together, these initiatives show that SWU does not treat stakeholder engagement as an informal add-on, but embeds systematic identification and engagement of local stakeholders into the design, implementation and evaluation of its social engagement and research projects through institution-wide SIA and SROI practices.
