Research for All Research for All https://doi.org/10.14324/RFA.08.1.03 Research article Combining impact goal and impact descriptor frameworks to elucidate the societal impacts of research: a pilot study Alison M. Meadow 1, * , Gigi Owen 2 , Nupur Joshi 3 and Elise Lodge Otto 4 1 Office of Societal Impact, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA 2 Arizona Institute for Resilience, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA 3 Anthropology and Sociology Department, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, USA (formerly School of Geography, Development and Environment, University of Arizona) USA 4 School of Geography, Development and Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA *Correspondence: meadow@arizona.edu Submission date: 10 February 2023; Acceptance date: 19 February 2024; Publication date: 17 April 2024 How to cite Meadow, A.M., Owen, G., Joshi, N. and Lodge Otto, E. (2024) ‘Combining impact goal and impact descriptor frameworks to elucidate the societal impacts of research: a pilot study’. Research for All, 8 (1), 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/RFA.08.1.03 Peer review This article has been peer-reviewed through the journal’s standard double-anonymous peer-review process, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymised during review. Copyright 2024, Alison M. Meadow, Gigi Owen, Nupur Joshi and Elise Lodge Otto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited • DOI:  https://doi.org/10.14324/RFA.08.1.03 Open access Research for All is a peer-reviewed open-access journal. Abstract Universities, researchers and funders are increasingly asking how research contributes to positive changes in society and the environment, and seeking ways to document and describe impacts consistently across diverse disciplines and organisational scales. The societal impacts framework presented in this pilot study uses a combination of impact goal and impact descriptor frameworks to elucidate the societal impacts of research. The framework blends elements of assessment-driven and mission-driven reporting frameworks, and was administered online to volunteers from one interdisciplinary environmental research institute. The 12 projects in the pilot study addressed 15 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, and all 12 projects reported impacts in two or more of six impact descriptor categories. We also identified an impact subcategory dealing with changes to higher education practice. Combining two types of impacts frameworks – societal goals and descriptors of