Agradecimentos: The authors would like to thank all members of the WASTE FEW ULL research group. Details can be found of members on the website. Thanks also to John Coggon at the University of Bristol and Jack Martin at the University of Stirling for helping in the conceptual and theoretical development of this paper through discussions on the UK Prevention Research Partnership Community of Practice Impact Theme. This research his research received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant # 730254) within the Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative (SUGI) from JPI Urban Europe. The SUGI Food Water Energy (FWE) Nexus was established by the Belmont Forum and the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe and included 20 funders globally. Funders who directly supported this project were: InnovateUK, Economic and Social Research Council and Arts and Humanities Research Council Award # ES/S002243/1 (UK); START International - USA (South Africa); Sao Paulo Science and Technology Funding Agency (FAPESP), Award # 2017/50421-3 (Brazil); National Science Foundation Award # 1830104 (USA); The Research Council of Norway (Norway); and Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk (NOW) Award # 438-17-405 (Netherlands). These funders had no involvement in the design, data handling, or writing of this publication. Conceptual and theoretical developments were also made possible via discussions within the UK Prevention Research Partnership’s (award # MR/S037586/1) Community of Practice Impact Theme, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Welsh Government), Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Natural Environment Research Council, Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), The Health Foundation and Wellcome Ver menos

Abstract: Achieving societal impact, as opposed to academic impact, is a growing area of focus for the research community globally. Central to this changing mission is the focus on multiple interconnected complex systems and the need for research that is not just interdisciplinary, but also transdisciplinary and grounded in stakeholder co-production. This document compares multiple approaches to impact planning and evaluation across four newly formed urban living labs in Sao Paolo (Brazil), Western Cape (South Africa), Bristol (UK) and Rotterdam (Netherlands), each of which sought to address societal issues linked to the food-energy-water nexus. A comparison matrix and a disaggregated impact table are derived from a comprehensive review of key definitions. These new tools were completed by each ULL alongside a post hoc pathway to impact statements. Comparisons are presented and discussed, the strengths and weaknesses of this approach are considered and opportunities for improvement in societal impact planning and evaluation are provided. Our main findings include the importance of establishing clear shared definitions while accepting plural understandings, the need to acknowledge resource as a critical factor in impact delivery and the headline need for far greater focus in this area from both funders and research groups Ver menos