Turning evidence and lived experience into a compelling account of impact

The challenge

UNSW Sydney delivers programs designed to expand access to university, improve student participation and create more equitable educational opportunities.

Demonstrating the impact of those programs wasn't merely a case of listing activities or publishing headline participation figures.

UNSW needed to show how its initiatives worked, who they reached and what changed as a result. It also needed to connect individual program outcomes with its wider access, equity and inclusion objectives.

The source material was extensive. It included enrolment and participation data, program descriptions, geographic information, stakeholder contributions, strategic objectives, student outcomes and accounts from people with direct experience of the programs.

That information arrived from different teams and systems. Data could be incomplete, inconsistent with previous reporting or presented without enough context to explain its significance.

The challenge was to turn all of this material into a coherent, credible and engaging account of impact.

Our role

Antelope Media worked with UNSW across successive impact statements for its access, equity and inclusion programs.

Led by Emma Sorensen, our role extended from editorial strategy and structural development through to rewriting, student interviews, design direction, stakeholder coordination and final production.

Our work across the reporting program included:

• developing and refining the impact-reporting model
• reviewing previous reports, strategies and source material
• structuring each publication around UNSW’s programs, objectives and outcomes
• rewriting and copyediting substantial draft content
• identifying missing, incomplete or inconsistent information
• raising detailed questions about data and supporting evidence
• checking information against previous editions
• interviewing students about their experiences
• writing student stories and profiles
• integrating statistics, charts, maps and narrative content
• directing the visual presentation of the reports
• coordinating feedback from multiple UNSW stakeholders
• managing design revisions and proofreading, and
• guiding each publication through to final files.

Creating a repeatable impact-reporting model

Antelope Media helped UNSW establish a reporting approach that could be used and developed across successive editions.

Each report needed to stand on its own, reflecting the programs, evidence and priorities of the relevant year. At the same time, the series needed enough consistency for readers to follow UNSW’s progress and understand how its work was evolving.

We organised complex source material into a clear hierarchy. Strategic context explained why the work mattered. Program information showed what UNSW had done. Data demonstrated reach and outcomes. Student stories revealed what those outcomes meant in people’s lives.

The structure also allowed different forms of evidence to reinforce each other. A participation figure carried more meaning when readers could understand the program behind it and meet a student whose educational pathway had changed.

This created a flexible model rather than a rigid template. It could accommodate new programs, updated data, changing priorities and developments in UNSW’s broader approach to social impact.

Interrogating the evidence

Impact reporting needs to be persuasive, but it also needs to be credible.

Antelope Media did not treat the supplied material as finished copy. We reviewed the underlying information in detail, compared it with previous editions and identified where figures, descriptions or conclusions were missing, unclear or inconsistent.

In some editions, substantial parts of the current data had not yet been supplied when editorial work began. Other information conflicted with figures published in an earlier impact statement or lacked enough context for readers to interpret it properly.

We raised questions directly within the working drafts, identified gaps requiring input from UNSW teams and distinguished between changes that could be made editorially and those requiring confirmation from program owners.

Once the additional material arrived, we incorporated it into the narrative, reconciled inconsistencies and reviewed the document again as a whole.

This process helped ensure the reports did more than make strong claims. They provided the information readers needed to understand and trust those claims.

Putting student experience alongside the data

Program data established the scale of UNSW’s work, but numbers alone could not show how access and equity initiatives affected an individual student.

Antelope Media made student stories a central part of the reporting model.

We interviewed students about their backgrounds, educational experiences, participation in UNSW programs and pathways into university. We then shaped those conversations into accurate, respectful and compelling stories.

In doing so, we recognised that these stories were not decorative additions to the reports. They were the human evidence that allowed readers to understand what the programs made possible.

The stories also had value beyond the original publications. They could support fundraising, school engagement, program communications and other material demonstrating the value of UNSW’s equity initiatives.

Turning different forms of evidence into one story

The impact statements brought together information that would otherwise have remained dispersed across program teams, datasets, presentations and individual accounts.

Antelope Media connected:

• UNSW’s access, equity and inclusion objectives
• program descriptions and delivery information
• participation and enrolment figures
• student outcome data
• geographic reach
• comparisons with previous reporting periods
• stakeholder observations
• student interviews and profiles, and
• the wider social and educational significance of the work.

We determined what each part of the report needed to establish and selected the form of evidence most capable of doing so.

Charts and maps made scale and reach easier to grasp. Narrative sections explained strategy and program design. Student stories showed how institutional activity translated into individual opportunity.

The result was a connected account of impact rather than a collection of unrelated program updates.

Designing for accessibility and engagement

Reports of this size could easily become dense institutional documents. The design needed to help readers navigate the information, identify important findings and move between strategic context, data and personal experience.

Antelope Media worked closely with designers to establish and refine the visual presentation of each edition.

We considered how content should be distributed across pages, where graphics could communicate more effectively than prose and how headings, pull quotes, maps, charts and student stories could create variety without fragmenting the report.

Emma directed the design process, consolidated stakeholder feedback and translated that feedback into clear instructions for the production team.

As each report developed, we reviewed the relationship between words and design rather than treating them as separate tasks. Copy was shortened or reorganised where necessary, graphics were clarified and page structures were adjusted to improve information flow.

Managing a complex publication process

Producing each impact statement required input and approval from numerous people across UNSW.

Program owners supplied information and checked technical accuracy. Senior stakeholders reviewed the institutional narrative. Students needed to be interviewed and given an opportunity to review their stories. Designers, photographers and proofreaders worked to different production schedules.

We coordinated these moving parts and maintained a clear editorial process throughout.

This included managing working drafts, identifying unresolved questions, following up missing information, coordinating feedback and ensuring the design team received consolidated instructions.

Antelope Media then reviewed revised files, checked corrections and managed the final proofing and production stages.

This allowed UNSW stakeholders to contribute their expertise while preserving a coherent voice and structure across the finished publication.

Adapting the model over time

The reporting program evolved as UNSW’s organisational structure, priorities and evidence base changed.

Later editions required updated program categories, new sets of student outcomes, refreshed visual treatments and changes to the balance between narrative and data.

The reports also needed to connect with developing strategic frameworks, including UNSW’s Theory of Change and the work of its Division of Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement.

Antelope Media adapted the established model while retaining its central logic: explain the purpose of the work, demonstrate its scale, provide credible evidence of outcomes and show what those outcomes meant for students.

This balance of consistency and adaptation made the impact statements an ongoing reporting program rather than a sequence of disconnected publications.

A broader relationship with UNSW

The impact statements formed part of a much larger body of work Antelope Media completed for UNSW.

Our related work included:

• the Widening Participation Strategy 2025 to 2035
• access, equity and inclusion strategy documents
• the Disability Inclusion Action Plan
• Gateway program brochures and school-facing information
• student interviews and profiles
• Sustainable Development Goals reporting
• Athena Swan and external award material
• event and program communications
• proofreading and publication support, and
• report-writing training.

Across these assignments, the recurring task was to make complex institutional work clear, credible and meaningful to audiences inside and outside the university.

What we delivered

• an adaptable model for ongoing impact reporting
• editorial strategy and publication structure
• review of previous reports and source material
• substantial rewriting and copyediting
• data checking and identification of evidentiary gaps
• questions and editorial guidance for program contributors
• integration of program data, outcomes and strategic context
• student interviews
• student stories and profiles
• accessible presentation of complex institutional information
• content hierarchy and page planning
• design direction and coordination
• management of stakeholder feedback
• proofreading and quality assurance, and
• production support through to final publication.

The result

UNSW gained a consistent and adaptable way to communicate the impact of its access, equity and inclusion programs.

Successive reports brought together evidence that had previously been distributed across programs, teams and datasets. They explained what UNSW was doing, demonstrated the scale and reach of that work and connected institutional activity with real student outcomes.

The publications retained the substance required of formal impact reporting while becoming more accessible and engaging for readers.

Data gave the reports credibility. Strategic narrative explained why the work mattered. Student stories showed what the programs could change.

The recurring relationship also allowed the reporting model to improve over time. Antelope Media could build on previous editions, maintain continuity and adapt the content as UNSW’s programs, evidence and strategic priorities evolved.

The result was more than a series of well-produced reports. UNSW gained an ongoing body of evidence and human stories through which it could demonstrate its contribution to educational access and social impact.