One of the activities we are focusing on in this phase of the R4D project is to convene a series of peer exchange meetings to discuss issues related to social media and engagement in and around development research.

The first of these sessions took place early in February in London, where we met with colleagues form DFID, ODI, CABI, IDS, CommsConsult, to discuss how to measure the success (and failure) of research uptake and communication efforts.

Food for thought for the participants was provided by ODI’s Nick Scott, who presented the analytical framework and technical solutions adopted by ODI to conduct its own M&E of research uptake.

Nick’s excellent slides are embedded here below, and a summary of his talk and a video interview with him are available in this post on Euforic Services blog.

What emerged clearly from the overall conversation is that, especially when it comes to the issue of monitoring research uptake with digital tools, a lot more awareness, experimentation and collective learning is needed. The R4D Peer Exchange meetings can provide a useful platform to share experiences and develop some more common understanding on how the social web can be used to maximise reserach uptake and users’ engagement.

The next session, in mid-March, will discuss research uptake and global trends in online and digital media, focusing specifically on how to identify and engage with different audiences.