Research to Action

The Global Guide to Research Impact

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    This list of how to’s provides an essential guide for a number of key communication and engagement activities that will help make your research travel.

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Looking back, peering forward: our 2025 journey

As 2025 draws to a close, we’d like to take a moment to pause and look back on the past year at...

Why development research needs a new publishing paradigm

The promise of open access once offered a path toward equity in development research. However, as highlighted in a recent INASP policy...

Kathryn Oliver on rethinking evidence use

Back in October, Professor Kathryn Oliver delivered an insightful lecture on one of the big questions in our field. Individuals, organisations, and...

Job Opportunity: Director at the Africa Evidence Network (AEN)

More than a decade ago, a group of people passionate about generating and using evidence in Africa, for Africa, got together over...

Evidence is everybody’s story

In a world drowning in data, the promise of ‘evidence-based practice’ often feels distant. For many, evidence remains something that is done...

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Knowing your audience

Reflections on Gender, Power and Knowledge for Development

03/07/2017

The motivation to write my book, Gender, Power and Knowledge for Development (read the introduction online here) has come out of 17 years of trying…

Lata Narayanaswamy

News

INASP: Improving the use of knowledge in policy

30/06/2017

INASP and Politics & Ideas invite government agencies to participate in an opportunity to improve the use of knowledge in policy through the application of a new diagnostic tool. This tool…

Featured

Lessons Learned: A year in the life of a research uptake professional

22/06/2017

Blog Posts

I lead the Research Uptake and Communications Unit in my organisation, the Health Research and Social Development Forum (HERD). I always find it useful and…

Sudeep Uprety

Monitoring and evaluation

Webinar summary: A cup of tea with John Young

15/06/2017

Blog Posts

On Thursday, 25 May R2A held our final webinar in the ‘Cup of Tea’ series, with an interview between Megan Lloyd-Laney and John Young. If you…

Research to Action

News

First KM4Dev Online Open Space

09/06/2017

You are invited to join in and experiment with the first KM4Dev Online Open Space on 14th June, from 02:00 London time (01:00 GMT) to 19:30…

Strategic communication

How Change Happens

07/06/2017

News & Opportunities

Join Duncan Green and the RSA for a free webinar on ‘How Change Happens’, Thursday, 8 June, 2017, 1-2pm (BST) How can we effect real…

Research to Action

Targeting policy actors

First Research Uptake Roundtable guests announced

05/06/2017

Blog Posts

How do we manage the delicate balance between ‘technical’ and ‘social’ in translating evidence to action? While it has been easy to share significant successes…

Research to Action

Targeting policy actors

New webinar series: announcing the ‘R2A Roundtables’

02/06/2017

Blog Posts

Like all good things the ‘Cup of Tea’ webinar series is over, and we discovered that like a good cup of tea and catch up…

Research to Action

Making your research accessible

Communicating systematic reviews effectively

26/05/2017

Blog Posts

R2A is always keen to crowdsource solutions to problems that individuals, programmes, and organisations face when communicating development research. A thorny issue that many encounter…

Research to Action

Featured

Social media

22/05/2017

Blog Posts

Social media is an ever changing field with new platforms and tools appearing each month, but one thing that has not changed is the potential that…

Research to Action

Evidence into policy

DFID updates about research communications and uptake

19/05/2017

It has been a busy year for the international development community. The 2016 Sustainable Development Goals ushered in a greater emphasis on monitoring and evaluation,…

Research to Action

Learning in context

Communicating research about ending violence against women and girls

15/05/2017

Blog Posts

Communicating academic research and programmatic findings about ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an area of development communications which warrants particular sensitivity and…

Research to Action

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Most Recent Posts

  • Looking back, peering forward: our 2025 journey
  • Why development research needs a new publishing paradigm
  • Kathryn Oliver on rethinking evidence use
  • Job Opportunity: Director at the Africa Evidence Network (AEN)
  • Evidence is everybody’s story

As 2025 comes to a close, we’re pausing to reflect at Research to Action (R2A) ✨

This year, 27,000+ readers from 188 countries joined us in exploring how research can better inform action — reading, sharing, and asking thoughtful questions along the way 🌍📚

Despite a challenging year for international development, our community leaned into conversations about:
📊 Impact and learning
🔄 Knowledge brokering & evidence use
🤖 AI and the future of research

What inspired us most was how you engaged — with curiosity, care, and a commitment to making evidence matter.

✨ Looking ahead, we remain focused on creating space for reflection, learning, and meaningful exchange — together.

Thank you for being part of the journey. Here’s to another year of curiosity and impact 💛

🔗 Link in bio to read our full reflection

#ResearchToAction #EvidenceInPractice #ResearchImpact #KnowledgeSharing #EndOfYearReflection #GlobalCommunity

In our latest blog Inés Arangüena breaks down the Researcher Impact Framework (RIF) — a super practical way to show the real-world impact behind research, not just the publication count.

✨ Why it’s worth a read:
💡 Clearly explain the difference your work makes
📚 Connect outcomes to real evidence + activity
🤝 Highlight impact through collaboration, knowledge sharing & community
📊 Use metrics that actually matter (not just journal impact factors!)

If you’re a researcher, communicator, or anyone trying to share the story behind your work… this framework is a game-changer.

🔗 Link in bio to read the full blog!

#ResearchImpact #KnowledgeTranslation #DataDrivenStorytelling #AcademicCommunications #ImpactNarratives Trinity College Dublin

In our latest blog Inés Arangüena breaks down the Researcher Impact Framework (RIF) — a super practical way to show the real-world impact behind research, not just the publication count.

✨ Why it’s worth a read:
💡 Clearly explain the difference your work makes
📚 Connect outcomes to real evidence + activity
🤝 Highlight impact through collaboration, knowledge sharing & community
📊 Use metrics that actually matter (not just journal impact factors!)

If you’re a researcher, communicator, or anyone trying to share the story behind your work… this framework is a game-changer.

🔗 Link in bio to read the full blog!

#ResearchImpact #KnowledgeTranslation #DataDrivenStorytelling #AcademicCommunications #ImpactNarratives Trinity College Dublin

Revisiting a 2022 article by Tebby Leepile this International Week of Science and Peace. It dives into the challenge of scaling implementation science: too big becomes unsustainable, too small makes little impact. 🌍🔬

How do we find the balance that leads to real change?

Full article in linktree just click #R2AArchive 🔗

#ScienceForPeace #InternationalWeekOfScienceAndPeace #ImplementationScience #SustainableDevelopment #ScaleUpImpact  #FromDataToImpact  #InnovationForGood

Revisiting a 2022 article by Tebby Leepile this International Week of Science and Peace. It dives into the challenge of scaling implementation science: too big becomes unsustainable, too small makes little impact. 🌍🔬

How do we find the balance that leads to real change?

Full article in linktree just click #R2AArchive 🔗

#ScienceForPeace #InternationalWeekOfScienceAndPeace #ImplementationScience #SustainableDevelopment #ScaleUpImpact #FromDataToImpact #InnovationForGood


About Us

Research To Action (R2A) is a learning platform for anyone interested in maximising the impact of research and capturing evidence of impact.

The site publishes practical resources on a range of topics including research uptake, communications, policy influence and monitoring and evaluation. It captures the experiences of practitioners and researchers working on these topics and facilitates conversations between this global community through a range of social media platforms.

R2A is produced by a small editorial team, led by CommsConsult. We welcome suggestions for and contributions to the site.

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