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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Applying M&E methods

Why low tech is sometimes better for virtual learning among African think tanks

10/06/2014

Blog Posts

David Olson discusses lessons learned from organizing the second peer virtual learning session for African think tanks in the Think Tank Policy Engagement and Communications Program.

David J Olson

Featured

IFTTT: What is it and why should you be using it?

02/06/2014

Blog Posts

IFTTT is a tool created to make your technology communicate better by using customised ‘recipes’. In this post, Ingvild Storm Stiland explores the ways in which this tool could revolutionise your day-to-day online working practices.

Ingvild Storm

Featured

Making policy engagement and communications low effort for think tanks

29/05/2014

Blog Posts

Henna Mahmood reflects on what worked and what didn’t in terms of peer learning during the recent TTI PEC programme workshop in Nairobi – Offering useful insights for others looking to facilitate similar events.

Henna Mahmood

Featured

Research and the media: fighting the anxiety

14/05/2014

Blog Posts

Anton Tsvetov, Media and Government Relations Manager at the Russian International Affairs Council, presents his view on the dangers of trying to make your research results more media-friendly.

Anton Tsvetov

Featured

Strategic communications for think tanks: Reflections from a webinar series

12/05/2014

Blog Posts

In her first contribution to R2A, Vanesa Weyrauch exaplains how webinars were used to explore with think tanks in Latin America how strategic communications could enhance there policy engagement efforts.

Vanesa Weyrauch

Featured

Kwame Owino on why he blogs for the Daily Nation, Kenya’s largest circulation paper

29/04/2014

Blog Posts

Kwame Owino is the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Economic Affairs – Kenya. In this Q&A interview, he discusses why he writes a weekly blog column in the Daily Nation.

Henna Mahmood

Featured

African think tanks take great strides in building their policy engagement capacity

23/04/2014

Blog Posts

In this blog-post, Henna Mahmood, outlines five improvements achieved to-date by Anglophone African think tanks participating in the Think Tank Initiative’s PEC Program.

Henna Mahmood

Engaging the public

Why you need to get on social media: A think tanks perspective

17/04/2014

Blog Posts

Zilper Audi, Communications Officer at IEA Kenya, summarizes IEA Kenya’s positive experience with social media as well as outlines a number of reasons why think tanks need to get on social media.

Zilper Audi

Engaging the public

The eBario project: Champion of innovative knowledge mobilization

16/04/2014

Blog Posts

In his latest contribution, Roger Harris introduces a research engagement process that is supporting dialogue and exchange between disparate groups: The eBario Knowledge Fair.

Roger Harris

Featured

A Training Workbook: Communication Methods and Scientific Advocacy

08/04/2014

Templates & Toolkits

This publication is an output from a project funded by Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries as it shares information on research, promote and development communication methods and scientific advocacy.

Research to Action

Engaging the public

New ‘Mapping Research Uptake Learning Materials’ project launched

07/04/2014

News & Opportunities

CommsConsult have undertaken a new project, commissioned by DRUSSA, and need your input in identifying what materials should be developed in the RUM field within the next few years.

Research to Action

Featured

Twitter: A Whistle-Stop Guide for Think Tanks!

03/04/2014

Guides & Tutorials

This guide to Twitter takes you from setting up an account, through building Twitter relationships, to creating and managing lists. It also focuses on policies and procedures, style and tone-of-voice and strategic Twitter goals.

Betty Paton

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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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