Research to Action

The Global Guide to Research Impact

Navigation

  • Home

  • How To ▾

    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.

    • Building Capacity
    • Policy Briefs
    • Research Impact
    • Theory of Change
    • Uptake Strategy
  • Topics ▾

    • AEN Evidence 23
    • Eye on 2022
    • Impact Practitioners
    • Knowing your audience ▸
      • Building a strategy
      • Engaging policy audiences ▸
        • EBPDN
        • Targeting policy actors
        • Targeting practitioners
      • Stakeholder mapping
      • Strategic communication ▸
        • Building a brand
        • Engaging the public
      • Working with the media
    • Making your research accessible ▸
      • Framing challenges
      • Knowledge translation
      • Learning in context
      • Open access
      • Presenting your research
      • Using digital tools ▸
        • Using multi media
        • Using online tools/ICTs
        • Using social media
      • Using intermediaries
    • Monitoring and evaluation ▸
      • Applying M&E methods
      • Evidence into policy
      • Measuring success
    • Uncategorized
  • Dialogue Spaces ▾

    • Youth Inclusion and Engagement Space
    • AEN Evidence
    • GDN: Doing Research
    • Manchester Policy Week 2015
    • TTI Exchange 2015
    • Strengthening Institutions to Improve Public Expenditure Accountability (GDN PEM Project)
    • DFID/AusAid Research Communication and Uptake Workshop
    • 3ie Policy Influence and Monitoring (PIM) project
    • Policy Engagement and Communications (PEC) Programme
  • Reading Lists

  • Impact Practitioners

    • Impact Practitioners overview
    • Capacity Building
    • Communication and Engagement
    • Frameworks
    • Indicators
    • Learning
    • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • Policy Impact
    • Strategy
    • Theoretical
    • Utilisation

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Vimeo

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...

  • Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Next

Monitoring and evaluation

R2A Podcast: The Future of Impact Conference

17/04/2013

Audio & Video

Last week Research to Action attended the Future of Impact Conference in London, hosted by the DESCRIBE project (University of Exeter). The audio recordings are now available here as a podcast.

James Harvey

Monitoring and evaluation

The time has come for a better social dialogue between impact professionals

15/04/2013

Blog Posts

Universities are leading the formation of an ‘impact industry’ in the UK. After the DESCRIBE Project’s Future of Impact Conference, James Harvey argues that there is a clear case for more dialogue between professionals operating in this area.

James Harvey

Monitoring and evaluation

Are we losing sight of the true value of research ‘impact’?

11/04/2013

Blog Posts

In his latest post, Andrew Clappison reflects upon the discussion that took place during the Future of Impact Conference, and encourages us to think about the value of impact beyond the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF)

Andrew Clappison

Monitoring and evaluation

The Future of Impact Conference

05/04/2013

News & Opportunities

Next week (10th April 2013), ‘The Future of Impact’ Conference will take place at Woburn House in London. The event aims to “showcase leading national and international inquiry into the Impact of university research”.

Research to Action

Evidence into policy

The use and abuse of research evidence

02/04/2013

Blog Posts

Andrew Clappison argues there is one huge obstacle flying in the face of evidence informed policy making and that’s the fact we live in a socially constructed world, where politics, culture and power shapes peoples behaviour and norms.

Andrew Clappison

Featured

Social media ‘engagement’: Different paths to research utilisation [Part 2]

02/04/2013

Blog Posts

Pete Cranston and Pier Andrea Pirani take a look at social media from the perspective of user engagement and explore some key issues that emerge.

Pier Andrea Pirani

Featured

Social media ‘engagement’: How can it support research uptake? [Part 1]

25/03/2013

Blog Posts

This post launches our new social media engagement series that explores how to utilise social media effectively in research uptake activities. Join-us as we explore issues linked to the use and measurement of social media.

Pete Cranston

Featured

Integrating ICT during the research design phase

20/03/2013

Blog Posts

Kennedy Oulu shares his experiences of trying to integrate ICT during the design phase of a research project, and reflects on some of the benefits in terms of expanding buy-in and increasing the transparency of the research process.

Kennedy Oulu

Featured

Guidelines for evaluating nonprofit communications efforts

07/03/2013

Papers & Reports

This working paper offers guidelines that nonprofit organizations can use when designing evaluations to learn about both their investments in communications strategies and the impacts of those investments.

Research to Action

Building a strategy

Academics’ online presence guidelines: A four step guide to taking control of your visibility

05/03/2013

Guides & Tutorials

These guidelines, developed through the University of Cape Town’s OpenUCT Initiative take academics through a four step process to improving their online presence, and taking charge of their online visibility.

Research to Action

Featured

Open Access explained!

05/03/2013

Audio & Video

Nick Shockey and Jonathan Eisen take us through the world of Open Access publishing and explain what Open Access is through this short animated video.

Research to Action

Evidence into policy

What is the evidence on evidence‐informed policy making?

27/02/2013

Papers & Reports

This paper explores and sumarises the discussions that took place during the International Conference on Evidence-Informed Policy Making in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Research to Action

  • Previous
  • 1
  • …
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • …
  • 86
  • Next

Contribute Write a blog post, post a job or event, recommend a resource

Partner with Us Are you an institution looking to increase your impact?

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.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Cookies
  • Contribute

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Our contributors

  • Paula Fray
  • Shubha Jayaram
  • Sue Martin
  • Maria Balarin
  • James Harvey
  • Emily Hayter
  • Susan Koshy
  • Ronald Munatsi
  • Ajoy Datta

Browse all authors

Friends and partners

  • AuthorAid
  • Global Development Network (GDN)
  • INASP
  • Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
  • International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)
  • ODI RAPID
  • On Think Tanks
  • Politics & Ideas
  • Research for Development (R4D)
  • Research Impact

Copyright © 2026 Research to Action. All rights reserved. Log in