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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Featured

Should we use “indigenous knowledge”… even if it’s wrong?

30/11/2011

Blog Posts

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in international development circles in protecting and using indigenous knowledge. Countries such as Kenya and…

Kirsty Newman

Featured

Dr. Justine Nannyonjo discusses communicating research at the Bank of Uganda

29/11/2011

Audio & Video

I recently co-facilitated a Policy Brief Writing workshop for the Global Development Network (GDNet) and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi, Kenya. This…

Betty Paton

Featured

Why aren’t web 2.0 tools being used more for research collaboration?

15/11/2011

GDNet web 2.0 study wordle Blog Posts

Blogs, wikis, social networking sites and other web 2.0 tools have the potential to transform research collaboration and knowledge-sharing and are often included in research…

Cheryl Brown

Featured

Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa programme launched

14/11/2011

News & Opportunities

A new programme that aims to enhance development research and its uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa was launched earlier this month.The Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan…

Research to Action

Featured

Writing for change: An interactive guide to effective writing, writing for science, and writing for advocacy

27/10/2011

Guides & Tutorials

That’s the most important idea in this manual. Many people assume that the main purpose of writing is to convey information.

But effective writing does more than that. Behind the ‘information’ or ‘facts’, there is always something else that writers ar…

Research to Action

Featured

Institutional Strategies for Capturing Socio-Economic Impact of Academic Research

23/10/2011

Papers & Reports

One of the first important points when defining socio-economic impact is the distinction between „dissemination‟ and „impact‟. One of its main conclusions, that while disseminating to a wide range of audiences is positive, impact has to be evidenced by the application of the research outcomes by the user or community.

Research to Action

Evidence into policy

Stimulating Demand for Research Evidence: What Role for Capacity-building?

23/10/2011

Papers & Reports

There has been a great deal of interest in recent years in supporting evidence-informed policymaking in developing countries. In particular, there have been efforts to…

Research to Action

Featured

Improving the flow of your information: Website usability testing

18/10/2011

Blog Posts

When developing online research resource portals, databases and community groups it is often difficult to assess how people will be using a platform as it…

Betty Paton

Featured

GDN/PEM Asia Research Communications Workshop

17/10/2011

Blog Posts

Being influential requires you to be clear who you are trying to influence! As basic as this sounds, it is often the reason why researchers…

Zeinab Sabet

Featured

Learning review of Panos Relay programme

27/09/2011

Papers & Reports

  An independent review of the Relay programme took place between October 2010 and February 2011 and included field visits to five programme focus countries – Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia…

Research to Action

Featured

Is the only good knowledge, new knowledge?

22/09/2011

Blog Posts

“Many of the answers to major development challenges are already known,” states DFID in its Working Paper on Research Communication, “but the information is inaccessible,…

Cheryl Brown

Featured

Presenting Complex Data Visually: Using web-based tools to make your development data travel

13/09/2011

Blog Posts

Data and statistics are a powerful way to communicate development research. Solid figures can add weight and sustenance to research findings and through organisations such…

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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