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Research impact

Positive change can take place rapidly if the decisions made by policy-makers, practitioners and individuals are based on reliable research and evidence. The extent to which research impacts sustainable development is influenced by complex factors on the supply and demand side of evidence production.

The key to research impact is building the connections between evidence producers and consumers. Individuals’ require the skills to access and appraise evidence, while organisations need to strengthen culture to use evidence. By working on the supply and demand, we help partners build effective evidence ecosystems to support research impact.

Through our evaluation, learning and strategy services we support our partners to maximise the impact of their research to ensure that it is used, informs learning, and impacts policy and practice. By working on research supply and demand, we help our partners build effective evidence ecosystems that support sustainable development.

Projects

Strengthening Research and Knowledge Systems (SRKS) Evaluation

The Strengthening Research and Knowledge Systems (SRKS), was a five-year (2013-2018) programme which aimed to increase...

Evaluation of DFID’s Humanitarian Innovation and Evidence Programme

The Humanitarian Emergency Response Review (HERR), chaired by Lord Ashdown, emphasised the need to improve the evidence base...

Review of the Mobilising Knowledge for Development programme

Itad formed a small team of evaluation, research communications and knowledge management specialists to conduct a review and...

Building Capacity to Use Research Evidence (BCURE)

The effective use of research and evidence can play a crucial role in making policy more successful. However, while...

Publications

Building foundations for development impact in large scale research funds

Assessing how the Global Challenges Research Fund created the environment for impact in its early years and achieve...

Stamping out Slavery in Nigeria Programme and Evaluation

The UK FCDO-funded Stamping out Slavery in Nigeria (SoSiN) programme aims to improve the evidence base on modern slavery and...

Research for Development indicators: A review of funder practice

The Newton Fund and the GCRF are managed by BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) to promote research...

Development of key performance indicators – Final Report

BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) spends part of the overseas aid budget on research and...

Blogs and news

New evidence highlights pre-conditions for development research impact

New insights from Itad demonstrate how evaluative methods can be used at earlier stages of development research programmes to...

New book highlights value of theories of change for social impact

Insights from Itad feature in a new book on how the Theory of Change framework can help those interested in designing...

Using realist evaluation to support evidence-based policy making

An innovative Itad evaluation generated valuable lessons on what works to build capacity for evidence-informed policy making,...

What makes evaluations impactful?

Insights from a panel discussion as part of our first ever company-wide Knowledge and Learning Day.