Research news

AusAID hosts International Forum of Research Donors 2011

From 29 June to 1 July, AusAID hosted the 2011 annual meeting of the International Forum of Research Donors in Bogor, Indonesia. The Forum brought together development research donors from across the globe to discuss the theme of ‘Taking a systems approach to investing in knowledge, research and innovation for development’.

2010 systematic review call – funding outcomes

In 2010, AusAID collaborated with the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluations (3ie) to fund a round of systematic reviews of development evidence.

To read about the 18 successful applicants, visit our Systematic review call—Final selection outcomes page.

Highlighting the role of innovation in development

Focus Magazine recently highlighted AusAID's work to support innovation for development.

AusAID co-hosted a workshop on improving the impact of development research through better communication and uptake

Members of the research workshop sitting at a table in discussion

On 29-30 November 2010 in London, AusAID co-organised and supported a development research workshop titled 'Improving the impact of development research through better communication and uptake'.

The workshop was co-hosted by AusAID, DFID and the United Kingdom Collaborative for Development Sciences (UKCDS) and involved over 80 participants from around the world.

Geoff Barnard from the Climate & Development Knowledge Network [external website] opened the conference by providing a context for the current research communications environment [external website]. He said:

Knowledge sharing and communication professionals now inhabit a much more crowded workspace than 15 years ago. There is more noise, more competition and more strategic thinking needed to make your knowledge stand out and be heard. However, this community is far better networked than ever before. There are opportunities to build knowledge-brokering relationships across the globe. In other words, there are new opportunities, as well as challenges.

The meeting highlighted the variety of ways in which organisations from different countries communicate research. Variation occurred at every stage of a typical communications cycle, as a result of different audiences, contexts and issues. For example, different communication tools and mediums were employed by a think-tank in Papua New Guinea when compared to a science research group based in the United Kingdom.

Supporting research use is a relatively new field in which there is no clear blueprint for success. Louise Shaxson, the lead facilitator, summarised the following emerging themes from the discussions:

research is one influence in policy and practice change and so collaboration with a wide range of actors can support research uptake and use
there is a need to balance between supply and demand for research. There was general agreement that more is known about how to improve supply than how to improve demand for evidence, particularly in the policy sphere
there is still work to do to improve capacity to assess the impact of research
steps can be taken to better understand and raise the standards of knowledge translation.

The final conference report can be found below and further information about the conference including blogs and conference presentations are available at Research to Action [external website].

More information

Department for International Development—Improving the impact of development research through better research communications and uptake [PDF 1.22mb] [external website]

Last reviewed: 25 October, 2011