Research management

We have managed over £100 million of research investment over the past decade, leading to tangible - often transformative - improvements in policy and practice in sectors including early childhood development, economic growth, education, energy, poverty alleviation, and disaster risk reduction and resilience.

We specialise in bringing researchers, policy makers, and practitioners together to co-design strategies that address practical challenges through rigorous and innovative research. Often this involves building cross-disciplinary and cross-sector teams.  

Within our research programmes, we provide training and support to academic researchers to strengthen their capabilities to achieve impact from their work. We also work directly with policymakers to understand the political, economic, and structural challenges they face, so we can implement feasible plans to enhance the use of evidence in decision-making.    

It is our experience that research is more innovative and impactful when led by researchers that are from the countries in which it is to be used. Therefore, our work prioritises capacity-strengthening. We believe that integrated approaches which simultaneously address  individual-, institutional-, and systemic-level challenges through multiple, coordinated interventions are essential for sustainable change.

Our approach to research evaluation is grounded in an understanding of the complexity and uncertainty of the research process. Our evaluation methods often focus on analysis of decision-making process and the quality of stakeholder networks, in addition to scientific excellence, to assess the value and impact of research investments.