18 December, 2015
The new Impact Initiative has just been launched which aims to increase the uptake and impact of research from two major programmes jointly funded by ESRC and DFID.
These are the (1) Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research (2) Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems Research Programme.
Over 150 social science research projects in 70 countries have been funded, which you can view on the website through an interactive map. The portfolio covers a diverse range of issues from armed conflict in Colombia to children, transport and mobility in sub-Saharan Africa.
This is a new collaboration between the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the University of Cambridge’s Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre in the Faculty of Education. The four year programme will see the Impact Initiative linking grantees with policy and practitioner networks and facilitating a range of in-country events, conference panels, workshops and high level policy forums as well as targeted knowledge products.
The initiative will also aim to foster mutual learning and offer practical advice and guidance to grantees. You can already access a range of excellent “How to” guides on broadcast media interviews, strategic communications and open knowledge and licensing.
The first major event will be a conference in South Africa in March 2016, to celebrate a decade of lessons learned in poverty alleviation.
Future plans include convening working groups on research into disability and ICTs for development, sponsorship of grantees to promote their work in relation to the SDGs, an event to promote the range of research on India within the portfolio, and a special collection of journal articles on knowledge mobilisation.
For more information on the Impact Initiative, visit: http://www.theimpactinitiative.net/