Research: Engagement, influencing and impact training for Danida supported researchers, September-October 2026

Dates of training/online:

On Thursdays: 10th, 17th, 24th of September and 1st of October
from 9:30 am – 12 am CET.

The greatest challenges of our time won’t be solved by knowledge locked away in journals or libraries – they require action. Research has the power to drive real change, but only when it reaches the right people and is put to use.

To create meaningful impact, researchers can put knowledge into action by engaging with communities, policymakers, businesses, and civil society who can use it. But how do you identify the right audiences, the most effective methods, and the best timing to ensure your work makes a difference? This course equips you with the skills to move research from theory to action, helping you transform knowledge into real-world solutions. The course encourages peer sharing of knowledge especially from those who already have significant experience in undertaking engagement activities within their research projects.

Five key principles of the training:

1. 1. The sessions provide accessible and practical guidance for time-pushed researchers, with a focus on facilitating peer learning and exploration of ideas in context.
   2. Through the course, you will develop your own engagement  strategy and you will be tasked with submitting it for written feedback.
   3. You will also be tasked with talking about your research goals in a clear, salient and lively way in a 60 second elevator pitch to the cross-continental community of Danida supported researchers.
   4. Resources, templates and links will be provided to enable your learning to translate into action.
   5. The facilitator delivering the course, Rowena Harding, will aim to answer questions throughout the course period (and immediately afterwards) on how to tailor insights gained to your specific project.

The Research: Engagement, Influencing and Impact training for Danida supported researchers will strengthen your skills in engagement and outreach for impact. It will help your research have a greater impact with the stakeholders you are trying to reach.

Programme:

Facilitator:

The seminars are planned and implemented in collaboration with the Impact Consultancy. Consultant Rowena Harding is a former journalist and public relations practitioner who has spent the last 20 years delivering strategic communications and marketing campaigns for development and social justice NGOs, research institutes and campaigning organisations. She has delivered training and support to global development researchers in the UK, Africa and Asia looking to increase the impact of their research. She has been embedded within the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, and appreciates the many time pressures on today’s researchers. She hopes to help researchers gain confidence in getting their research where it needs to go!

(Tentative) guest speakers

with relevant practical experience to each session’s theme will broaden the perspectives:

Week 1:
10 September: Vito Baraka, Principal Research Officer, National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania.

Week 2:
17 September: Gifty Sunkwa-Mills, medical doctor and public health researcher, Ghana.

Week 3:
24 September: James Nkuubi, Doctoral candidate, Human Rights and Peace Centre, School of Law, Makerere University, Uganda.

Week 4:
1 October: Ann Kingiri, Director of Research at the African Centre for Technology Studies, Kenya.

Curious to know more? We compiled a whole newsletter about Research Engagement!

This newsletter is inspired by reflections from the training’s facilitator, research communications consultant Rowena Harding.

In a recent article, she explores why “engaging for impact” is not about doing more, but about identifying the specific value propositions that motivate different stakeholders. She also highlights the importance of tracking micro-impacts and remaining open to broader definitions of impact beyond policy change. This includes recognising other crucial forms of impact for development researchers, such as mutual learning, raising awareness, and strengthening connectivity by building links between those who produce data and those who use it.

Further questions
You are welcome to contact event@dfcentre.dk, if you have questions related to this programme.