Most researchers want their work to make a difference, but turning research into meaningful change is not always straightforward. At Danida Fellowship Centre, we offer training for Danida-funded researchers to strengthen their communication and engagement skills so they can share their insights and knowledge outside academia.
Our aim is to help them bridge the gap between academia, practitioners, the public, and policymakers. One key initiative is our “Research Engagement, Influencing, and Impact” initiative, a mandatory online training for Danida-funded research projects. The training supports researchers in developing clear, prioritised, and targeted engagement strategies that can strengthen the impact of their work.
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.
This newsletter highlights a selection of cases that reflect this shift in mindset. While each case has been associated with one key area of impact, it is important to recognise the intersectionality between these categories. In practice, many of these examples speak to multiple dimensions of impact at once. They illustrate how research engagement can simultaneously support policy influence, mutual learning, awareness raising, and stronger connections between knowledge producers and users.
In other words, these stories show the different impacts, big and small, created by Danida-funded researchers, how their work leads to change in different ways, and how important engagement with stakeholders is in that process.
Read the stories here:
Engagement for impact – small shifts for bigger results
Mutual learning – co-creation in global health
Raising awareness – researchers and the media work together for the climate
