CES has supported 98 teams of academic researchers working to solve some of the most pressing problems through innovative, impactful research.
CES delivered a comprehensive training and mentoring programme on ‘Theory of Change’, integrating our expertise in implementation science for social impact.
The training was commissioned by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to support academic research teams funded through the SFI National Challenge Fund, to guide them in shaping their research.
Under the National Challenge Fund, academic research teams are funded to undertake applied research projects toward development of solutions to societal challenges aligned to the Green Transition and Digital Transformation.
Challenge-based research funding (or challenge funding) supports researchers to engage closely with societal stakeholders to understand their needs and to create meaningful and implementable solutions to the issues they face.
The training programme aimed to provide researchers with knowledge and skills in the practical application of Theory of Change that will support them to plan their engagement and research activities; explore causal connections between activities and inform how activities relate to outputs, outcomes, and impacts; assist in the identification of impacts; and identify appropriate indicators to assess project performance.
The sessions were delivered by experienced CES trainers, and provided an introduction to Theory of Change, tools and methods to create a Theory of Change, and an introduction to Implementation.
CES then provided one-to-one mentoring support to each research team to help them to apply the methodology to their research proposals.
The FRED team have found the CES training very useful, particularly in making sure that we are frequently revisiting our plan of activities and ensuring those align with our goals as a team. This has very much kept us on track, and has also brought us together as a group, ensuring we are all on the same page.
To find out more about how we can work with academics to improve research impact please contact newprojects@effectiveservices.org
