Billions of people could be better off if we used the available evidence more effectively.
Billions of people could be better off if we used the available evidence more effectively.
Better use of evidence could transform lives and safeguard the planet.
A new UK-wide research effort is building better ways to turn research into action. The ESRC funded project, Transforming Global Evidence, led by Queen’s University, Belfast, will help governments, businesses, and communities use the latest science to make faster, smarter policy decisions, including those that will support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
One of the project’s key strands – the Methods Work Package – will focus on developing and enhancing the methods needed to create “living evidence syntheses” that stay up to date and deliver robust, broad scale and timely actionable insights.
What the Methods Team Will Do
• Develop new guidance for handling complex and hard-to-compare evidence. • Show how research findings can be applied in different contexts around the world. • Improve methods for combining information from diverse types of studies in coherent analyses. • Build capacity helping both producers and users of evidence to gain skills in evidence synthesis and interdisciplinary collaboration.
This team brings together leading experts from Aberdeen, Exeter, Newcastle, and UCL, combining strengths in qualitative and quantitative research, information retrieval, meta-analysis, implementation science and international policy engagement. Dr. Kristin Konnyu, an implementation science and evidence synthesis methodologist, will lead Aberdeen’s contribution to the methods work package.
“Our work will make it easier for decision-makers to use the best available research quickly and with confidence,” said co-lead Dr. Stewart of Newcastle University. “This means better policies, better outcomes, and better value for money.” “Considering implementation science perspectives upfront, and throughout, will increase the uptake and impact of policy initiatives” says Dr. Konnyu of the University of Aberdeen.
“This exciting project means we can develop methods for diverse types of evidence to be utilized to their full potential to ensure that decisions are more relevant and meaningful across a range of contexts.” said co-lead Prof. Garside of the University of Exeter. “We will work with colleagues from a range of topic areas – education, Crime and Justice, International Development, and Climate, Environment and Society - to develop approaches appropriate to their specific needs and available evidence.”