Strengthening Research Quality, Uptake, and Impact: A Learning Brief
After decades of Challenge Funds and single-improving research quality, utilisation, and impact is a persistent challenge across Africa. One of the central issues is that research outputs generally fail to be recognised in top-tier international publications and, consequently, fail to be cited by international scholars. This means the research is rarely acknowledged as original or impactful work. As a result, research outputs remain on the periphery of academic publications and struggle to gain recognition as part of the core body of knowledge produced by scholars globally.
A collection of seven reports, titled “Assessing the Needs of the Research System in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda” (FCDO, 2019–2020), provides a high-level assessment of the research and innovation systems and key research organisations across 7 countries, and highlights low research capacity as a key factor undermining research quality in the focus countries.
Similarly, UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), through its Priority Africa Flagship initiative, emphasises that enhancing research capacity is essential not only for increasing the quantity of research but also for improving its quality. Nonetheless, high-quality research alone is insufficient if a research output is not effectively disseminated or utilised. Uptake is critical for ensuring that research findings are applied in practical, impactful ways to address real-world problems relevant to African contexts.
The 2014 ESSENCE report highlights that the ability to utilise high-quality research in low- and middle-income countries is often hindered by multiple issues, including under-investment in academia. This is further reflected in the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund1, which focuses on strengthening mechanisms and players across the research-to-impact cycle.
Funded projects engaged a broad range of stakeholders spanning both research and innovation ecosystems. These included but were not limited to universities, think tanks, consultancy firms, incubators, financial institutions, not-for-profit organisations, and government agencies.
This inclusive approach helped dissolve sectoral silos and enabled the integration of diverse expertise and resources, allowing stakeholders to tackle complex and interrelated issues that challenged research quality, utilisation, and its uptake collectively.
This report presents the programme’s learning from reinforcing the infrastructural pillars for research ecosystems (e.g., research capacity, national research policy, and research governance). It also sheds light on three organic models that partners developed to drive research findings to impact. The aim is to highlight how these efforts contributed to creating a more effective ecosystem for research development.
The RISA Fund (2020-2025) is a multi-country initiative funded by the UK government, designed to strengthen research and innovation systems across Africa. It brings together two complementary programmes under the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) Research and Evidence Division—Strengthening Research Institutions in Africa (SRIA) and African Technology and Innovation Partnerships (ATIP)—to harness synergies and drive systemic change. Managed by a consortium comprising Chemonics UK, Results for Development, and SOAS University of London, RISA collaborates with a wide range of implementing partners including universities, innovation hubs, government agencies, private sector actors, and international development firms. The programme operates in six countries: Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and South Africa, supporting locally driven solutions and fostering cross-sectoral learning and impact.