This course, is for anyone truly interested in making sure research helps bring about change, in the real world. It will aim to equip you with an understanding of how research processes, can bring about change, or have an impact. Whether they be in a large multi-country consortium, or master's level project investigating water management, in Cape Town, Accra, or Nairobi. This course will provide new perspectives and understanding, of your potential as a researcher. new understanding of the importance of impact, and how research can create that impact. Most importantly, how your research can drive that change. For those of you planning to become researchers, this will give you a better understanding of how to do research that supports action. Something that many young researchers are deeply committed to. We'll show you methodologies, and approaches to maximize the opportunities, for your research to contribute to changes in policy, practice, and behavior. We'll explore how you and your work, can become agents of change, and how to empower people during your research, to make changes that will improve their lives. We call this approach, Research for Impact. During this course, we'll introduce to you the Research for Impact approach, developed by Oxfam, the University of Cape Town, and other partners over the last five years. Over six modules including this introductory module, we'll help you understand where this approach came from, and look in detail at the key elements of the approach, and how they overlap to create conditions for change. This course will break down the five key elements of the Research for Impact approach week-by-week. Planning, Monitoring, and Learning. Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Partnerships, Strategic Communications, Capacity Development, and Influencing. Each week, a lead expert will guide us through the principles, and outline some of these, and methodologies necessary to apply the Research for Impact approach. We'll draw on case studies from the Adaptation Scale in Semi-Arid Regions research consortium, ASSAR, and the wider Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa, and Asia, CARIAA, as well as other research projects. Hear from individual early career researchers about how they included, some of the elements of Research for Impact, in their own projects in order to increase the impact of their work. Assignments, and tasks will prompt you to reflect on the various elements of Research for Impact, and to think about how you could apply these principles in your own work. During this first week we'll provide you, with an introduction to the approach and the key role it can play in adaptation, and development research today. Then, we will look at the five key interdependent elements of the Research for Impact approach, and begin to explore how to go about this approach at different scales. From the multi-country, multi-institutional consortium that is ASSAR, to the individual community-based researcher, looking to create impactful research on local issues. In week two, Marta Arranz, Oxfam Great Britain's lead on planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning, will help us understand how we can generate change at scale in a complex environment. Together, we will explore the importance of a Theory of Change and planning our research to create change, and discover how the different stages of the research process helps us to maximize uptake and influence. Crucially, we will also explore the importance of adapting our plans through learning, and reflection. In week three, Daniel Morchain, Oxfam Great Britain's global advisor, on climate change adaptation and resilience, will focus on Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Partnerships. We will look at how to identify key stakeholders? How to assess and analyze their positive, or potentially negative contribution, to adaptation and development. Explore methods, and approaches for constructive, and inclusive engagement. In week four, Prathijna Poonacha, a researcher from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, will guide us through the element of Strategic Communications. We will explore, why Strategic Communications matter? The importance of communicating evidence, and knowledge effectively to bring about change. We'll look at critical issues, such as how to get the right message, to the right audience at the right time, and explore effective communication channels, and tactics. In week five, Amadou Sidibe, in-country scientist for Michigan State University, based at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, or ICRISAT, and Edmond Totin, a research associate also based at ICRISAT in Mali, will look at the element of Capacity Development. We'll explore why Capacity Development is important in Research for Impact? Whose capacity should be developed? How to do it and when it may be needed? In our final week, we'll review what we've learned, and focus on how the elements of Research for Impact, can be brought together to influence people's understanding of the issues they're facing. Ultimately, how to enable your research contribute to impact.