Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa

Status: Completed project

Duration: 2011-2016

Project lead: The Association of Commonwealth Universites, United Kingdom

Project partners: Centre for Research into Evaluation of Science and Technology (CREST), Stellenbosch University, South Africa; Organisation Systems Design, South Africa; Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI), Ghana; Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST)

Funder: Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom

Summary: Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa (DRUSSA) was a five-year, DFID-funded programme supporting 22 universities across Africa to strengthen the management of research uptake. It ran from October 2011 to September 2016.

The purpose of DRUSSA was to help improve the capacity of universities to contribute research evidence in pro-poor policy and practice. DRUSSA achieved this through sharing learning on institutional change and research uptake strategy, supporting training of university staff in research uptake and communication, and through facilitating and strengthening networks between DRUSSA universities, other research management bodies, external stakeholders and research users, including policymakers.

Outputs: Although the DRUSSA programme completed its mandate in September 2016, there remains a wealth of programme-derived knowledge, tools, and resources that university leaders, research staff and research uptake managers can continue to use as they strengthen their own systems for getting research into use.

The DRUSSA Learning Resource serves as the on-going home of the programme’s research uptake resources. We hope it will be used by DRUSSA partner universities, and by any other university interested in research uptake, for the long-term.

• Browse the 153 documents that make up the DRUSSA Learning Resource