Learning and evaluation partnership for the Wellcome Institutional Research Engagement Fund (IREF) (2019 to 2020)
As external consultants for Wellcome, we worked with the IREF pilot partners (University of Oxford and a network of Scottish Universities) to evaluate the IREF against its goals and Theory of Change, and to capture and map the learning and added value of this new approach to supporting public engagement around health research. We used a mixed methods approach, working closely with project partners and the cohort of IREF applicants to gather a range of qualitative and quantitative data from multiple perspectives to address the evaluation objectives.
Learning and evaluation partnership for the second phase of Wellcome Institutional Research Engagement Fund (IREF) (2021 to 2022)
We were commissioned by Wellcome to evaluate Phase 2 of the IREF pilot, again working closely with pilot partners (University of Oxford and ScotPEN). Our remit for the second phase of the work was to capture both the learning and impact of this new devolved approach to funding public engagement with health research. Using a mixed methods approach, we also captured some key operational and strategic lessons from Wellcome’s other devolved funding partnerships, including British Academy/Wellcome small grants partnership, DELTAS Africa Community and Public Engagement Seed Fund, Engaging Libraries (funded by Wellcome, Carnegie UK and the Wolfson Foundation) and the Ideas Fund (run by the British Science Association and funded by Wellcome).
