[Editor’s note:  What is the role of partisan think tanks in political debates? In this series of blogs, Claudio Jones, researcher with the Fundación Rafael Preciado Hernández in México, argues in favor of a broader and more active role for partisan think tanks, important actors in policy debates.] Introduction to the series It is necessary to persevere in understanding both the real and potential roles think tanks might play in today’s world given the idea that there is a re

A lot is said about the communication of research. Over the last few years there have been significant changes in the ways that funders view communications and the role it plays within research centres and projects. DFID, for example, has gone from demanding at least 10% of research grants and contracts to be spent on communications to suggesting that this should be closer to 30% to installing a blanket freeze on communications (all within a few years). Other funders have fol

The communication of research is a subject that concerns many in the policy research communities across the developing world. The subject is extensive and covers more than just the channels and tools that research centres and other similar organisations employ to communicate their ideas and arguments. When understood more broadly it is possible to move beyond the very limited discussion that the recent literature on knowledge translation has supported. Instead one can look at