[In this blog from the Frontier Technologies Hub, R4D’s Preston Whitt shares insights from the FT Hub’s first rapid research cycle, which was held in summer 2020.]
For learning, more is more.
At the FT Hub, we are determined to follow our own advice and make sure we are optimised for learning, so that we support FCDO Pioneers and partners as best we can to address development challenges. This requires us to dive deeply into key research topics and nimbly but rigorously testing key assumptions. We do this through“rapid research cycles”, or RRCs, where we:
- determine our key learning questions, based on uncertainty we have going into key programme decision points
- interview key programme stakeholders and global experts
- build on that feedback with a global evidence review and
- distil key findings for sharing in a participatory workshop to directly inform programme decisions.
We completed the programme’s first RRC in summer 2020, and wanted to share some of the questions we asked, the answers we found, and the better-informed decisions we then made.
