To support civil society organisations, research funders must listen to their needs

A key premise of research impact is that the inclusion and active involvement of different stakeholders in research processes can create more useful research outcomes. One key stakeholder in many areas of social scientific research are Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), such as charities and community groups. However, despite being acknowledged in research funding frameworks their reasons for engaging in research funding are not well understood. In this post, Wouter van de Klippe discusses findings from a case study of CSO organisations and explores their motivations for engaging (or not) with research funding and academic research.