Research Meets Practice 2025 – From Collaboration to Impact
Civil society and philanthropy face increasingly complex challenges. NGOs bring practical experience. Researchers bring evidence and tools. Yet too often, they work in parallel instead of together.
At the same time, NGOs, foundations, and corporate entities are under growing pressure to measure and demonstrate their impact credibly. For this, they often need the expertise of researchers, but find it hard to develop the required connections.
The Research Meets Practice (RMP) 2025 event is designed to be the place where these worlds connect. Join us to turn shared challenges into collaborative projects and to launch a peer learning group on impact measurement.
At the same time, NGOs, foundations, and corporate entities are under growing pressure to measure and demonstrate their impact credibly. For this, they often need the expertise of researchers, but find it hard to develop the required connections.
The Research Meets Practice (RMP) 2025 event is designed to be the place where these worlds connect. Join us to turn shared challenges into collaborative projects and to launch a peer learning group on impact measurement.
The Research Meets Practice (RMP) initiative bridges gaps by fostering structured dialogue and collaboration between researchers, NGOs, and funders. It is designed as a
3-part meeting series:
- Meeting 1 (June 2025): NGO Consultation Objective: identify broad themes and concrete research topics of highest relevance to NGOs and foundations.
- Meeting 2 (October 2025): Researcher Consultation Objective: map researcher interests and priorities, explore overlaps with NGO needs, and identify promising areas for collaboration.
- Meeting 3 (November 4, 2025, Bucharest): Research Meets Practice 2025 – From Collaboration to Impact event
Objectives:- Learn from Impact Measurement Cases studies and explore the development of a peer learning group on impact measurement and management (IMM).
- Bring NGOs and researchers matched based on their research interests, to co-design fundable collaborative projects.
Event Design and Objectives
Part 1 – IMM Peer Learning- Share learning from a local case study on impact measurement (Începe la Școală Consortium).
- Explore how learning can be applied to the ecosystem of educational interventions.
- Facilitate cross-sector learning and exchange.
- Establish the foundations of an IMM peer learning and support group.
- Facilitate connections between NGOs and researchers with shared research interests.
- Develop draft outlines of collaborative projects that can later be expanded and fundraised.
- Strengthen the research–practice community around civil society and philanthropy.
- Shared learning from an IMM case study.
- Potential ecosystem-wide indicators mapped.
- Agreement on IMM peer group purpose, potential leads, & next steps.
- 3 to 5 research project outlines developed by NGO-researcher groups.
- Strengthened ties between NGOs, researchers, foundations, and companies.
Who Should Join
- NGO leaders & practitioners interested in evidence-based approaches and in developing research that directly addresses their challenges.
- Academic researchers (social sciences, philanthropy, civil society, public policy) looking to work on applied, real-world projects with private funding and tangible impact.
- Foundations & funders who want to ensure their funding strategies are guided by empirical evidence and practice-informed insights.
- Companies with social responsibility or philanthropic portfolios, especially those exploring how to measure and demonstrate their social impact.
What to Expect
- Learn from an impact measurement case study (NGO and corporate social investor perspectives).
- Help build an IMM peer learning group that will continue beyond the event.
- Step into collaboration labs where NGOs and researchers co-create 3–5 draft project outlines that they can pitch to funders.
- Network with 40–50 peers from civil society, academia, and philanthropy.
What You’ll Walk Away With
- NGOs: Draft research project concepts and researcher partners who can help answer your pressing questions.
- Researchers: Applied collaborations, access to practitioner data and target groups, potential for private funding.
- Funders & Corporate social investors: Practical lessons from real IMM cases, early visibility on emerging research projects, and the chance to shape a new cross-sector IMM learning group.
- Everyone: New relationships, concrete next steps, and a role in shaping a research–practice ecosystem that delivers knowledge and impact.
Agenda – Research Meets Practice 2025 – From Collaboration to Impact, Bucharest, Nov 4, 2025
Research Meets Practice 2025 – From Collaboration to Impact Part 1: Managing and Measuring Impact in Education – Case Study and Joint Efforts
Get inspired by real-world impact measurement stories from NGOs and companies. Explore what worked, where the challenges lie, and uncover practical lessons you can bring back to your own organization.
| Time | Activity | Speakers / Moderators |
|---|---|---|
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Registration and Participant Welcome | NA |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Opening and Introduction Presentation of the agenda, overview of the education interventions map | ARC Team & Research Center for Civil Society |
| 10:15 – 10:30 | Presentation of the “Start at School” Consortium Developed by ING Bank & partner NGOs | Tomina Vodarici, Lev Fejes |
| 10:30 – 11:15 | Case Study: Measuring Impact in Diverse Educational Interventions | Tomina Vodarici, Cristian Hatu, Bogdan Radu, Lev Fejes, Mădălina Marcu |
| 11:15 – 11:30 | Questions & Answers | – |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | ☕ Coffee Break | – |
| 12:30 – 13:00 | Towards an Integrated Approach to Measuring Impact in Education. Why? How? How Do We Translate Case-Level Experience into an Ecosystem-Level Approach? | Gabriel Bădescu, Gabriela Ciripeală, Dana Pîrțoc |
| 13:00 – 13:40 | Small Group Working Session (Ideation) | – |
| 13:40 – 14:00 | Conclusions and Next Steps – Plans for the Year Ahead | ARC Team & Research Center for Civil Society |
| 14:00 – 15:00 | 🍽️ Lunch and Networking | – |
Part 2: Research Collaboration Development Lab
Meet fellow researchers and NGOs interested in developing research projects and join them in drafting fundraisable research project outlines!
| Time | Activity | Speakers / Moderators |
|---|---|---|
| 15:00 – 15:10 | Welcome and Introduction: Recap of previous meetings and presentation of results + Meeting objectives | Lev Fejes |
| 15:10 – 15:30 | Let’s Get to Know Each Other! Speed Dating with Human Bingo | Lev Fejes, Melania Leșe |
| 15:30 – 17:00 | Thematic Working Groups: mixed researcher–NGO teams will develop concrete project drafts based on the themes identified during previous meetings. | Lev Fejes, Gabriel Bădescu, Bogdan Radu, Daniela Angi |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Conclusions and Next Steps Needed for These to Continue Growing into Lasting Collaborations | Lev Fejes |
| 17:30 – 19:00 | 🍸 Good Conversations and Good Vibes. The First Round of Drinks Is on Us! | – |
Invitation only! If you would like to participate, please reach out via email at office@www.civicresearch.center.