Contributors

Andrea Ordóñez has been part of Grupo FARO (Ecuadorian think tank) for the last seven years. In 2010 she inaugurated the Research Director position in the organisation. She has been leading the debate, articulation and revision of the institutional research agenda. Additionally, in this role she supported the different teams to carry out rigorous and relevant research and to communicate results and new ideas to a variety of audiences. Starting in 2013 she will be an independent researcher. Her main areas of policy engagement have been the extractive industries and accountability mechanisms, participating in policy influencing efforts nationally and internationally. She is also interested in the links between policy and research. @aordonez

Nick Scott (from the ODI staff page) manages digital and event communications strategy for ODI, working with the Events Officer and Communications Assistant – Digital and Media to support ODI’s use of these key communications channels. He specialises in suppporting think tanks in using online communications to highlight evidence and inform policy globally and to specific audiences. He has supported online projects at a range of organisations, including ODI, Guardian Unlimited (the UK’s largest and most internationally popular newspaper website), and The Metropolitan Police. Nick has broad experience of all aspects of the marketing and communications mix and works across the organisation to communicate research, providing advice on strategic communications to a number of ODI’s programmes. @nicknet

Jeff Knezovich recently joined IDS as the Policy Influence and Research Uptake Manager for the Future Health Systems Research Programme Consortium. Previously he worked in the Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) Programme at ODI where he was in charge of programme communication activities. He also has led or contributed to the communications activities of several large projects, like the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, the Mwananchi Programme, Comercio y Pobreza en Latinoamerica (COPLA – Trade and Poverty in Latin America), and the Evidence-based Policy in Development Network. Drawing from this diverse experience, he has also participated in RAPID’s research and capacity development activities, focussing on policy influence and research communication. He has a master’s degree from the LSE in cultural sociology and a BA in sociology from Whitman College.@knezovjb

Leandro Echt works at the Influence, Monitoring and Evaluation Programme of the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC), a think tank in Argentina. He specialises in bridging research and policy, studying think tanks and their influence in public policies and developing organisations’ capacities to influence policy (influence planning, research communications, and M&E of policy influence). He is part of the programme “Spaces for engagement: using knowledge to improve public decisions”, a six year long CIPPEC and GDNet’s initiative developing Latin American, African and Asian researchers’ capacities for policy influence. Leandro coordinates Bridging research and policy in Latin America (VIPPAL) and the Executive Directors of Latin America (DEAL).

Hans Gutbrod recently worked at IDRC’s Think Tank Initiative. Prior to joining TTI, Hans ran the Caucasus Research Resource Centers. At CRRC (sometimes described as a “fact tank”), Hans led dozens of research projects, and also oversaw the largest coordinated survey in the region, the Caucasus Barometer. He has worked with more than 30 donors and partners, including the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Open Society Institute, European Commission, DFID, GIZ, NDI, SIDA, USAID, UNDP, and the World Bank. Hans holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics. (Usual disclaimer: views personal, not representative.) @HansGutbrod

Clara Richards is Argentinean and an independent researcher and consultant. She studies the interface between policy and knowledge and the process of evidence informed policy making. As a consultant, she helps think tanks to improve their capacities for policy influence.  She has worked for more than five years in CIPPEC (Argentina) under the Programme “Spaces for engagement: using knowledge to improve public decisions”. Her work focused in developing the policy influence and evaluation capacities of Latin American think tanks and coordinating the Latin American chapter of ebpdn. Recently, Clara has been working with the RAPID Programme at ODI coordinating the Evidence Based in Development Network (ebpdn) since 2011. @clarari1