Evaluation of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers programme
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What is the issue?
The Royal Academy of Engineering's Frontiers programme aims to foster collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking among researchers, innovators and practitioners from around the world to address complex global challenges. The programme focuses explicitly on early and mid-career researchers, aiming to expand their professional development and capacity for international development research.
The Frontiers design is a unique funding model comprised of four interrelated strands: Frontiers symposia, which bring together international early- and mid-career researchers across disciplines and sectors to discuss global challenges; seed funding, which enables ideas and collaborations from the symposia to be developed further; follow-on funding to advance work established in the seed-funded projects; and Champions awards, which are networking grants available to symposia participants. By integrating principles of collaboration, interdisciplinarity and equity, the programme positions itself as an important initiative in the research-for-development landscape.
How did we help?
RAND Europe was commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering to conduct an independent evaluation of the Frontiers programme. The evaluation assessed the programme’s contributions, its added value and role in the wider ecosystem using a theory-based evaluation approach.
The overarching aim of this evaluation was to:
Assess and refine the Frontiers programme’s theory of change (ToC).
Assess the programme’s contribution to observed results.
Analyse the programme, including against similar schemes, to identify where Frontiers is distinctive and where it could add more value.
Identify gaps in data and evidence base and suggest how to fill those gaps.
Articulate the role of the programme and the space within which it operates.
To achieve the evaluation’s aims, the project team developed a Frontiers programme Theory of Change, a set of evaluation questions and a wider evaluation framework structured around the four programme strands. Data collection was done using interviews, case studies and secondary data analysis. Evaluation data was analysed through contribution analysis and benchmarking, and findings were validated through a validation workshop with key stakeholders. The project aimed to provide insight that will ultimately improve the impact of the programme in the future, providing recommendations on the same.
What did we find?
Key findings from the evaluation include:
The programme is well aligned with international best practice and is relatively unique in the international development research landscape.
The team have learned lessons on how to deliver a programme like Frontiers that could be valuable for other programmes.
The programme’s management of funds has been agile and effective, but there are some wider sectoral challenges, such as short seed funding cycles, stakeholder management and fund disbursal to international partners, where awardees need more support.
Collaborations are a key strength of Frontiers symposia, and the evaluation evidence suggests that these collaborations are enduring and lead to new research outcomes. The design of the wider programme is well tailored to support the development of cross-disciplinary collaborations.
Project experience and Academy support act as enablers for early career researcher professional development, and the programme has given early researchers their first step on the road to independent research.
What can be done?
Key recommendations from the evaluation include:
Develop a complete and targeted set of metrics aligned with the programme’s theory of change to monitor programme performance by building on existing data-collection processes.
Provide small-scale funding support for seed funding awardees who do not receive follow-on funding to support publication and dissemination of the award findings.
Provide further support and guidance to applicants and award holders on processes, particularly regarding financial and contractual challenges.
Broaden the range of stakeholders involved in selecting and refining Symposia topics and set out guidelines for these processes.
Consider the options for follow-up connection events and, more broadly, how best to use, expand and support the Frontiers alumni network.
