Impact and how we measure it

What we mean by impact

TIPCS works to make conflict research useful: evidence that changes how people, institutions and communities understand and prevent conflict. We separate three things: what we do (activities and outputs), who uses it (reach and uptake), and what changes as a result (outcomes). We only call something an outcome when we can show the change.

How we measure

• Every project starts with a short theory of change: the problem, who we want to reach, what should change, and how we will know.
• Indicators are chosen before work starts, with a baseline where possible, and recorded in a simple results table per project.
• We combine numbers (participants, publications, downloads, citations, events) with evidence of change (testimonies with consent, policy or practice that cites our work, partner feedback).
• We report what did not work as well as what did, and correct errors openly.

What we will report each year

• Research outputs published, with citations or identifiers (DOI) and open-access status.
• People trained and convened (numbers, gender, regions, and sector), with follow-up on use of skills.
• Policy, institutional or community uptake we can document.
• Money in and out by project and funder, in the annual financial statements.

Stories and consent

We publish the story of a person or community only with their informed consent, and never in a way that could put them at risk (see the Safeguarding and Research ethics policies). We would rather publish fewer stories than put someone in danger.

Results reporting: current status

A results table and verified figures will be added to this page as each project and each annual report is completed. Until then, you can see our work in the pages below, and request project results directly at Contact@tipcs.org. We do not publish unverified figures.