Research Meets Practice #1 – Setting the Research Agenda for Civil Society
On June 26, 2025, the Research Center for Civil Society, in partnership with the Take Part Project, hosted the first edition of Research Meets Practice at Casa RAF (Romanian-American Foundation). The event was organized together with the Făgăraș Research Institute and gathered representatives from NGOs, academia, and research-oriented institution.
The discussion brought to the table an inspiring mix of perspectives from practitioners and researchers, with Professor Paul Sum joining as a keynote contributor, and Melania Leșe representing the Take Part Project. The session created a unique space for dialogue between organizations and the academic world, focusing on how civil society research can become more relevant, impactful, and connected to practice.
Key priorities identified by NGOs and researchers:
- Improving data collection on civic participation and organizational impact;
- Developing tools to measure the quality of NGO work and its societal outcomes;
- Strengthening transparency and accessibility of existing data;
- Exploring the digital transformation of civic engagement, including the role of social media;
- Building bridges between practitioners and researchers to co-design studies;
- Ensuring comparability and standardization of research outputs;
- Expanding research on funding patterns and the sustainability of NGOs;
- Encouraging long-term partnerships between civil society, academia, and donors.
This first edition of Research Meets Practice underscored the urgency of developing a research agenda rooted in the actual needs of NGOs, while also taking into account the transformations brought by digitalization and shifting civic participation.
As part of the Take Part Project, the event connected directly to our focus on how social learning within social movements and information diffusion in digital networks can strengthen civic engagement. The dialogue highlighted that robust, accessible, and collaborative research is a vital step on the way to empowering NGOs to act more strategically and sustainably.
We thank our partners — the Făgăraș Research Institute and the Research Center for Civil Society for helping to make this initiative possible.
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