Published on 23 February 2021 This week research funders will be urged to take a new approach to engaging evidence with policy that values collaborations and learning. As the world continues to be gripped by a pandemic that has prompted renewed political commitment to “following the science” a report from the Impact Initiative for International Development Research finds that it often takes multiple research studies spanning geographies and disciplines to shift understanding and decision making. Bringing together bodies of work for impact As part of the Impact Initiative programme, the team, based at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge, piloted network-based mapping and meso-level research synthesis techniques, to identify synergies across a diverse portfolio of over 200 projects and frame research for live policy issues. This work demonstrated the multiple pathways and contributions of different research projects to social, policy and conceptual change.