The Africa Centre for Evidence: Growing the systematically collated knowledge base for evidence-informed decision-making in Africa
By Ruth Stewart and Laurenz Langer Members of ACE’s Evidence Synthesis Team When I (Ruth) first learnt about systematic reviews it was in an undergraduate lecture on research methods. We were learning [...]
What are the health implications of using cannabis?
By the ACE Team Image: Everyday Health What is the question we are thinking about? Marijuana, reefer, pot, weed, dagga, maui-wowie, mbanje, Mr Giggles, herb, smoke, grass, Mary Jane, Malawi Gold, the bubonic chronic, flower, [...]
Evidence animals, evidence maps, and rapid response services: a reflection on discussing different mechanisms for evidence use in South Africa
By Laurenz Langer On 1st August, the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) in South Africa hosted a 1-day event* to discuss mechanisms to support the use of evidence. Supported by the Africa [...]
What is the best way to deal with workplace conflict?
By ACE team Image credit: Experiential What is the question we are thinking about? In the workplace, we often find ourselves navigating hierarchies of management, and interacting with other people. Undoubtedly, being a collaborator in [...]
The stresses of stress
By ACE team Photo credit: Shutterstock What is the question we are thinking about? Stress is a natural physical and mental reaction to life experiences. But taken too far, all life’s stresses can impact on [...]
Seeking synergies in evidence synthesis
By Promise Nduku Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) attends the synthesisers meeting, held in Cape Town at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) on the 15th of June 2018. [...]
Is homework good or bad for children?
What is the question we are thinking about? One Sunday evening, as I was browsing through the local newspaper, a story caught my eye. No more homework for learners in some schools, the headline [...]
If evidence-informed decision-making works in theory, why don’t we see institutionalisation of evidence use in practice?
By Laurenz Langer[1] The theory of evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) is beautiful, elegant, and convincing. But, while really helpful to guide thinking on EIDM, so far has proven rather unhelpful to guide the practice of using evidence, [...]
Africa Centre for Evidence welcomes new Distinguished Visiting Professors
[This post was originally published by the University of Johannesburg on April 19, 2018.] The Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is delighted to welcome two new members [...]
1: ACE launches new blog series to encourage citizens to engage science evidence in their everyday lives
By ACE team We all regularly have questions that come up in our everyday lives that we don’t necessarily have answers for, such as should you vaccinate your baby, does school homework really enhance [...]
How to produce evidence that’s useful – and used
By Laurenz Langer and Natalie Tannous The newly-launched Africa Centre for Evidence exists to encourage the production of policy-relevant research. Without deliberate effort, research may fail to meet decision-makers’ needs or simply gather dust on [...]
Africa Centre for Evidence Launch: Strengthening EIDM in Africa
By Mary Opondo, Researcher at the Africa Centre for Evidence The official launch of the Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) took place at the University of Johannesburg, on 9th October 2017. Despite the rain and [...]
Networks Series 8: So what next?
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence This final blog in my series on networks and evidence provides an overview of all I have covered and looks forward to what next. [...]
Networks Series 7: Networks and relationships change the nature of evidence
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence I started this blog series making the case for why we need to make relationships central to efforts to increasing the use of evidence [...]
Networks Series 6: Better networks to support the use of evidence in decision-making
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence “If you want to go far, go together. If you want to go fast, go alone.” Those of you who work in teams will [...]
Networks Series 5: Capacity-sharing to support the use of evidence in decision-making
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence ‘She would take over the school given half a chance.’ That is what my school report said when I was six years old. I believed [...]
Networks Series 4: We need greater understanding of decision-making and decision-makers
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence ‘A public servant at heart’. That is how I was introduced my government colleague when I helped to deliver a workshop for public servants from [...]
Networks Series 3: What do we know about how to facilitate evidence use?
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence It is all too easy to set up a straw man argument with regards the use of evidence in decision-making: along the lines of [...]
Networks Series 2: Production of useful evidence: the rapid expansion of the evidence-synthesis
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence Systematic reviews and the production of useful evidence I am often overwhelmed by the range of programmes and activities aiming to improve the quality of [...]
Networks Series 1: What should we do to ensure that research evidence is both useful and used?
By Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence Introduction - Two challenges For those of us who are working to ensure that research evidence is both useful and used, there are many challenges [...]
The new Africa Centre for Evidence
A personal story By Ruth Stewart The Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) office at the University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg has a new research centre: the Africa Centre for Evidence. Founded in 2017, [...]