Commissioned Research Roles and Expectations
Roles and Expectations in Commissioned Projects
Clear roles and shared expectations help commissioned projects run smoothly, stay focused on real‑world use, and maintain trust among all partners. This page describes the main roles involved in commissioned research through the hub, what each role is responsible for, and what participants can reasonably expect from one another.
This guidance applies to projects across academic, policy and practice contexts. Specific projects may add further details depending on their scope, funder requirements or institutional arrangements.
Commissioner / Partner Organization
Who this role includes:
- Public agencies, ministries or departments commissioning evidence for policy or strategy.
- Development programmes, initiatives or networks commissioning evaluations, syntheses or learning products.
- Universities, research centres or practitioner networks co‑commissioning or co‑sponsoring work.
Key responsibilities:
- Clearly articulate the need, context and high‑level questions that the project should address.
- Provide relevant background information, data or access to stakeholders where possible.
- Participate in scoping discussions to ensure the design fits the intended use (policy, practice or research).
- Review drafts in a timely manner and provide substantive, focused feedback.
- Support the dissemination and use of final outputs within the commissioning organisation and wider networks, as agreed.
- Respect agreed timelines for feedback and decisions, or communicate early if delays arise.
What commissioners can expect:
- A clear, structured response to their request, including an assessment of feasibility and scope.
- A project design that is methodologically sound and aligned with the stated purpose and audience.
- Regular updates on progress via the project thread in 02_Running Projects.
- Draft outputs that are clear, evidence‑based and oriented towards the intended use.
- Transparency about any limitations, risks or constraints in the evidence or analysis.
- Final outputs that are professionally prepared and, where agreed, deposited in the repository layer with appropriate metadata and licensing.
Project Lead / Principal Investigator
Who this role includes:
- The individual or team responsible for overall design, delivery and quality of the project.
- This may be an academic, an independent researcher/evaluator, or a practice‑based expert, depending on the project.
Key responsibilities:
- Lead the detailed design of the project (questions, methods, work plan) in dialogue with the commissioner and hub coordinators.
- Ensure that the project follows appropriate methodological and ethical standards for its context (academic, policy, development).
- Coordinate contributors, manage the timeline and ensure that milestones are met.
- Document key steps, decisions and changes in the project thread in 02_Running Projects.
- Oversee the drafting, revision and finalisation of all outputs (reports, briefs, datasets, OER modules, etc.).
- Ensure that outputs are clear, accurate, properly referenced and fit for the intended audiences.
- Flag any emerging risks, ethical issues or significant changes in scope to the commissioner and hub coordinators promptly.
What project leads can expect:
- A clear brief and sufficient context from the commissioner to design the work.
- Timely feedback on key design choices and draft outputs.
- Support from hub coordinators in following the workflow, documenting progress and linking to relevant groups.
- Reasonable timelines that reflect the agreed scope and available resources.
- Appropriate acknowledgement and authorship arrangements, agreed in advance and reflected in outputs and repository records.
Contributors and Co‑authors
Who this role includes:
- Researchers, evaluators, practitioners or policy experts who contribute expertise, data, case examples, analysis or writing.
- Members of the hub’s thematic groups (e.g. OER and Pedagogical, Policymakers Dialogues) who provide subject‑matter input.
Key responsibilities:
- Deliver agreed contributions (e.g. sections of a report, case studies, data analysis, review of drafts) on time and to the agreed standard.
- Ensure that any data, examples or materials they provide are appropriately sourced and, where relevant, cleared for use.
- Respond to feedback from the project lead and commissioner in a constructive and timely manner.
- Respect confidentiality and data protection requirements where these apply.
What contributors can expect:
- Clear instructions on what is needed, by when, and in what format.
- Recognition for their contributions, as agreed (e.g. co‑authorship, acknowledgement, specific credit in outputs).
- Access to relevant background documents and draft outputs to contextualise their input.
- A collaborative environment where their expertise is valued and used effectively.
Reviewers and Critical Friends
Who this role includes:
- Individuals invited to provide structured feedback on draft outputs.
- May include academic peers, policy experts, practitioners or intended end‑users of the outputs.
Key responsibilities:
- Review draft reports, briefs or other outputs against clear criteria (clarity, accuracy, relevance, usability).
- Provide constructive, specific feedback that helps improve the quality and usefulness of the outputs.
- Respect confidentiality of drafts and do not share them outside the agreed review circle.
- Meet agreed deadlines for review, or communicate early if more time is needed.
What reviewers can expect:
- Clear guidance on what kind of feedback is most helpful and by when.
- Copies of drafts with sufficient context (purpose, audience, key questions).
- Acknowledgement for their review role, where appropriate (e.g. in acknowledgements sections).
- Confidence that their feedback will be taken seriously and, where not adopted, that reasons will be explained.
Group Admins / Coordinators
Who this role includes:
- Site and group administrators who oversee the Commissioned Research group and related thematic groups.
- Coordinators who ensure the workflow is followed and that projects are well‑documented.
Key responsibilities:
- Support commissioners in refining and submitting project requests.
- Facilitate scoping discussions and help clarify roles, timelines and expectations.
- Ensure that each project follows the agreed workflow: request → scoping → running → final outputs.
- Help link projects to relevant thematic groups (e.g. for drafting, peer input or testing of OER).
- Support quality assurance processes, including ethical and safeguarding considerations where relevant.
- Ensure that final outputs are properly summarised in 03_Final Outputs & Reports and, later, prepared for repository deposition.
What admins/coordinators can expect:
- Clear and timely communication from commissioners, project leads and contributors.
- Cooperation in following the documented workflow and using the group forums for key decisions and updates.
- Respect for the voluntary or limited‑capacity nature of coordination roles, where applicable.
- Willingness from all parties to raise issues early rather than at the last minute.
Shared Expectations Across All Roles
To support effective collaboration across academic, policy and practice communities, all participants are expected to:
- Communicate respectfully and professionally, acknowledging different working cultures and constraints.
- Be transparent about interests, constraints and potential conflicts of interest.
- Agree early on practical matters such as:
- Authorship and acknowledgement
- Licensing and sharing of outputs
- Handling of confidential or sensitive information
- Use the project thread in 02_Running Projects as the primary record of decisions, progress and key documents.
- Raise concerns or problems as early as possible, so they can be addressed collaboratively.
- Recognise that commissioned projects are most valuable when they are not only rigorous, but also usable and relevant in real‑world contexts.
How this page fits with other guidance
This page should be read alongside:
- How commissioned research works – for the full step‑by‑step process.
- Quality, ethics and safeguarding – for standards on methodological and ethical practice.
- Data, licensing and reuse of outputs – for expectations on openness, attribution and sharing.
- Project Request Form – for the starting point of any new commission.
See also