Evaluating Six Decades of Women's Health Research - Wellbeing of Women

About the client

Wellbeing of Women (WoW) are the women’s health charity dedicated to improving the health of women, girls, and babies through research, education, and advocacy. 2024 marks their 60th anniversary, and they contracted me to conduct an impact evaluation analysis of their historical research portfolio — decades’ worth of progress reports submitted by their funded researchers.

Challenge

For their 60th anniversary, Wellbeing of Women needed a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of their historical research portfolio to showcase the impact their funding has had on women’s health over six decades. This required sifting through decades’ worth of project reports and tracing the long-term influence of early investments.

Approach

Using AI tools such as Claude and Perplexity, bibliometric analyses with scientific databases like OpenAlex, PubMed and BMJ Impact Analytics, and interviews with expert researchers and clinicians working across areas of women’s health, I:

• Summarised and categorised over 200 project reports from key projects, according to the 2022 Women’s Health Strategy for England areas of priority.

• Tracked down key publications derived from decades-old projects, and how subsequent research had successfully built on the discoveries and learnings from WoW-funded research.

• Identified key areas of research and projects in which WoW had positively contributed towards improving the health of women and babies, and influenced clinical practice.

Outcomes

Based on my findings and recommendations, several case studies are currently in preparation that will feed into WoW’s 60th anniversary campaign. These resulting case studies and all other communications materials will serve as powerful testaments to WoW’s legacy and ongoing importance in the field.

Janet Lindsay, Wellbeing of Women’s CEO, said: “This work is going to make a huge difference to how we show our impact as a charity in our fundraising and wider communications work. We are excited to start sharing with our supporters the incredible impact that the charity has had on women’s lives over the last 60 years.”

Jeremy Barratt added: “The task of looking back over six decades of grants was a huge undertaking and the sheer amount that Jorge was able to sift through and summarise during a relatively short time is impressive. Jorge clearly communicated throughout the project, and we were impressed by the genuine enthusiasm he showed for our cause and his passion for impact analysis and evaluation. It was a pleasure to work with him!”