2. In their foreword to the Supplement Prof Chris Whitty (Director Research and Evidence Division) and Dr. Sue Kinn (Head of Health Research) from the UK Department for International Development who funded the project comment, “The papers in this special supplement focus on lesson learning on getting research into policy and practice. They highlight the range of methodologies and approaches researchers and communication specialists have used in different contexts to try to ensure research does not simply gather dust on library shelves but feeds into and is relevant to policy and practice in different contexts...I hope that the innovative approaches and promising ways forward, presented in these papers, will inspire and motivate others.”

3. Topics covered by the papers include:

4. How an approach to safe sex which focuses on pleasure rather than disease and death can strengthen HIV prevention interventions.

5. How researchers working to improve the health of orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV in Ghana formed a close relationship with Government health and social welfare departments.

6. Building trust between researchers, community members and policymakers in herpes simplex virus treatment trials in South Africa.

7. Assessing the impact of a new report ‘Reviewing Emergencies’ for Swaziland, which documented the impact of HIV on this small country.

8. Work to engage the media about sexual and reproductive health in Kenya where researchers worked with the popular soap opera Makutano Junction on story lines that tackled issues like rape and homosexuality.

9. How researchers in Bangladesh brought together journalists, public health workers and academics to discuss sexuality and rights issues with sexual minorities, for example gay men and lesbians.

10. An examination of the process through which the evidence related to HIV–HSV-2 interactions influenced policy at the international level and were then transferred to national level.

11. National policy development for cotrimoxazole prophylaxis in Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.

12. An examination of the Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods and Food security’s role in influencing.

14. Carrying out strategic scoping of opportunities and levers for influence through analysis of the policy context, actors and processes, including the political or cultural acceptability of research findings

15. Assessing the nature of the research evidence and consulting with other key actors on how best to frame it in ways that increase local decision makers’ receptivity

16. Keeping communications strategies flexible, innovative, jargon free and relevant to research institutions’ objectives to keep them effective