On September 29, 2020, from 9 AM - 10 AM (EDT), IPA's Consumer Protection Research Initiative held it's first Practitioner's Forum meeting, focusing on "Social Media as a Tool for Consumer Protection Monitoring." The Practitioner’s Forum is a new global community where IPA will share innovative new research projects from across our network or consumer protection researchers.There is demand from practitioners to learn from their peers about how data can be leveraged to improve in-house capabilities and consumer protection outcomes for clients.

On September 24, IPA presented at a webinar hosted by the Population Council convening global experts for a discussion about the considerations for determining where, when, and how COVID-19 risks may reach a threshold in which research activities may safely resume.Research studies, projects, and institutions are beginning to contemplate the return to in-person data collection as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves.With limited experiences and lack of clear guidance from international bodies to-date, ethical institutions are establishing their own policies, decision-making processes, and practices regarding the resumption of data collection for research purposes during COVID-19.

This webinar is part of IPA's RECOVR Webinar Series: Bringing Evidence to COVID-19 Policy Responses in the Global South.Together with our partners, we are using this series to rapidly share what we are learning with the policy and research community to support evidence-informed response efforts.