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Blog Business How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Sep 07, 2023

Okay, let’s get real: case studies can be kinda snooze-worthy. But guess what? They don’t have to be!

In this article, I will cover every element that transforms a mere report into a compelling case study, from selecting the right metrics to using persuasive narrative techniques.

And if you’re feeling a little lost, don’t worry! There are cool tools like Venngage’s Case Study Creator to help you whip up something awesome, even if you’re short on time. Plus, the pre-designed case study templates are like instant polish because let’s be honest, everyone loves a shortcut.

Click to jump ahead: 

What is a case study presentation?

What is the purpose of presenting a case study, how to structure a case study presentation, how long should a case study presentation be, 5 case study presentation examples with templates, 6 tips for delivering an effective case study presentation, 5 common mistakes to avoid in a case study presentation, how to present a case study faqs.

A case study presentation involves a comprehensive examination of a specific subject, which could range from an individual, group, location, event, organization or phenomenon.

They’re like puzzles you get to solve with the audience, all while making you think outside the box.

Unlike a basic report or whitepaper, the purpose of a case study presentation is to stimulate critical thinking among the viewers. 

The primary objective of a case study is to provide an extensive and profound comprehension of the chosen topic. You don’t just throw numbers at your audience. You use examples and real-life cases to make you think and see things from different angles.

The primary purpose of presenting a case study is to offer a comprehensive, evidence-based argument that informs, persuades and engages your audience.

Here’s the juicy part: presenting that case study can be your secret weapon. Whether you’re pitching a groundbreaking idea to a room full of suits or trying to impress your professor with your A-game, a well-crafted case study can be the magic dust that sprinkles brilliance over your words.

Think of it like digging into a puzzle you can’t quite crack . A case study lets you explore every piece, turn it over and see how it fits together. This close-up look helps you understand the whole picture, not just a blurry snapshot.

It’s also your chance to showcase how you analyze things, step by step, until you reach a conclusion. It’s all about being open and honest about how you got there.

Besides, presenting a case study gives you an opportunity to connect data and real-world scenarios in a compelling narrative. It helps to make your argument more relatable and accessible, increasing its impact on your audience.

One of the contexts where case studies can be very helpful is during the job interview. In some job interviews, you as candidates may be asked to present a case study as part of the selection process.

Having a case study presentation prepared allows the candidate to demonstrate their ability to understand complex issues, formulate strategies and communicate their ideas effectively.

The way you present a case study can make all the difference in how it’s received. A well-structured presentation not only holds the attention of your audience but also ensures that your key points are communicated clearly and effectively.

In this section, let’s go through the key steps that’ll help you structure your case study presentation for maximum impact.

Let’s get into it. 

Open with an introductory overview 

Start by introducing the subject of your case study and its relevance. Explain why this case study is important and who would benefit from the insights gained. This is your opportunity to grab your audience’s attention.

Explain the problem in question

Dive into the problem or challenge that the case study focuses on. Provide enough background information for the audience to understand the issue. If possible, quantify the problem using data or metrics to show the magnitude or severity.

Detail the solutions to solve the problem

After outlining the problem, describe the steps taken to find a solution. This could include the methodology, any experiments or tests performed and the options that were considered. Make sure to elaborate on why the final solution was chosen over the others.

Key stakeholders Involved

Talk about the individuals, groups or organizations that were directly impacted by or involved in the problem and its solution. 

Stakeholders may experience a range of outcomes—some may benefit, while others could face setbacks.

For example, in a business transformation case study, employees could face job relocations or changes in work culture, while shareholders might be looking at potential gains or losses.

Discuss the key results & outcomes

Discuss the results of implementing the solution. Use data and metrics to back up your statements. Did the solution meet its objectives? What impact did it have on the stakeholders? Be honest about any setbacks or areas for improvement as well.

Include visuals to support your analysis

Visual aids can be incredibly effective in helping your audience grasp complex issues. Utilize charts, graphs, images or video clips to supplement your points. Make sure to explain each visual and how it contributes to your overall argument.

Pie charts illustrate the proportion of different components within a whole, useful for visualizing market share, budget allocation or user demographics.

This is particularly useful especially if you’re displaying survey results in your case study presentation.

Stacked charts on the other hand are perfect for visualizing composition and trends. This is great for analyzing things like customer demographics, product breakdowns or budget allocation in your case study.

Consider this example of a stacked bar chart template. It provides a straightforward summary of the top-selling cake flavors across various locations, offering a quick and comprehensive view of the data.

Not the chart you’re looking for? Browse Venngage’s gallery of chart templates to find the perfect one that’ll captivate your audience and level up your data storytelling.

Recommendations and next steps

Wrap up by providing recommendations based on the case study findings. Outline the next steps that stakeholders should take to either expand on the success of the project or address any remaining challenges.

Acknowledgments and references

Thank the people who contributed to the case study and helped in the problem-solving process. Cite any external resources, reports or data sets that contributed to your analysis.

Feedback & Q&A session

Open the floor for questions and feedback from your audience. This allows for further discussion and can provide additional insights that may not have been considered previously.

Closing remarks

Conclude the presentation by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the takeaways. Thank your audience for their time and participation and express your willingness to engage in further discussions or collaborations on the subject.

Well, the length of a case study presentation can vary depending on the complexity of the topic and the needs of your audience. However, a typical business or academic presentation often lasts between 15 to 30 minutes. 

This time frame usually allows for a thorough explanation of the case while maintaining audience engagement. However, always consider leaving a few minutes at the end for a Q&A session to address any questions or clarify points made during the presentation.

When it comes to presenting a compelling case study, having a well-structured template can be a game-changer. 

It helps you organize your thoughts, data and findings in a coherent and visually pleasing manner. 

Not all case studies are created equal and different scenarios require distinct approaches for maximum impact. 

To save you time and effort, I have curated a list of 5 versatile case study presentation templates, each designed for specific needs and audiences. 

Here are some best case study presentation examples that showcase effective strategies for engaging your audience and conveying complex information clearly.

1 . Lab report case study template

Ever feel like your research gets lost in a world of endless numbers and jargon? Lab case studies are your way out!

Think of it as building a bridge between your cool experiment and everyone else. It’s more than just reporting results – it’s explaining the “why” and “how” in a way that grabs attention and makes sense.

This lap report template acts as a blueprint for your report, guiding you through each essential section (introduction, methods, results, etc.) in a logical order.

Want to present your research like a pro? Browse our research presentation template gallery for creative inspiration!

2. Product case study template

It’s time you ditch those boring slideshows and bullet points because I’ve got a better way to win over clients: product case study templates.

Instead of just listing features and benefits, you get to create a clear and concise story that shows potential clients exactly what your product can do for them. It’s like painting a picture they can easily visualize, helping them understand the value your product brings to the table.

Grab the template below, fill in the details, and watch as your product’s impact comes to life!

3. Content marketing case study template

In digital marketing, showcasing your accomplishments is as vital as achieving them. 

A well-crafted case study not only acts as a testament to your successes but can also serve as an instructional tool for others. 

With this coral content marketing case study template—a perfect blend of vibrant design and structured documentation, you can narrate your marketing triumphs effectively.

4. Case study psychology template

Understanding how people tick is one of psychology’s biggest quests and case studies are like magnifying glasses for the mind. They offer in-depth looks at real-life behaviors, emotions and thought processes, revealing fascinating insights into what makes us human.

Writing a top-notch case study, though, can be a challenge. It requires careful organization, clear presentation and meticulous attention to detail. That’s where a good case study psychology template comes in handy.

Think of it as a helpful guide, taking care of formatting and structure while you focus on the juicy content. No more wrestling with layouts or margins – just pour your research magic into crafting a compelling narrative.

5. Lead generation case study template

Lead generation can be a real head-scratcher. But here’s a little help: a lead generation case study.

Think of it like a friendly handshake and a confident resume all rolled into one. It’s your chance to showcase your expertise, share real-world successes and offer valuable insights. Potential clients get to see your track record, understand your approach and decide if you’re the right fit.

No need to start from scratch, though. This lead generation case study template guides you step-by-step through crafting a clear, compelling narrative that highlights your wins and offers actionable tips for others. Fill in the gaps with your specific data and strategies, and voilà! You’ve got a powerful tool to attract new customers.

Related: 15+ Professional Case Study Examples [Design Tips + Templates]

So, you’ve spent hours crafting the perfect case study and are now tasked with presenting it. Crafting the case study is only half the battle; delivering it effectively is equally important. 

Whether you’re facing a room of executives, academics or potential clients, how you present your findings can make a significant difference in how your work is received. 

Forget boring reports and snooze-inducing presentations! Let’s make your case study sing. Here are some key pointers to turn information into an engaging and persuasive performance:

• Know your audience : Tailor your presentation to the knowledge level and interests of your audience. Remember to use language and examples that resonate with them.
• Rehearse : Rehearsing your case study presentation is the key to a smooth delivery and for ensuring that you stay within the allotted time. Practice helps you fine-tune your pacing, hone your speaking skills with good word pronunciations and become comfortable with the material, leading to a more confident, conversational and effective presentation.
• Start strong : Open with a compelling introduction that grabs your audience’s attention. You might want to use an interesting statistic, a provocative question or a brief story that sets the stage for your case study.
• Be clear and concise : Avoid jargon and overly complex sentences. Get to the point quickly and stay focused on your objectives.
• Use visual aids : Incorporate slides with graphics, charts or videos to supplement your verbal presentation. Make sure they are easy to read and understand.
• Tell a story : Use storytelling techniques to make the case study more engaging. A well-told narrative can help you make complex data more relatable and easier to digest.

Ditching the dry reports and slide decks? Venngage’s case study templates let you wow customers with your solutions and gain insights to improve your business plan. Pre-built templates, visual magic and customer captivation – all just a click away. Go tell your story and watch them say “wow!”

Nailed your case study, but want to make your presentation even stronger? Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your audience gets the most out of it:

Overloading with information

A case study is not an encyclopedia. Overloading your presentation with excessive data, text or jargon can make it cumbersome and difficult for the audience to digest the key points. Stick to what’s essential and impactful. Need help making your data clear and impactful? Our data presentation templates can help! Find clear and engaging visuals to showcase your findings.

Lack of structure

Jumping haphazardly between points or topics can confuse your audience. A well-structured presentation, with a logical flow from introduction to conclusion, is crucial for effective communication.

Ignoring the audience

Different audiences have different needs and levels of understanding. Failing to adapt your presentation to your audience can result in a disconnect and a less impactful presentation.

Poor visual elements

While content is king, poor design or lack of visual elements can make your case study dull or hard to follow. Make sure you use high-quality images, graphs and other visual aids to support your narrative.

Not focusing on results

A case study aims to showcase a problem and its solution, but what most people care about are the results. Failing to highlight or adequately explain the outcomes can make your presentation fall flat.

How to start a case study presentation?

Starting a case study presentation effectively involves a few key steps:

• Grab attention : Open with a hook—an intriguing statistic, a provocative question or a compelling visual—to engage your audience from the get-go.
• Set the stage : Briefly introduce the subject, context and relevance of the case study to give your audience an idea of what to expect.
• Outline objectives : Clearly state what the case study aims to achieve. Are you solving a problem, proving a point or showcasing a success?
• Agenda : Give a quick outline of the key sections or topics you’ll cover to help the audience follow along.
• Set expectations : Let your audience know what you want them to take away from the presentation, whether it’s knowledge, inspiration or a call to action.

How to present a case study on PowerPoint and on Google Slides?

Presenting a case study on PowerPoint and Google Slides involves a structured approach for clarity and impact using presentation slides :

• Title slide : Start with a title slide that includes the name of the case study, your name and any relevant institutional affiliations.
• Introduction : Follow with a slide that outlines the problem or situation your case study addresses. Include a hook to engage the audience.
• Objectives : Clearly state the goals of the case study in a dedicated slide.
• Findings : Use charts, graphs and bullet points to present your findings succinctly.
• Analysis : Discuss what the findings mean, drawing on supporting data or secondary research as necessary.
• Conclusion : Summarize key takeaways and results.
• Q&A : End with a slide inviting questions from the audience.

What’s the role of analysis in a case study presentation?

The role of analysis in a case study presentation is to interpret the data and findings, providing context and meaning to them. 

It helps your audience understand the implications of the case study, connects the dots between the problem and the solution and may offer recommendations for future action.

Is it important to include real data and results in the presentation?

Yes, including real data and results in a case study presentation is crucial to show experience,  credibility and impact. Authentic data lends weight to your findings and conclusions, enabling the audience to trust your analysis and take your recommendations more seriously

How do I conclude a case study presentation effectively?

To conclude a case study presentation effectively, summarize the key findings, insights and recommendations in a clear and concise manner. 

End with a strong call-to-action or a thought-provoking question to leave a lasting impression on your audience.

What’s the best way to showcase data in a case study presentation ?

The best way to showcase data in a case study presentation is through visual aids like charts, graphs and infographics which make complex information easily digestible, engaging and creative. 

Don’t just report results, visualize them! This template for example lets you transform your social media case study into a captivating infographic that sparks conversation.

Choose the type of visual that best represents the data you’re showing; for example, use bar charts for comparisons or pie charts for parts of a whole. 

Ensure that the visuals are high-quality and clearly labeled, so the audience can quickly grasp the key points. 

Keep the design consistent and simple, avoiding clutter or overly complex visuals that could distract from the message.

Choose a template that perfectly suits your case study where you can utilize different visual aids for maximum impact. 

Need more inspiration on how to turn numbers into impact with the help of infographics? Our ready-to-use infographic templates take the guesswork out of creating visual impact for your case studies with just a few clicks.

Related: 10+ Case Study Infographic Templates That Convert

Congrats on mastering the art of compelling case study presentations! This guide has equipped you with all the essentials, from structure and nuances to avoiding common pitfalls. You’re ready to impress any audience, whether in the boardroom, the classroom or beyond.

And remember, you’re not alone in this journey. Venngage’s Case Study Creator is your trusty companion, ready to elevate your presentations from ordinary to extraordinary. So, let your confidence shine, leverage your newly acquired skills and prepare to deliver presentations that truly resonate.

Go forth and make a lasting impact!

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9 Creative Case Study Presentation Examples & Templates

Learn from proven case study presentation examples and best practices how to get creative, stand out, engage your audience, excite action, and drive results.

9 minute read

helped business professionals at:

Short answer

What makes a good case study presentation?

A good case study presentation has an engaging story, a clear structure, real data, visual aids, client testimonials, and a strong call to action. It informs and inspires, making the audience believe they can achieve similar results.

Dull case studies can cost you clients.

A boring case study presentation doesn't just risk putting your audience to sleep—it can actuallyl ead to lost sales and missed opportunities.

When your case study fails to inspire, it's your bottom line that suffers.

Interactive elements are the secret sauce for successful case study presentations.

They not only increase reader engagement by 22% but also lead to a whopping 41% more decks being read fully , proving that the winning deck is not a monologue but a conversation that involves the reader.

Let me show you shape your case studies into compelling narratives that hook your audience and drive revenue.

Let’s go!

How to create a case study presentation that drives results?

Crafting a case study presentation that truly drives results is about more than just data—it's about storytelling, engagement, and leading your audience down the sales funnel.

Here's how you can do it:

Tell a story: Each case study should follow a narrative arc. Start with the problem, introduce your solution, and showcase the results. Make it compelling and relatable.

Leverage data: Hard numbers build credibility. Use them to highlight your successes and reinforce your points.

Use visuals: Images, infographics, and videos can enhance engagement, making complex information more digestible and memorable.

Add interactive elements: Make your presentation a two-way journey. Tools like tabs and live data calculators can increase time spent on your deck by 22% and the number of full reads by 41% .

Finish with a strong call-to-action: Every good story needs a conclusion. Encourage your audience to take the next step in their buyer journey with a clear, persuasive call-to-action.

Visual representation of what a case study presentation should do:

How to write an engaging case study presentation?

Creating an engaging case study presentation involves strategic storytelling, understanding your audience, and sparking action.

In this guide, I'll cover the essentials to help you write a compelling narrative that drives results.

What is the best format for a business case study presentation?

4 best format types for a business case study presentation:

• Problem-solution case study
• Before-and-after case study
• Success story case study
• Interview style case study

Each style has unique strengths, so pick one that aligns best with your story and audience. For a deeper dive into these formats, check out our detailed blog post on case study format types .

What to include in a case study presentation?

An effective case study presentation contains 7 key elements:

• Introduction
• Company overview
• The problem/challenge
• Your solution
• Customer quotes/testimonials

To learn more about what should go in each of these sections, check out our post on what is a case study .

How to motivate readers to take action?

Based on BJ Fogg's behavior model , successful motivation involves 3 components:

This is all about highlighting the benefits. Paint a vivid picture of the transformative results achieved using your solution.

Use compelling data and emotive testimonials to amplify the desire for similar outcomes, therefore boosting your audience's motivation.

This refers to making the desired action easy to perform. Show how straightforward it is to implement your solution.

Use clear language, break down complex ideas, and reinforce the message that success is not just possible, but also readily achievable with your offering.

This is your powerful call-to-action (CTA), the spark that nudges your audience to take the next step. Ensure your CTA is clear, direct, and tied into the compelling narrative you've built.

It should leave your audience with no doubt about what to do next and why they should do it.

Here’s how you can do it with Storydoc:

How to adapt your presentation for your specific audience?

Every audience is different, and a successful case study presentation speaks directly to its audience's needs, concerns, and desires.

Understanding your audience is crucial. This involves researching their pain points, their industry jargon, their ambitions, and their fears.

Then, tailor your presentation accordingly. Highlight how your solution addresses their specific problems. Use language and examples they're familiar with. Show them how your product or service can help them reach their goals.

A case study presentation that's tailor-made for its audience is not just a presentation—it's a conversation that resonates, engages, and convinces.

How to design a great case study presentation?

A powerful case study presentation is not only about the story you weave—it's about the visual journey you create.

Let's navigate through the design strategies that can transform your case study presentation into a gripping narrative.

Add interactive elements

Static design has long been the traditional route for case study presentations—linear, unchanging, a one-size-fits-all solution.

However, this has been a losing approach for a while now. Static content is killing engagement, but interactive design will bring it back to life.

It invites your audience into an evolving, immersive experience, transforming them from passive onlookers into active participants.

Which of these presentations would you prefer to read?

Use narrated content design (scrollytelling)

Scrollytelling combines the best of scrolling and storytelling. This innovative approach offers an interactive narrated journey controlled with a simple scroll.

It lets you break down complex content into manageable chunks and empowers your audience to control their reading pace.

To make this content experience available to everyone, our founder, Itai Amoza, collaborated with visualization scientist Prof. Steven Franconeri to incorporate scrollytelling into Storydoc.

This collaboration led to specialized storytelling slides that simplify content and enhance engagement (which you can find and use in Storydoc).

Here’s an example of Storydoc scrollytelling:

Bring your case study to life with multimedia

Multimedia brings a dynamic dimension to your presentation. Video testimonials lend authenticity and human connection. Podcast interviews add depth and diversity, while live graphs offer a visually captivating way to represent data.

Each media type contributes to a richer, more immersive narrative that keeps your audience engaged from beginning to end.

Prioritize mobile-friendly design

In an increasingly mobile world, design must adapt. Avoid traditional, non-responsive formats like PPT, PDF, and Word.

Opt for a mobile-optimized design that guarantees your presentation is always at its best, regardless of the device.

As a significant chunk of case studies are opened on mobile, this ensures wider accessibility and improved user experience , demonstrating respect for your audience's viewing preferences.

Here’s what a traditional static presentation looks like as opposed to a responsive deck:

Streamline the design process

Creating a case study presentation usually involves wrestling with an AI website builder .

It's a dance that often needs several partners - designers to make it look good, developers to make it work smoothly, and plenty of time to bring it all together.

Building, changing, and personalizing your case study can feel like you're climbing a mountain when all you need is to cross a hill.

By switching to Storydoc’s interactive case study creator , you won’t need a tech guru or a design whizz, just your own creativity.

You’ll be able to create a customized, interactive presentation for tailored use in sales prospecting or wherever you need it without the headache of mobilizing your entire team.

Storydoc will automatically adjust any change to your presentation layout, so you can’t break the design even if you tried.

Case study presentation examples that engage readers

Let’s take a deep dive into some standout case studies.

These examples go beyond just sharing information – they're all about captivating and inspiring readers. So, let’s jump in and uncover the secret behind what makes them so effective.

What makes this deck great:

• A video on the cover slide will cause 32% more people to interact with your case study .
• The running numbers slide allows you to present the key results your solution delivered in an easily digestible way.
• The ability to include 2 smart CTAs gives readers the choice between learning more about your solution and booking a meeting with you directly.

Light mode case study

• The ‘read more’ button is perfect if you want to present a longer case without overloading readers with walls of text.
• The timeline slide lets you present your solution in the form of a compelling narrative.
• A combination of text-based and visual slides allows you to add context to the main insights.

Marketing case study

• Tiered slides are perfect for presenting multiple features of your solution, particularly if they’re relevant to several use cases.
• Easily customizable slides allow you to personalize your case study to specific prospects’ needs and pain points.
• The ability to embed videos makes it possible to show your solution in action instead of trying to describe it purely with words.

UX case study

• Various data visualization components let you present hard data in a way that’s easier to understand and follow.
• The option to hide text under a 'Read more' button is great if you want to include research findings or present a longer case study.
• Content segmented using tabs , which is perfect if you want to describe different user research methodologies without overwhelming your audience.

Business case study

• Library of data visualization elements to choose from comes in handy for more data-heavy case studies.
• Ready-to-use graphics and images which can easily be replaced using our AI assistant or your own files.
• Information on the average reading time in the cover reduces bounce rate by 24% .

Modern case study

• Dynamic variables let you personalize your deck at scale in just a few clicks.
• Logo placeholder that can easily be replaced with your prospect's logo for an added personal touch.
• Several text placeholders that can be tweaked to perfection with the help of our AI assistant to truly drive your message home.

Real estate case study

• Plenty of image placeholders that can be easily edited in a couple of clicks to let you show photos of your most important listings.
• Data visualization components can be used to present real estate comps or the value of your listings for a specific time period.
• Interactive slides guide your readers through a captivating storyline, which is key in a highly-visual industry like real estate .

Medical case study

• Image and video placeholders are perfect for presenting your solution without relying on complex medical terminology.
• The ability to hide text under an accordion allows you to include research or clinical trial findings without overwhelming prospects with too much information.
• Clean interactive design stands out in a sea of old-school medical case studies, making your deck more memorable for prospective clients.

Dark mode case study

• The timeline slide is ideal for guiding readers through an attention-grabbing storyline or explaining complex processes.
• Dynamic layout with multiple image and video placeholders that can be replaced in a few clicks to best reflect the nature of your business.
• Testimonial slides that can easily be customized with quotes by your past customers to legitimize your solution in the eyes of prospects.

Grab a case study presentation template

Creating an effective case study presentation is not just about gathering data and organizing it in a document. You need to weave a narrative, create an impact, and most importantly, engage your reader.

So, why start from zero when interactive case study templates can take you halfway up?

Instead of wrestling with words and designs, pick a template that best suits your needs, and watch your data transform into an engaging and inspiring story.

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

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Free PowerPoint Case Study Presentation Templates

By Joe Weller | January 23, 2024

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We’ve collected the top free PowerPoint case study presentation templates with or without sample text. Marketing and product managers, sales execs, and strategists can use them to arrange and present their success stories, strategies, and results.

On this page, you'll find six PowerPoint case study presentation templates, including a  marketing case study template , a  problem-solution-impact case study , and a  customer journey case study template , among others. Plus, discover the  key components of successful case study presentations , find out the  different types of case study presentations , and get  expert tips .

PowerPoint Single-Slide Case Study Presentation Template

Download the Sample Single-Slide Case Study Presentation Template for PowerPoint Download the Blank Single-Slide Case Study Presentation Template for PowerPoint

When to Use This Template:  Use this single-slide case study presentation template when you need to give a quick but effective overview of a case study. This template is perfect for presenting a case study when time is limited and you need to convey key points swiftly.

Notable Template Features: You can fit everything you need on one slide. Download the version with sample text to see how easy it is to complete the template. Unlike more detailed templates, it focuses on the main points, such as the problem, solution, approach, and results, all in a compact format. It's great for keeping your audience focused on the key aspects of your case study without overwhelming them with information.

PowerPoint Marketing Case Study Template

Download the Sample Marketing Case Study Template for PowerPoint

Download the Blank Marketing Case Study Template for PowerPoint

When to Use This Template: Choose this marketing case study template when you need to dive deep into your marketing strategies and results. It's perfect for marketing managers and content marketers who want to showcase the detailed process and successes of their campaigns. 

Notable Template Features: This template focuses on the detailed aspects of marketing strategies and outcomes. It includes specific sections to outline business needs, results, and strategic approaches.

PowerPoint Problem-Solution-Impact Case Study Template

Download the Sample Problem-Solution-Impact Case Study Template for PowerPoint

Download the Blank Problem-Solution-Impact Case Study Template for PowerPoint

When to Use This Template:  This problem-solution-impact case study template is useful for focusing on how a challenge was solved and the results. Project managers and strategy teams that want to clearly portray the effectiveness of their solutions can take advantage of this template. 

Notable Template Features: This template stands out with its clear structure that breaks down the case into problem, solution, and impact. Use the template — available with or without sample data — to help you tell a complete story, from the issue faced to the solution and its results, making it perfect for presentations that need to show a clear cause-and-effect relationship.

PowerPoint Comparative Study Template

Download the Sample Comparative Study Template for PowerPoint  

Download the Blank Comparative Study Template for PowerPoint  

When to Use This Template:  Choose this comparative study template — available with or without sample data — to illuminate how different products, strategies, or periods stack up against each other. It's great for product managers and research teams who want to do side-by-side comparisons. 

Notable Template Features: This template lets you put things next to each other to see their differences and similarities, with a focus on direct comparisons. Use the columns and split slides to make the content easy to understand and visually appealing, perfect for highlighting changes or different approaches.

PowerPoint Customer Journey Case Study Template

Download the Sample Customer Journey Case Study Template for PowerPoint

Download the Blank Customer Journey Case Study Template for PowerPoint

When to Use This Template: This template is useful for customer experience managers and UX designers who need to understand and improve how customers interact with what they offer. Use the customer journey case study template with sample data to see how to show every step of a customer's experience with your product or service. 

Notable Template Features:  This template focuses on the whole path a customer takes with a product or service. It follows them, from first learning about the offering to after they buy it.

PowerPoint Case Study Storyboard Template

Download the Sample Case Study Storyboard Template for PowerPoint   Download the Blank Case Study Storyboard Template for PowerPoint  

When to Use This Template:  Creative teams and ad agencies should use this case study storyboard template — with or without sample data — to tell a story using more images than text.

Notable Template Features: This template transforms a case study into a visual story. Effectively communicate the journey of a business case, from the challenges faced to the solutions implemented and the results achieved.

Key Components of Successful Case Study Presentations

The key components of successful case study presentations include clear goals, engaging introductions, detailed customer profiles, and well-explained solutions and results. Together they help you present how your strategies succeed in real-world scenarios. 

The following components are fundamental to crafting a compelling and effective marketing case study presentation:   

• Clear Objective:  Define the goal of your case study, ensuring it addresses specific questions or goals. 
• Engaging Introduction:  Start with an overview of the company, product, or service, as well as the context to provide necessary background information. 
• Customer Profile:  Detail your target customer demographics and their needs to help the audience understand who the marketing efforts are aimed at and their relevance. 
• The Challenge:  Clearly articulate the primary problem or issue to overcome to establish the context for the solution and strategy, highlighting the need for action. 
• Solution and Strategy:  Describe the specific strategies and creative approaches used to address the challenge. These details should demonstrate your approach to problem-solving and the thought process behind your decisions. 
• Implementation:  Explain how the solution was put into action to show the practical application. This description should bring your strategy to life, allowing the audience to see how you executed plans. 
• Results and Impact:  Present measurable outcomes and impacts of the strategy to validate and show its effectiveness in real-world scenarios. 
• Visual Elements:  Use charts, images, and infographics to make complex information more accessible and engaging, aiding audience understanding. 
• Testimonials and Quotes:  Include customer feedback or expert opinions to add credibility and a real-world perspective, reinforcing your strategy’s success. 
• Lessons Learned and Conclusions:  Summarize key takeaways and insights gained to show what the audience can learn from the case study. 
• Call to Action (CTA):  End with an action you want the audience to take to encourage engagement and further interaction.

Different Types of Case Study Presentations

The types of case study presentations include those that compare products, showcase customer journeys, or tell a story visually, among others. Each is tailored to different storytelling methods and presentation goals.

The following list outlines various types of case study presentations:   

• Problem-Solution-Impact Case Study:  This type focuses on a clear narrative structure, outlining the problem, solution implemented, and final impact. It's straightforward and effective for linear stories. 
• Comparative Case Study:  Ideal for showcasing before-and-after scenarios or comparisons between different strategies or time periods. This option often uses parallel columns or split slides for comparison. 
• Customer Journey Case Study:  Centered on the customer's experience, this option maps out their journey from recognizing a need to using the product or service, and the benefits they gained. It's a narrative-driven and customer-focused case study format. 
• Data-Driven Case Study:  Emphasizing quantitative results and data, this format is full of charts, graphs, and statistics. This option is perfect for cases where numerical evidence is the main selling point. 
• Storyboard Case Study:  Use this type to lay out the case study in a storytelling format. This option often relies on more visuals and less text. Think of it as a visual story, engaging and easy to follow. 
• Interactive Case Study:  Designed with clickable elements for an interactive presentation, this type allows the presenter to dive into different sections based on audience interest, making it flexible and engaging.
• Testimonial-Focused Case Study:  This format is best for highlighting customer testimonials and reviews. It leverages the power of word of mouth and is highly effective in building trust.

Expert Tips for Case Study Presentations

Expert tips for case study presentations include knowing your audience, telling a clear story, and focusing on the problem and solution. They can also benefit from using visuals and highlighting results.

“Case studies are one of the most powerful tools in an organization’s marketing arsenal,” says Gayle Kalvert, Founder and CEO of  Creo Collective, Inc. , a full-service marketing agency. “Done correctly, case studies provide prospective buyers with proof that your product or service solves their business problem and shortens the sales cycle.”   

“Presentations are probably the most powerful marketing asset, whether for a webinar, a first meeting deck, an investor pitch, or an internal alignment/planning tool,” says marketing expert  Cari Jaquet . “Remember, the goal of a case study presentation is not just to inform, but also to persuade and engage your audience.” 

Use these tips to make your presentation engaging and effective so that it resonates with your audience:   

• Know Your Audience:  Tailor the presentation to the interests and knowledge level of your audience. Understanding what resonates with them helps make your case study more relevant and engaging. “Presentations can also be a forcing function to define your audience, tighten up your mission and message, and create a crisp call to action,” explains Jaquet.
• Tell a Story:  Structure your case study like a story, with a clear beginning (the problem), middle (the solution), and end (the results). A narrative approach keeps the audience engaged. 
• Focus on the Problem and Solution:  Clearly articulate the problem you addressed and how your solution was unique or effective. This section is the core of a case study and should be given ample attention. 
• Use Data Wisely:  Incorporate relevant data to support your points, but avoid overwhelming the audience with numbers. Use charts and graphs for visual representation of data to make it more digestible. 
• Highlight Key Results:  Emphasize the impact of your solution with clear and quantifiable results. This could include increased revenue, cost savings, improved customer satisfaction, and similar benefits.
• Incorporate Visuals:  Use high-quality visuals to break up text and explain complex concepts. Consider using photos, infographics, diagrams, or short videos.  “I put together the graphics that tell the story visually. Speakers often just need a big image or charts and graphs to help guide their talk track. Of course, if the audience expects details (for example, a board deck), the graphic helps reinforce the narrative,” shares Jaquet.
• Include Testimonials:  Adding quotes or testimonials from clients or stakeholders adds credibility and a real-world perspective to your presentation. 
• Practice Storytelling:  A well-delivered presentation is as important as its content. Practice your delivery to ensure you are clear, concise, and engaging. At this point, it also makes sense to solicit feedback from stakeholders. Jaquet concurs: “Once my outline and graphics are in place, I typically circulate the presentation draft for review. The feedback step usually surfaces nuances in the story or key points that need to show up on the slides. There is no point in building out tons of slides without alignment from the speaker or subject matter experts.”
• End with a Strong Conclusion:  Summarize the key takeaways and leave your audience with a final thought or call to action. 
• Seek Feedback:  After your presentation, request feedback to understand what worked well and what could be improved for future presentations. 

“Don't underestimate the power of a great presentation. And don't wait until the last minute or try to invent the wheel on your own,” advises Jaquet. “Many times, getting the next meeting, winning the deal, or getting the project kicked off well, requires your audience to understand and believe your story.”

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Home - UX Portfolio - Tips on presenting your UX case study

Tips on presenting your UX case study

Imagine this. You’ve made it through the first job interview. You’re now asked for a second round interview to show your work. But how? And what do you need to keep in mind? Here’s how to present a UX case study during a job interview.

• Updated on May 9, 2024

This article will teach you how to present your UX case study during a job interview. If you follow along, you’ll increase your chances of getting invited to the next round. We’ll talk about the basics, such as attending the meeting on time, and more advanced tactics, like how you structure your presentation.

I’ve based the following tips on presenting my UX portfolio to multiple potential clients for years and the UX mentorships I’ve hosted for aspiring designers. In other words, these tips are based on real-world experience.

Table of Contents

How to present a ux case study.

The most important aspect of giving an excellent UX case study presentation is showing that you can solve a business challenge.

Even though your main goal is to be there for the user, you can’t forget that you’re hired by a business to help that business make money. If you only talk about users and forget to mention how you can help your potential employer grow a business, you’re likely to miss out.

Then there are also some basic job interview rules to consider. Let’s discuss those basics first.

Presentation basics

These basics are essential. People expect you to follow them. Because of that, doing so will not get you any bonus points. However, failing to follow the basics will leave a bad taste during your interview. Make sure you can check the following basics off of your list.

• Arrive on time.
• Stable internet connection (remote only).
• Position yourself in the middle of your frame (remote only).
• Make sure you’re able to focus without disturbance (remote only).
• Make sure your camera and mic are working correctly (remote only).

At some point during the interview, the interviewer will ask you to present your work. This means you can choose which of your case studies to pick. And that’s a good thing.

In my experience, there’s always a case study you prefer over your other case studies. Creating that particular UX case study has been easier, or the project has been more fun than your other projects.

So make sure you’re ready to pick one of your case studies on the spot if asked to. Pick the one you’re most comfortable with.

Start with a case study summary

Once you’re asked to present your UX portfolio, it makes sense to start explaining everything you’ve done. Try and stay away from doing that. 

You’ll lose the attention of your crowd and put yourself in a position to receive challenging questions you can’t answer. Instead, give a summary first. Here’s what to include.

• The business challenge, what you were asked to do, and your role.
• What your main deliverable was. 
• The results of your project and deliverable.

Here’s an example of what your UX case study summary might look like.

As a product designer at my local recruitment firm, I’ve worked on redesigning the sign-up flow for job candidates. As a result, the recruitment firm has seen more applicants successfully go through the sign-up flow.

This is a very short summary. And by doing so, you give those listening to your presentation the opportunity to ask questions. Because you keep a lot of information to yourself, chances are you get questions about that information. You can answer these questions with ease.

If you had presented every detail of your case study, you’re more likely to get questions you can’t answer.

Answering case study questions

After presenting your UX case study summary, it is time to answer questions. As I said, you leave room for questions on purpose to have more control over the type of questions you get.

My main advice here is to be honest when you don’t have an answer to one of the questions. I’ve seen many designers desperately try to answer every question they get. However, the people listening to your presentation will notice this.

Instead, be honest when you’re not sure. Let your audience know you’re willing to learn or return the question by asking what they think or what the company expects you to do.

That way, you show you know what you can improve and that you’re willing to have a good talk about it. That’s way more valuable than being someone that pretends to know everything.

Frequently asked questions

With the above structure, presenting your UX case study during a job interview should go much better. However, there are still some questions to be answered. I’ve collected several in the list below.

How long should a UX case study presentation be?

The length of your case study presentation depends on the structure of the interview. In almost all cases, that’s up to the hiring company. It is common for an interview to take between 30 and 60 minutes.

However, your UX case study presentation can be shorter than that. Those 30 or 60 minutes include the introduction, asking questions, and discussing the next steps as well. That leaves between 5 to 15 minutes for the actual case study presentation.

How many slides are in a UX case study presentation?

The number of slides in your UX case study can vary between 5 and 15. Less than that would mean that you don’t include the basics like the cover page, challenge, things you’ve done during the project, and your results.

However, when you go over 15 slides, you risk losing your audience’s attention. Be strict in the number of slides you include!

What should a UX presentation include?

Your presentation should include at least the main building blocks of your project. These include the business problem you’re solving, what the client has asked you to do, what you actually did, and the impact of your work.

Try making it very visual with mockups, photos of you working on the project, and a user testimonial from your tests. Before and after images also help you tell a better story.

UX Case Study (Course + Template)

I’ll walk you through the steps of creating a case study based on my 10 years of experience in UX.

• Video course and template.
• Includes real-world examples.
• Get personal feedback.

Case studies are what make up most of your UX portfolio. Therefore, being able to present them is a crucial skill you need to have when you want to get hired in UX .

These crucial steps will increase your chances of making it to the next round.

• Get the basics right. Make sure you’re on time, in a place where you can focus, and with a stable internet connection.
• Start with a summary of your case study to leave room for questions you can answer.
• Accept the fact that you can’t answer everything. It is better to acknowledge that than to try and desperately answer every question you get.

Do you have feedback on this article? Missing something? Or just a question? Reach out to me and I’ll get back to you!

About the author

Hi! I'm Nick Groeneveld , a senior designer from the Netherlands with experience in UX, visual design, and research. I'm a UX coach that supports other designers and have completed design projects in finance, tech, and the public sector.

Through The Designer's Toolbox, I'm an Educational Partner for Interaction Design Foundation.

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UX Case Study Presentation Template

What you'll get

Used by designers and teams from, product overview.

• Without a solid structure, presenting a UX case study can feel disjointed or scattered. Designers also often struggle to pinpoint the most impactful highlights of their work.
• Our UX Case Study Presentation Template captures all the important details. It gives you a clear guide to confidently show off your work, even in stressful situations like job interviews.
• Quickly set up your UX case studies and remove the repetitive work of creating new documents. This template organizes your content to tell a polished story that showcases your successes.
• Customize your presentation with preset elements for consistency. Use sections to define problems, identify insights, and propose solutions.
• A well-crafted UX case study presentation can help you land new opportunities. Turn your UX case studies into a powerful narrative that impresses clients and stakeholders.

How will it help me?

• Set up your document in seconds: Get everything you need in one straightforward template. There's no need to keep creating the same document for every new case study
• Organize content effortlessly: Sort all the information you need with pages neatly arranged
• Improve your workflow: Work smarter with a professional presentation that showcases your attention to detail
• Keep it all consistent: Build the presentation to fit your brand's identity. Customize your style with color schemes, typefaces, and more
• Template pages: Capture your UX case study in 22 pre-designed pages to guide your study ‍
• Presentation-ready slides: Present anytime with responsive slides and a 16:9 ratio
• Customizable style guide: Keep your presentations on-brand by customizing color schemes, fonts, and more
• Well-defined sections: Identify key information with sections for problems, insights, solutions, and conclusions
• Structured content: Essential elements for a strong presentation in a fuss-free, straightforward design
• Easy navigation: Form seamless narratives with content flow arranged logically

Requirements

• A basic understanding of UX/UI design principles and Figma
• A desire to improve your case study presentations
• A laptop or desktop computer with steady internet access
• A Figma account (recommended)

Who is this product for?

Students & Junior Designers ‍

Kickstart your design career with a professional and well-organized template.

‍ Senior Designers

Highlight your design expertise by showcasing your work's depth and attention to detail.

Independent Freelancers ‍

Win over new clients and secure more projects with a polished, cohesive presentation.

Design Teams & Startups ‍

Showcase your team's achievements in a compelling and streamlined narrative.

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Variety matters. A wider selection of component variants to work with ensures a broader audience gets the best possible experience. That’s why Shipfaster UI 2.5 is packed with new components, even more variants, and refined states.

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Shipfaster UI v2.6 is all about making your design work faster and easier. Speed up your workflow—see the changes below.

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We realised there was a small issue with some members not being able to load all the images in the design file. What we have learnt is that Figma is a browser-based app which means it’s subjected to a 2GB available memory limit that applies to each browser tab, including those in the desktop app. When loading or editing Figma files nears or or exceeds this memory limit, it can cause performance issues like long load times, crashes and others. Please keep in mind when using our design system, to limit the number of browser tabs you have opened.

• Updated file thumbnails.
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• Compressed all JPG images in the file to reduce file size.
• Members that raised images not loading have confirmed this has solved their issues.

A few members reported seeing ‘3 missing libraries’ upon importing the design system.

• Fixed mission libraries issue.

Figma made some major updates to their platform in May 2022. This included component properties, a re-designed Autolayout, dark mode and much more. In v.2.3 of Shipfaster UI, we have decided to introduce a number of updates that have helped improve the kit’s performance and it’s relevancy with the latest updates.

• Removed .styled components to improve the performance of our design system.
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With Shipfaster 2.4, we’ve focused on adding new styles and components in the Foundation section. There are new secondary color ranges, graphic elements and an all new featured Mockup page to supercharge the way you present your designs. We’ve fine-tuned every detail in v.2.4 of Shipfaster UI to help elevate your designs and keep up with the latest trends in the industry.

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Today we’re excited to announce the launch of our Shipfaster UI - A Figma Design System 2.0 🎉 This is our first major upgrade and overhaul to our design system.

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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What's the ux case study presentation template for.

The UX Case Study Presentation Template from Designership is a template that helps designers explain their work clearly and confidently in job interviews or meetings. It guides you to organize your design steps, choices, and results in an engaging way.

Is the UX Design Case Study Template free?

Yes, this is a premium template that Designership provides to help you give your project presentations a professional and consistent look.

Can I customize the UX Case Study Template to fit my brand's identity?

Absolutely. You can easily customize the UX Case Study Template to match your own brand, including your colors, fonts, and style, to make it truly yours.

How many sections does the UX Case Study Presentation Template have?

Our UX Case Study Presentation Template comes with organized sections to define problems, insights, solutions, and conclusions. This is so that you don't miss any key details in your presentations. It has everything need to cover every part of your case study.

Can I use the UX Case Study Template in Figma?

Yes, this template works in Figma.

How will the template help organize my case study?

The template gives you a clear outline to follow. It guides you through each step of your case study, from the challenges and solutions to the methods you used and the results you achieved. That way, you tell a clear story of your project.

What sets this UX Case Study Template apart from other templates found online?

Our UX Case Study Template is crafted to help you tell the story of your project in a compelling way. It's designed for easy customization, thanks to expert input from Michael Wong (Mizko).

Do I need any specific software to use the UX Case Study Presentation Template?

It's best to use this template in Figma to get the most out of its features, but it's also made to be flexible enough for use with other design tools.

How can I learn UX Research?

A quick Google or Youtube search can teach the theory behind UX research. But if you want to apply what you learn in the workplace, take our Practical UX Research & Strategy Course. Learn how to apply tactical UX research strategy to your designs and make better-informed decisions. This course takes you through the entire UX research process, from planning your research strategy to getting insights from participants and presenting data-backed design solutions. By the end of the course, you'll be able to deliver business-driven designs and gain the confidence of stakeholders and clients with actionable insights and clear strategies.

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10 Successful Design Thinking Case Study

Dive into the realm of Successful Design Thinking Case Studies to explore the power of this innovative problem-solving approach. Begin by understanding What is Design Thinking? and then embark on a journey through real-world success stories. Discover valuable lessons learned from these case studies and gain insights into how Design Thinking can transform your approach.

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Design Thinking has emerged as a powerful problem-solving approach that places empathy, creativity, and innovation at the forefront. However, if you are not aware of the power that this approach holds, a Design Thinking Case Study is often used to help people address the complex challenges of this approach with a human-centred perspective. It allows organisations to unlock new opportunities and drive meaningful change. Read this blog on Design Thinking Case Study to learn how it enhances organisation’s growth and gain valuable insights on creative problem-solving.

Table of Contents   

1) What is Design Thinking?

2) Design Thinking process   

3) Successful Design Thinking Case Studies

      a) Airbnb

      b) Apple

      c) Netflix

      d) UberEats

      e) IBM

       f) OralB’s electric toothbrush

      g) IDEO

      h) Tesla

       i) GE Healthcare

       j) Nike

3) Lessons learned from Design Thinking Case Studies

4) Conclusion    

What is Design Thinking ?

Before jumping on Design Thinking Case Study, let’s first understand what it is. Design Thinking is a methodology for problem-solving that prioritises the understanding and addressing of individuals' unique needs.

This human-centric approach is creative and iterative, aiming to find innovative solutions to complex challenges. At its core, Design Thinking fosters empathy, encourages collaboration, and embraces experimentation.

This process revolves around comprehending the world from the user's perspective, identifying problems through this lens, and then generating and refining solutions that cater to these specific needs. Design Thinking places great importance on creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, seeking to break away from conventional problem-solving methods.

It is not confined to the realm of design but can be applied to various domains, from business and technology to healthcare and education. By putting the user or customer at the centre of the problem-solving journey, Design Thinking helps create products, services, and experiences that are more effective, user-friendly, and aligned with the genuine needs of the people they serve.  

Design Thinking process

Design Thinking is a problem-solving and innovation framework that helps individuals and teams create user-centred solutions. This process consists of five key phases that are as follows:  

To initiate the Design Thinking process, the first step is to practice empathy. In order to create products and services that are appealing, it is essential to comprehend the users and their requirements. What are their anticipations regarding the product you are designing? What issues and difficulties are they encountering within this particular context?

During the empathise phase, you spend time observing and engaging with real users. This might involve conducting interviews and seeing how they interact with an existing product. You should pay attention to facial expressions and body language. During the empathise phase in the Design Thinking Process , it's crucial to set aside assumptions and gain first-hand insights to design with real users in mind. That's the essence of Design Thinking.

During the second stage of the Design Thinking process, the goal is to identify the user’s problem. To accomplish this, collect all your observations from the empathise phase and begin to connect the dots.

Ask yourself: What consistent patterns or themes did you notice? What recurring user needs or challenges were identified? After synthesising your findings, you must create a problem statement, also known as a Point Of View (POV) statement, which outlines the issue or challenge you aim to address. By the end of the define stage, you will be able to craft a clear problem statement that will guide you throughout the design process, forming the basis of your ideas and potential solutions.

After completing the first two stages of the Design Thinking process, which involve defining the target users and identifying the problem statement, it is now time to move on to the third stage - ideation. This stage is all about brainstorming and coming up with various ideas and solutions to solve the problem statement. Through ideation, the team can explore different perspectives and possibilities and select the best ideas to move forward with.

During the ideation phase, it is important to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas without fear of judgment. This phase is all about generating a large quantity of ideas, regardless of feasibility. This is done by encouraging the team to think outside the box and explore new angles. To maximise creativity, ideation sessions are often held in unconventional locations.

It’s time to transform the ideas from stage three into physical or digital prototypes. A prototype is a miniature model of a product or feature, which can be as simple as a paper model or as complex as an interactive digital representation.

During the Prototyping Stage , the primary objective is to transform your ideas into a tangible product that can be tested by actual users. This is crucial in maintaining a user-centric approach, as it enables you to obtain feedback before proceeding to develop the entire product. By doing so, you can ensure that the final design adequately addresses the user's problem and delivers an enjoyable user experience.

During the Design Thinking process, the fifth step involves testing your prototypes by exposing them to real users and evaluating their performance. Throughout this testing phase, you can observe how your target or prospective users engage with your prototype. Additionally, you can gather valuable feedback from your users about their experiences throughout the process.

Based on the feedback received during user testing, you can go back and make improvements to the design. It is important to remember that the Design Thinking process is iterative and non-linear. After the testing phase, it may be necessary to revisit the empathise stage or conduct additional ideation sessions before creating a successful prototype.

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Successful Design Thinking Case Studies  

Now that you have a foundational understanding of Design Thinking, let's explore how some of the world's most successful companies have leveraged this methodology to drive innovation and success:

Case Study 1: Airbnb  

Airbnb’s one of the popular Design Thinking Case Studies that you can aspire from. Airbnb disrupted the traditional hotel industry by applying Design Thinking principles to create a platform that connects travellers with unique accommodations worldwide. The founders of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk, started by identifying a problem: the cost and lack of personalisation in traditional lodging.

They conducted in-depth user research by staying in their own listings and collecting feedback from both hosts and guests. This empathetic approach allowed them to design a platform that not only met the needs of travellers but also empowered hosts to provide personalised experiences. 

Airbnb's intuitive website and mobile app interface, along with its robust review and rating system, instil trust and transparency, making users feel comfortable choosing from a vast array of properties. Furthermore, the "Experiences" feature reflects Airbnb's commitment to immersive travel, allowing users to book unique activities hosted by locals. 

Case Study 2.  Apple    

Apple Inc. has consistently been a pioneer in  Design Thinking, which is evident in its products, such as the iPhone. One of the best Design Thinking Examples from Apple is the development of the iPhone's User Interface (UI). The team at Apple identified the need for a more intuitive and user-friendly smartphone experience. They conducted extensive research and usability testing to understand user behaviours, pain points, and desires.   

The result? A revolutionary touch interface that forever changed the smartphone industry. Apple's relentless focus on the user experience, combined with iterative prototyping and user feedback, exemplifies the power of  Design Thinking in creating groundbreaking products.    

Apple invests heavily in user research to  anticipate what customers want before they even realise it themselves. This empathetic approach to design has led to groundbreaking innovations like the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook, which have redefined the entire industry.  

Case Study 3. Netflix  

Netflix, the global streaming giant, has revolutionised the way people consume entertainment content. A major part of their success can be attributed to their effective use of Design Thinking principles.

What sets Netflix apart is its commitment to understanding its audience on a profound level. Netflix recognised that its success hinged on offering a personalised, enjoyable viewing experience. Through meticulous user research, data analysis, and a culture of innovation, Netflix constantly evolves its platform. Moreover, by gathering insights on viewing habits, content preferences, and even UI, the company tailors its recommendations, search algorithms, and original content to captivate viewers worldwide.

Furthermore, Netflix's iterative approach to Design Thinking allows it to adapt quickly to shifting market dynamics. This agility proved crucial when transitioning from a DVD rental service to a streaming platform. Netflix didn't just lead this revolution; it shaped it by keeping users' desires and behaviours front and centre. Netflix's commitment to Design Thinking has resulted in a highly user-centric platform that keeps subscribers engaged and satisfied, ultimately contributing to its global success.  

Case Study 4. Uber Eats     

Uber Eats, a subsidiary of Uber, has disrupted the food delivery industry by applying Design Thinking principles to enhance user experiences and create a seamless platform for food lovers and restaurants alike.  

One of  UberEats' key innovations lies in its user-centric approach. By conducting in-depth research and understanding the pain points of both consumers and restaurant partners, they crafted a solution that addresses real-world challenges. The user-friendly app offers a wide variety of cuisines, personalised recommendations, and real-time tracking, catering to the diverse preferences of customers.  

Moreover,  UberEats leverages technology and data-driven insights to optimise delivery routes and times, ensuring that hot and fresh food reaches customers promptly. The platform also empowers restaurant owners with tools to efficiently manage orders, track performance, and expand their customer base. 

Case Study  5 . IBM    

IBM is a prime example of a large corporation successfully adopting Design Thinking to drive innovation and transform its business. Historically known for its hardware and software innovations, IBM recognised the need to evolve its approach to remain competitive in the fast-paced technology landscape.   

IBM's Design Thinking journey began with a mission to reinvent its enterprise software solutions. The company transitioned from a product-centric focus to a user-centric one. Instead of solely relying on technical specifications, IBM started by empathising with its customers. They started to understand customer’s pain points, and envisioning solutions that genuinely addressed their needs. 

One of the key elements of IBM's Design Thinking success is its multidisciplinary teams. The company brought together designers, engineers, marketers, and end-users to collaborate throughout the product development cycle. This cross-functional approach encouraged diverse perspectives, fostering creativity and innovation. 

IBM's commitment to Design Thinking is evident in its flagship projects such as Watson, a cognitive computing system, and IBM Design Studios, where Design Thinking principles are deeply embedded into the company's culture. 

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Case Study 6. Oral-B’s electric toothbrush

Oral-B, a prominent brand under the Procter & Gamble umbrella, stands out as a remarkable example of how Design Thinking can be executed in a seemingly everyday product—Electric toothbrushes. By applying the Design Thinking approach, Oral-B has transformed the world of oral hygiene with its electric toothbrushes.  

Oral-B's journey with Design Thinking began by placing the user firmly at the centre of their Product Development process. Through extensive research and user feedback, the company gained invaluable insights into oral care habits, preferences, and pain points. This user-centric approach guided Oral-B in designing electric toothbrushes that not only cleaned teeth more effectively but also made the entire oral care routine more engaging and enjoyable.  

Another of Oral-B's crucial innovations is the integration of innovative technology into their toothbrushes. These devices now come equipped with features like real-time feedback, brushing timers, and even Bluetooth connectivity to sync with mobile apps. By embracing technology and user-centric design, Oral-B effectively transformed the act of brushing teeth into an interactive and informative experience. This has helped users maintain better oral hygiene.  

Oral-B's success story showcases how Design Thinking, combined with a deep understanding of user needs, can lead to significant advancements, ultimately improving both the product and user satisfaction.

Case Study 7. IDEO  

IDEO, a Global Design Consultancy, has been at the forefront of Design Thinking for decades. They have worked on diverse projects, from creating innovative medical devices to redesigning public services.

One of their most notable Design Thinking examples is the development of the "DeepDive" shopping cart for a major retailer. IDEO's team spent weeks observing shoppers, talking to store employees, and prototyping various cart designs. The result was a cart that not only improved the shopping experience but also increased sales. IDEO's human-centred approach, emphasis on empathy, and rapid prototyping techniques demonstrate how Design Thinking can drive innovation and solve real-world problems.   

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Case Study  8 .  Tesla  

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, has redefined the automotive industry by applying Design Thinking to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Musk and his team identified the need for EVs to be not just eco-friendly but also desirable. They focused on designing EVs that are stylish, high-performing, and technologically advanced. Tesla's iterative approach, rapid prototyping, and constant refinement have resulted in groundbreaking EVs like the Model S, Model 3, and Model X.    

From the minimalist interior of their Model S to the autopilot self-driving system, every aspect is meticulously crafted with the end user in mind. The company actively seeks feedback from its user community, often implementing software updates based on customer suggestions. This iterative approach ensures that Tesla vehicles continually evolve to meet and exceed customer expectations .   

Moreover, Tesla's bold vision extends to sustainable energy solutions, exemplified by products like the Powerwall and solar roof tiles. These innovations  showcase Tesla's holistic approach to Design Thinking, addressing not only the automotive industry's challenges but also contributing to a greener, more sustainable future.   

Case Study 9. GE Healthcare 

GE Healthcare is a prominent player in the Healthcare industry, renowned for its relentless commitment to innovation and design excellence. Leveraging Design Thinking principles, GE Healthcare has consistently pushed the boundaries of medical technology, making a significant impact on patient care worldwide.  

One of the key areas where GE Healthcare has excelled is in the development of cutting-edge medical devices and diagnostic solutions. Their dedication to user-centred design has resulted in devices that are not only highly functional but also incredibly intuitive for healthcare professionals to operate. For example, their advanced Medical Imaging equipment, such as MRI and CT scanners, are designed with a focus on patient comfort, safety, and accurate diagnostics. This device reflects the company's dedication to improving healthcare outcomes.  

Moreover, GE Healthcare's commitment to design extends beyond the physical product. They have also ventured into software solutions that facilitate data analysis and Patient Management. Their user-friendly software interfaces and data visualisation tools have empowered healthcare providers to make more informed decisions, enhancing overall patient care and treatment planning.

Case Study 10. Nike 

Nike is a global powerhouse in the athletic apparel and Footwear industry. Nike's journey began with a simple running shoe, but its design-thinking approach transformed it into an iconic brand.

Nike's Design Thinking journey started with a deep understanding of athletes' needs and desires. They engaged in extensive user research, often collaborating with top athletes to gain insights that inform their product innovations. This customer-centric approach allowed Nike to develop ground breaking technologies, such as Nike Air and Flyknit, setting new standards in comfort, performance, and style.

Beyond product innovation, Nike's brand identity itself is a testament to Design Thinking. The iconic Swoosh logo, created by Graphic Designer Carolyn Davidson, epitomises simplicity and timelessness, reflecting the brand's ethos.  

Nike also excels in creating immersive retail experiences, using Design Thinking to craft spaces that engage and inspire customers. Their flagship stores around the world are showcases of innovative design, enhancing the overall brand perception.

Lessons learned from Design Thinking Case Studies

The Design Thinking process, as exemplified by the success stories of IBM, Netflix, Apple, and Nike, offers valuable takeaways for businesses of all sizes and industries. Here are three key lessons to learn from these Case Studies:  

1)   Consider the b ig p icture   

Design Thinking encourages organisations to zoom out and view the big picture. It's not just about solving a specific problem but understanding how that problem fits into the broader context of user needs and market dynamics. By taking a holistic approach, you can identify opportunities for innovation that extend beyond immediate challenges. IBM's example, for instance, involved a comprehensive evaluation of their clients' journeys, leading to more impactful solutions.  

2)  Think t hrough a lternative s olutions   

One of the basic principles of Design Thinking is ideation, which emphasises generating a wide range of creative solutions. Netflix's success in content recommendation, for instance, came from exploring multiple strategies to enhance user experience. When brainstorming ideas and solutions, don't limit yourself to the obvious choices. Encourage diverse perspectives and consider unconventional approaches that may lead to breakthrough innovations.  

3)  Research e ach c ompany’s c ompetitors   

Lastly, researching competitors is essential for staying competitive. Analyse what other companies in your industry are doing, both inside and outside the realm of Design Thinking. Learn from their successes and failures. GE Healthcare, for example, leveraged Design Thinking to improve medical equipment usability, giving them a competitive edge. By researching competitors, you can gain insights that inform your own Design Thinking initiatives and help you stand out in the market.  

Incorporating these takeaways into your approach to Design Thinking can enhance your problem-solving capabilities, foster innovation, and ultimately lead to more successful results.  

Conclusion    

Design Thinking is not limited to a specific industry or problem domain; it is a versatile approach that promotes innovation and problem-solving in various contexts. In this blog, we've examined successful Design Thinking Case Studies from industry giants like IBM, Netflix, Apple, Airbnb, Uber Eats, and Nike. These companies have demonstrated that Design Thinking is a powerful methodology that can drive innovation, enhance user experiences, and lead to exceptional business success.   

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Frequently Asked Questions

Design Thinking Case Studies align with current market demands and user expectations by showcasing practical applications of user-centric problem-solving. These Studies highlight the success of empathetic approaches in meeting evolving customer needs.

By analysing various real-world examples, businesses can derive vital insights into dynamic market trends, creating innovative solutions, and enhancing user experiences. Design Thinking's emphasis on iterative prototyping and collaboration resonates with the contemporary demand for agility and adaptability.

Real-world examples of successful Design Thinking implementations can be found in various sources. For instance, you can explore several Case Study repositories on Design Thinking platforms like IDEO and Design Thinking Institute. Furthermore, you can also look for business publications, such as the Harvard Business Review as well as Fast Company, which often feature articles on successful Design Thinking applications.

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An introduction to different types of study design

Posted on 6th April 2021 by Hadi Abbas

Study designs are the set of methods and procedures used to collect and analyze data in a study.

Broadly speaking, there are 2 types of study designs: descriptive studies and analytical studies.

Descriptive studies

• Describes specific characteristics in a population of interest
• The most common forms are case reports and case series
• In a case report, we discuss our experience with the patient’s symptoms, signs, diagnosis, and treatment
• In a case series, several patients with similar experiences are grouped.

Analytical Studies

Analytical studies are of 2 types: observational and experimental.

Observational studies are studies that we conduct without any intervention or experiment. In those studies, we purely observe the outcomes.  On the other hand, in experimental studies, we conduct experiments and interventions.

Observational studies

Observational studies include many subtypes. Below, I will discuss the most common designs.

Cross-sectional study:

• This design is transverse where we take a specific sample at a specific time without any follow-up
• It allows us to calculate the frequency of disease ( p revalence ) or the frequency of a risk factor
• This design is easy to conduct
• For example – if we want to know the prevalence of migraine in a population, we can conduct a cross-sectional study whereby we take a sample from the population and calculate the number of patients with migraine headaches.

Cohort study:

• We conduct this study by comparing two samples from the population: one sample with a risk factor while the other lacks this risk factor
• It shows us the risk of developing the disease in individuals with the risk factor compared to those without the risk factor ( RR = relative risk )
• Prospective : we follow the individuals in the future to know who will develop the disease
• Retrospective : we look to the past to know who developed the disease (e.g. using medical records)
• This design is the strongest among the observational studies
• For example – to find out the relative risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among smokers, we take a sample including smokers and non-smokers. Then, we calculate the number of individuals with COPD among both.

Case-Control Study:

• We conduct this study by comparing 2 groups: one group with the disease (cases) and another group without the disease (controls)
• This design is always retrospective
•  We aim to find out the odds of having a risk factor or an exposure if an individual has a specific disease (Odds ratio)
•  Relatively easy to conduct
• For example – we want to study the odds of being a smoker among hypertensive patients compared to normotensive ones. To do so, we choose a group of patients diagnosed with hypertension and another group that serves as the control (normal blood pressure). Then we study their smoking history to find out if there is a correlation.

Experimental Studies

• Also known as interventional studies
• Can involve animals and humans
• Pre-clinical trials involve animals
• Clinical trials are experimental studies involving humans
• In clinical trials, we study the effect of an intervention compared to another intervention or placebo. As an example, I have listed the four phases of a drug trial:

I:  We aim to assess the safety of the drug ( is it safe ? )

II: We aim to assess the efficacy of the drug ( does it work ? )

III: We want to know if this drug is better than the old treatment ( is it better ? )

IV: We follow-up to detect long-term side effects ( can it stay in the market ? )

• In randomized controlled trials, one group of participants receives the control, while the other receives the tested drug/intervention. Those studies are the best way to evaluate the efficacy of a treatment.

Finally, the figure below will help you with your understanding of different types of study designs.

References (pdf)

You may also be interested in the following blogs for further reading:

An introduction to randomized controlled trials

Case-control and cohort studies: a brief overview

Cohort studies: prospective and retrospective designs

Prevalence vs Incidence: what is the difference?

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No Comments on An introduction to different types of study design

you are amazing one!! if I get you I’m working with you! I’m student from Ethiopian higher education. health sciences student

Very informative and easy understandable

You are my kind of doctor. Do not lose sight of your objective.

Wow very erll explained and easy to understand

I’m Khamisu Habibu community health officer student from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa university teaching hospital Bauchi, Nigeria, I really appreciate your write up and you have make it clear for the learner. thank you

well understood,thank you so much

Well understood…thanks

Simply explained. Thank You.

Thanks a lot for this nice informative article which help me to understand different study designs that I felt difficult before

That’s lovely to hear, Mona, thank you for letting the author know how useful this was. If there are any other particular topics you think would be useful to you, and are not already on the website, please do let us know.

it is very informative and useful.

thank you statistician

Fabulous to hear, thank you John.

Thanks for this information

Thanks so much for this information….I have clearly known the types of study design Thanks

That’s so good to hear, Mirembe, thank you for letting the author know.

Very helpful article!! U have simplified everything for easy understanding

I’m a health science major currently taking statistics for health care workers…this is a challenging class…thanks for the simified feedback.

That’s good to hear this has helped you. Hopefully you will find some of the other blogs useful too. If you see any topics that are missing from the website, please do let us know!

Hello. I liked your presentation, the fact that you ranked them clearly is very helpful to understand for people like me who is a novelist researcher. However, I was expecting to read much more about the Experimental studies. So please direct me if you already have or will one day. Thank you

Dear Ay. My sincere apologies for not responding to your comment sooner. You may find it useful to filter the blogs by the topic of ‘Study design and research methods’ – here is a link to that filter: https://s4be.cochrane.org/blog/topic/study-design/ This will cover more detail about experimental studies. Or have a look on our library page for further resources there – you’ll find that on the ‘Resources’ drop down from the home page.

However, if there are specific things you feel you would like to learn about experimental studies, that are missing from the website, it would be great if you could let me know too. Thank you, and best of luck. Emma

Great job Mr Hadi. I advise you to prepare and study for the Australian Medical Board Exams as soon as you finish your undergrad study in Lebanon. Good luck and hope we can meet sometime in the future. Regards ;)

You have give a good explaination of what am looking for. However, references am not sure of where to get them from.

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Open Access

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

• Kristen M. Naegle

Published: December 2, 2021

• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554
• Reader Comments

Citation: Naegle KM (2021) Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Comput Biol 17(12): e1009554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554

Copyright: © 2021 Kristen M. Naegle. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The author has declared no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554.g001

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.

Rule 4: Include only essential points

While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:

• Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
• Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
• Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
• In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:

• Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
• In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
• Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.

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• PubMed/NCBI
• Google Scholar
• 3. Teaching VUC for Making Better PowerPoint Presentations. n.d. Available from: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/making-better-powerpoint-presentations/#baddeley .
• 8. Creating a dyslexia friendly workplace. Dyslexia friendly style guide. nd. Available from: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide .
• 9. Cravit R. How to Use Color Blind Friendly Palettes to Make Your Charts Accessible. 2019. Available from: https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/ .
• 10. Making your conference presentation more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. n.d. Available from: https://vocaleyes.co.uk/services/resources/guidelines-for-making-your-conference-presentation-more-accessible-to-blind-and-partially-sighted-people/ .
• 11. Reynolds G. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. 2nd ed. New Riders Pub; 2011.
• 12. Tufte ER. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd ed. Graphics Press; 2001.

30+ Best Research Presentation Templates for PowerPoint (PPT)

Finding the right PowerPoint template plays an important part in getting your message across to the audience during a presentation. And it’s especially true for research presentations.

Using the right colors, graphs, infographics, and illustrations in your slides is the key to delivering information more effectively and making your presentation a success.

Today, we handpicked a great collection of research presentation PowerPoint templates for you to make the perfect slideshows for various types of research papers and studies.

Whether you’re preparing for a presentation at a school, event, or conference, there are templates in this list for all purposes. Let’s dive in.

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Science & Research Presentation PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is a perfect choice for preparing a research presentation to share your scientific findings and reports.

The template has 30 unique slides with unlimited color options. There are a few infographics included in the slideshow as well.

Why This Is A Top Pick

The presentation has a very modern and creative design where you can showcase your data and information in an attractive way. You won’t be making boring research presentations ever again.

Labvire – Research Presentation PowerPoint Template

Labvire is another modern PowerPoint template you can use for various types of research presentations. It’s also ideal for laboratory-related research presentations. The template has fully customizable slide layouts with editable charts, graphs, and more. You can choose from more than 40 unique slide designs as well.

Novalabs – Science Research PowerPoint Template

Novalabs PowerPoint template features a highly visual and attractive design. The template includes 36 different slides that feature large image placeholders for adding a more visual look to your presentations. There are lots of editable graphics, shapes, and tables included in the template too. Feel free to customize them however you like.

Research & Development PowerPoint Template

The minimal and clean design of this PowerPoint template makes it a great choice for delivering more effective research presentations. With fewer distractions in each slide, you’ll be able to convey your message more easily. The template comes with 30 unique slides. You can change the colors, fonts, and shapes to your preference as well.

Marketing Research Presentation PowerPoint Template

When talking about research presentations, we can’t forget about marketing research. Most sales and marketing meetings usually include a sophisticated marketing research presentation. This PowerPoint template will help you design those research presentations without effort. It includes a total of 150 slides, featuring 30 unique slides in 5 different color schemes.

Free Business Market Research Presentation Template

This is a free PowerPoint template designed for making business market research presentations. It gives you 27 different and fully customizable slides to create professional slideshows for your business meetings.

Free Business Data Analysis & Research Presentation

With this PowerPoint template, you can create colorful and creative business research and data analysis presentation without any design skills. It includes 35 unique slides with lots of infographics and editable shapes. The template is free to use as well.

Lernen – Research Thesis PowerPoint Presentation

Larnen is the ideal PowerPoint template for making research slideshows for your thesis presentations. It includes 30 unique slides that are available in light and dark color themes. It also has editable charts and graphs.

Aristo – Research Academic PowerPoint Presentation

This PowerPoint template is also made with academic research presentations in mind. The template has a professional design with clean layouts and light colors. It comes with more than 30 different slides.

Biosearch – Science Research PowerPoint Template

You can use this PowerPoint template to make professional presentations to present research data and results. It lets you choose from 40 different slides and 90 color themes. The slides are available in both light and dark color themes as well.

Neolabs – Laboratory & Science Research PPT

Neolabs is another science research presentation made with laboratory research teams in mind. You can use it to make effective slideshows to present your research findings. There are 30 unique slides in this template.

Free Business Cost Analysis PowerPoint Template

This is a free PowerPoint and Google Slides template that comes with 35 unique slides. It’s ideal for making research presentations related to business financials.

Research & Case Study PowerPoint Template

Create the perfect case study presentation using your research data with this PowerPoint template. It includes a modern slide design with infographics and charts for effectively presenting your data.

Liron Labs – Laboratory Research PowerPoint Template

Another PowerPoint template for laboratory research presentations. This template includes 15 useful slide layouts with editable graphics, free fonts, and image placeholders. You can edit and customize the colors and text as well.

Research Thesis PowerPoint Template

Make an attractive and creative research thesis presentation using this PowerPoint template. There are over 30 unique slides in this template. You can either use dark or light color themes to create your presentations.

Colorful Thesis Research PowerPoint Template

If you want to make your research presentations look more colorful and creative, this PowerPoint template is for you. It has 15 different slides with fully customizable layouts. It has editable shapes, free fonts, and image placeholders too.

Free Data Analysis Research PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is also free to download. You can also customize it using PowerPoint or Google Slides. This template is ideal for marketing agencies and teams for presenting research and data analysis.

Laboratory & Science Research PowerPoint Template

You can make more convincing and unique lab research presentations using this PowerPoint template. It features a creative design that will easily attract the attention of your audience. You can use it to make various other science and research presentations too. The template includes 30 unique slides.

The Biologist – Research Presentation PowerPoint Template

Just as the name suggests, this PowerPoint template is designed with biology and science-related presentations in mind. It includes many useful slide layouts that can be used to make various types of research presentations. There are 30 different slide designs included in this template with editable shapes and colors.

Modern Science & Research PowerPoint Template

If you’re looking for a PowerPoint template to create a modern-looking research presentation, this template is perfect for you. It features a collection of modern and attractive slides with lots of space for including images, icons, and graphs. There are 30 unique slides in the template with light and dark color themes to choose from.

Marketing Report & Research PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template doubles as both a research and report slideshow. You can use it to create various marketing reports as well as marketing research presentations. It comes with 30 slides that feature minimal and clean designs. It includes lots of editable charts, infographics, and tables as well.

Market Research Presentation PowerPoint Template

Another modern PowerPoint template for making market research presentations. This template includes 25 unique slides with master slides, image placeholders, and editable colors. The template is ideal for marketing agencies and corporate businesses.

Free Academic Research Thesis PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template is designed for defending your academic research thesis dissertation. Needless to say, it’s a useful template for academics as well as teachers. The template features 23 unique slide layouts with customizable designs.

Free Economics Research Thesis Presentation Template

You can use this free template to create thesis and research presentations related to economics. It’s useful for academic students and gives you the freedom to choose from 21 slide layouts to make your own presentations.

Labia – Research Presentation Powerpoint Template

Labia is a research presentation template made for professionals. It comes with a set of modern slides with multipurpose designs. That means you can customize them to make many different types of research presentations. There are 30 unique slides included in this template that come in 5 different color themes.

Medical Research Infographics & Powerpoint Slides

You’ll be using lots of charts, graphs, and infographics in your presentations to showcase data in visual form. Not to mention that visuals always work well for attracting the audience’s attention. You can use the infographic slides in this template to create better research presentations. Each slide features a unique infographic with animated designs.

Foreka – Biology Education & Research Presentation PPT

Foreka is a PowerPoint template made for educational presentations, especially for covering topics related to biology. But it can also be customized to present your research presentations. The slides have very useful layouts that are most suitable for making research slide designs. There are 30 slides included with light and dark color themes.

Maua – Aesthetic Business Research PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is suitable for making elegant and stylish business reports and business research presentations. It’s especially great for making background research and competitor research slideshows. The template comes with 30 slides featuring master slides, image placeholders, and more.

World Data Scientist Powerpoint Presentation Template

You can use this PowerPoint template to create research presentations for many different types of topics, industries, and projects. The template includes lots of data-centric slides where you can easily showcase your data in visual form. There are 30 unique slides included with the template as well.

Free SWOT Analysis Infographics PowerPoint Template

SWOT analysis is a commonly used methodology in business research presentations. With this free PowerPoint template, you can create stylish SWOT analysis infographics for your presentations. It includes SWOT infographics in 30 different styles.

Free Market Research Presentation Infographics PPT

This is a collection of free PowerPoint slides that feature various styles of infographics you can use in your business and market research presentations. There are 30 different infographic slides included in this template. You can edit, change colors, and customize them however you like.

Sinara – Science & Research Powerpoint Template

Sinara is a brilliant PowerPoint template you can use to craft a professional presentation for science-related research and reports. It’s available in 3 different color schemes as well as the option to customize the colors to your preference. The template comes in light and dark themes too.

Political Science and Research PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template will be quite useful to political science and international relations students. It features a total of 150 slides you can use to create attractive presentations for your research and methodologies. There are slides in 5 different color schemes.

How to Make a Research Poster in PowerPoint

We bet you didn’t know that you could actually design posters in PowerPoint. Well, you can and it’s very easy to do so.

The easiest way to make a poster in PowerPoint is to use a pre-made template like the one above.

You can easily copy one of the slides from a template, and resize the slide dimensions to create a vertical poster. Then add a title with a few lines of text and you’ll have yourself a poster.

Or, if you want to craft a poster from scratch, you can read our complete guide on how to create posters in PowerPoint with step-by-step instructions.

For more useful presentation templates, be sure to check out our best educational PowerPoint templates collection.

Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Create and Deliver a Research Presentation

How to Create and Deliver a Research Presentation

Every research endeavor ends up with the communication of its findings. Graduate-level research culminates in a thesis defense , while many academic and scientific disciplines are published in peer-reviewed journals. In a business context, PowerPoint research presentation is the default format for reporting the findings to stakeholders.

Condensing months of work into a few slides can prove to be challenging. It requires particular skills to create and deliver a research presentation that promotes informed decisions and drives long-term projects forward.

Table of Contents

What is a Research Presentation

Key slides for creating a research presentation, tips when delivering a research presentation, how to present sources in a research presentation, recommended templates to create a research presentation.

A research presentation is the communication of research findings, typically delivered to an audience of peers, colleagues, students, or professionals. In the academe, it is meant to showcase the importance of the research paper , state the findings and the analysis of those findings, and seek feedback that could further the research.

The presentation of research becomes even more critical in the business world as the insights derived from it are the basis of strategic decisions of organizations. Information from this type of report can aid companies in maximizing the sales and profit of their business. Major projects such as research and development (R&D) in a new field, the launch of a new product or service, or even corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives will require the presentation of research findings to prove their feasibility.

Market research and technical research are examples of business-type research presentations you will commonly encounter.

In this article, we’ve compiled all the essential tips, including some examples and templates, to get you started with creating and delivering a stellar research presentation tailored specifically for the business context.

Various research suggests that the average attention span of adults during presentations is around 20 minutes, with a notable drop in an engagement at the 10-minute mark . Beyond that, you might see your audience doing other things.

How can you avoid such a mistake? The answer lies in the adage “keep it simple, stupid” or KISS. We don’t mean dumbing down your content but rather presenting it in a way that is easily digestible and accessible to your audience. One way you can do this is by organizing your research presentation using a clear structure.

Here are the slides you should prioritize when creating your research presentation PowerPoint.

1.  Title Page

The title page is the first thing your audience will see during your presentation, so put extra effort into it to make an impression. Of course, writing presentation titles and title pages will vary depending on the type of presentation you are to deliver. In the case of a research presentation, you want a formal and academic-sounding one. It should include:

• The full title of the report
• The date of the report
• The name of the researchers or department in charge of the report
• The name of the organization for which the presentation is intended

When writing the title of your research presentation, it should reflect the topic and objective of the report. Focus only on the subject and avoid adding redundant phrases like “A research on” or “A study on.” However, you may use phrases like “Market Analysis” or “Feasibility Study” because they help identify the purpose of the presentation. Doing so also serves a long-term purpose for the filing and later retrieving of the document.

Here’s a sample title page for a hypothetical market research presentation from Gillette .

2. Executive Summary Slide

The executive summary marks the beginning of the body of the presentation, briefly summarizing the key discussion points of the research. Specifically, the summary may state the following:

• The purpose of the investigation and its significance within the organization’s goals
• The methods used for the investigation
• The major findings of the investigation
• The conclusions and recommendations after the investigation

Although the executive summary encompasses the entry of the research presentation, it should not dive into all the details of the work on which the findings, conclusions, and recommendations were based. Creating the executive summary requires a focus on clarity and brevity, especially when translating it to a PowerPoint document where space is limited.

Each point should be presented in a clear and visually engaging manner to capture the audience’s attention and set the stage for the rest of the presentation. Use visuals, bullet points, and minimal text to convey information efficiently.

3. Introduction/ Project Description Slides

In this section, your goal is to provide your audience with the information that will help them understand the details of the presentation. Provide a detailed description of the project, including its goals, objectives, scope, and methods for gathering and analyzing data.

You want to answer these fundamental questions:

• What specific questions are you trying to answer, problems you aim to solve, or opportunities you seek to explore?
• Why is this project important, and what prompted it?
• What are the boundaries of your research or initiative? 
• How were the data gathered?

Important: The introduction should exclude specific findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

4. Data Presentation and Analyses Slides

This is the longest section of a research presentation, as you’ll present the data you’ve gathered and provide a thorough analysis of that data to draw meaningful conclusions. The format and components of this section can vary widely, tailored to the specific nature of your research.

For example, if you are doing market research, you may include the market potential estimate, competitor analysis, and pricing analysis. These elements will help your organization determine the actual viability of a market opportunity.

Visual aids like charts, graphs, tables, and diagrams are potent tools to convey your key findings effectively. These materials may be numbered and sequenced (Figure 1, Figure 2, and so forth), accompanied by text to make sense of the insights.

5. Conclusions

The conclusion of a research presentation is where you pull together the ideas derived from your data presentation and analyses in light of the purpose of the research. For example, if the objective is to assess the market of a new product, the conclusion should determine the requirements of the market in question and tell whether there is a product-market fit.

Designing your conclusion slide should be straightforward and focused on conveying the key takeaways from your research. Keep the text concise and to the point. Present it in bullet points or numbered lists to make the content easily scannable.

6. Recommendations

The findings of your research might reveal elements that may not align with your initial vision or expectations. These deviations are addressed in the recommendations section of your presentation, which outlines the best course of action based on the result of the research.

What emerging markets should we target next? Do we need to rethink our pricing strategies? Which professionals should we hire for this special project? — these are some of the questions that may arise when coming up with this part of the research.

Recommendations may be combined with the conclusion, but presenting them separately to reinforce their urgency. In the end, the decision-makers in the organization or your clients will make the final call on whether to accept or decline the recommendations.

7. Questions Slide

Members of your audience are not involved in carrying out your research activity, which means there’s a lot they don’t know about its details. By offering an opportunity for questions, you can invite them to bridge that gap, seek clarification, and engage in a dialogue that enhances their understanding.

If your research is more business-oriented, facilitating a question and answer after your presentation becomes imperative as it’s your final appeal to encourage buy-in for your recommendations.

A simple “Ask us anything” slide can indicate that you are ready to accept questions.

1. Focus on the Most Important Findings

The truth about presenting research findings is that your audience doesn’t need to know everything. Instead, they should receive a distilled, clear, and meaningful overview that focuses on the most critical aspects.

You will likely have to squeeze in the oral presentation of your research into a 10 to 20-minute presentation, so you have to make the most out of the time given to you. In the presentation, don’t soak in the less important elements like historical backgrounds. Decision-makers might even ask you to skip these portions and focus on sharing the findings.

2. Do Not Read Word-per-word

Reading word-for-word from your presentation slides intensifies the danger of losing your audience’s interest. Its effect can be detrimental, especially if the purpose of your research presentation is to gain approval from the audience. So, how can you avoid this mistake?

• Make a conscious design decision to keep the text on your slides minimal. Your slides should serve as visual cues to guide your presentation.
• Structure your presentation as a narrative or story. Stories are more engaging and memorable than dry, factual information.
• Prepare speaker notes with the key points of your research. Glance at it when needed.
• Engage with the audience by maintaining eye contact and asking rhetorical questions.

3. Don’t Go Without Handouts

Handouts are paper copies of your presentation slides that you distribute to your audience. They typically contain the summary of your key points, but they may also provide supplementary information supporting data presented through tables and graphs.

The purpose of distributing presentation handouts is to easily retain the key points you presented as they become good references in the future. Distributing handouts in advance allows your audience to review the material and come prepared with questions or points for discussion during the presentation.

4. Actively Listen

An equally important skill that a presenter must possess aside from speaking is the ability to listen. We are not just talking about listening to what the audience is saying but also considering their reactions and nonverbal cues. If you sense disinterest or confusion, you can adapt your approach on the fly to re-engage them.

For example, if some members of your audience are exchanging glances, they may be skeptical of the research findings you are presenting. This is the best time to reassure them of the validity of your data and provide a concise overview of how it came to be. You may also encourage them to seek clarification.

5. Be Confident

Anxiety can strike before a presentation – it’s a common reaction whenever someone has to speak in front of others. If you can’t eliminate your stress, try to manage it.

People hate public speaking not because they simply hate it. Most of the time, it arises from one’s belief in themselves. You don’t have to take our word for it. Take Maslow’s theory that says a threat to one’s self-esteem is a source of distress among an individual.

Now, how can you master this feeling? You’ve spent a lot of time on your research, so there is no question about your topic knowledge. Perhaps you just need to rehearse your research presentation. If you know what you will say and how to say it, you will gain confidence in presenting your work.

All sources you use in creating your research presentation should be given proper credit. The APA Style is the most widely used citation style in formal research.

In-text citation

Add references within the text of your presentation slide by giving the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number (if applicable) in parentheses after direct quotations or paraphrased materials. As in:

The alarming rate at which global temperatures rise directly impacts biodiversity (Smith, 2020, p. 27).

If the author’s name and year of publication are mentioned in the text, add only the page number in parentheses after the quotations or paraphrased materials. As in:

According to Smith (2020), the alarming rate at which global temperatures rise directly impacts biodiversity (p. 27).

Image citation

All images from the web, including photos, graphs, and tables, used in your slides should be credited using the format below.

Creator’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Image.” Website Name, Day Mo. Year, URL. Accessed Day Mo. Year.

Work cited page

A work cited page or reference list should follow after the last slide of your presentation. The list should be alphabetized by the author’s last name and initials followed by the year of publication, the title of the book or article, the place of publication, and the publisher. As in:

Smith, J. A. (2020). Climate Change and Biodiversity: A Comprehensive Study. New York, NY: ABC Publications.

When citing a document from a website, add the source URL after the title of the book or article instead of the place of publication and the publisher. As in:

Smith, J. A. (2020). Climate Change and Biodiversity: A Comprehensive Study. Retrieved from https://www.smith.com/climate-change-and-biodiversity.

1. Research Project Presentation PowerPoint Template

A slide deck containing 18 different slides intended to take off the weight of how to make a research presentation. With tons of visual aids, presenters can reference existing research on similar projects to this one – or link another research presentation example – provide an accurate data analysis, disclose the methodology used, and much more.

Use This Template

2. Research Presentation Scientific Method Diagram PowerPoint Template

Whenever you intend to raise questions, expose the methodology you used for your research, or even suggest a scientific method approach for future analysis, this circular wheel diagram is a perfect fit for any presentation study.

Customize all of its elements to suit the demands of your presentation in just minutes.

3. Thesis Research Presentation PowerPoint Template

If your research presentation project belongs to academia, then this is the slide deck to pair that presentation. With a formal aesthetic and minimalistic style, this research presentation template focuses only on exposing your information as clearly as possible.

Use its included bar charts and graphs to introduce data, change the background of each slide to suit the topic of your presentation, and customize each of its elements to meet the requirements of your project with ease.

4. Animated Research Cards PowerPoint Template

Visualize ideas and their connection points with the help of this research card template for PowerPoint. This slide deck, for example, can help speakers talk about alternative concepts to what they are currently managing and its possible outcomes, among different other usages this versatile PPT template has. Zoom Animation effects make a smooth transition between cards (or ideas).

5. Research Presentation Slide Deck for PowerPoint

With a distinctive professional style, this research presentation PPT template helps business professionals and academics alike to introduce the findings of their work to team members or investors.

By accessing this template, you get the following slides:

• Introduction
• Problem Statement
• Research Questions
• Conceptual Research Framework (Concepts, Theories, Actors, & Constructs)
• Study design and methods
• Population & Sampling
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis

Check it out today and craft a powerful research presentation out of it!

A successful research presentation in business is not just about presenting data; it’s about persuasion to take meaningful action. It’s the bridge that connects your research efforts to the strategic initiatives of your organization. To embark on this journey successfully, planning your presentation thoroughly is paramount, from designing your PowerPoint to the delivery.

Take a look and get inspiration from the sample research presentation slides above, put our tips to heart, and transform your research findings into a compelling call to action.

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How to Create a Powerful Research Presentation

Written by: Raja Mandal

Have you ever had to create a research presentation? If yes, you know how difficult it is to prepare an effective presentation that perfectly explains your research. Since it's a visual representation of your papers, a large chunk of its preparation goes into designing.

No one knows your research paper better than you. So, only you can create the presentation to communicate the core message perfectly. We've developed a practical, step-by-step guide to help you prepare a stellar research presentation.

Let's get started!

Table of Contents

What is a research presentation, purpose of a research presentation, how to prepare an effective research presentation, create a stunning presentation in less time.

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A research presentation is a visual representation of an individual's or organization's systematic investigation of a subject. It helps the presenter obtain feedback on their proposed research. For example, educational establishments require Higher Degree Research (HDR) students to present their research papers in a research presentation.

The purpose of a research presentation is to share the findings with the world. When done well, it helps achieve significant levels of impact in front of groups of people. Delivering the research paper as a presentation also communicates the subject matter in powerful ways.

A beautifully designed research presentation should:

• Explain the significance of your research.
• Clearly state your findings and the method of analysis.
• Get valuable feedback from others in your community to strengthen your research.
• Make the audience learn more about your work or read your research paper.

According to a recent survey, 79% of people agree that most presentations are boring. You should prepare your presentation in a way that attracts and persuades your audience while effectively sharing the information. Follow the steps below to do that.

Decide on Your Presentation’s Purpose

Beginning the design process without deciding on the purpose of your presentation is like crawling in the dark without knowing the destination. You should first know the purpose of your presentation before creating it.

The purpose of a research presentation can be defending a dissertation, an academic job interview, a conference, asking for funding, and various others. The rest of the process will depend on the purpose of your presentation.

Look at these 25 different presentation examples to get inspiration and find the one that best fits your needs.

Know Your Audience

You probably wouldn't speak to your lecturer like you talk to your friends. Creating a presentation is the same—you need to tailor your presentation's design, tone and content to make it appropriate for your audience.

To do that, you need to establish who your audience is. Your audience could be:

• Scientists/scholars in your field
• Graduate and undergraduate students
• Community members

Your target audience might be a mix of all of the above. In that case, it's better to have something for everyone. Once you know who your target audience is, ask yourself the following questions:

• Why are they here?
• What do they expect from your presentations?
• Are they willing to participate?
• What will keep them engaged?
• What do you want them to do and what's their part in your presentation?
• How do they prefer to receive information?

The answers to these questions will help you know your audience better and prepare your research presentation accordingly. Once you define your target audience, use these five traits of a highly engaging presentation to capture your audience's attention.

Create a Research Presentation Outline

Before crafting your presentation, it's crucial to create an outline. Your outline will act as your guide to put your information in order and ensure you touch on all your major points. Like other forms of academic writing, research presentations can be divided into several parts to make them more effective.

An outline helps guide you as you prepare your presentation as follows:

• It enables you to organize your ideas
• Presents your research in a logical format
• Shows the relationships among slides in your presentation
• Constructs an order overview of your presentation
• Groups ideas into main points

Though there is no universal formula for a research presentation outline, here's an example of what the outline should look like:

• Introduction and purpose
• Background and context
• Data and methodology
• Descriptive data
• Quantitative and qualitative analysis
• Future Research

Learn more about presentation structure to keep your audience engaged. Watch the video below for a better understanding.

Limit the Amount of Text on Your Slides

One of the most important things people often overlook is the amount of text on their presentation slides . Since the audience will be listening and watching, putting up a slide with lots of words will make them focus on reading instead of listening. As a result, they'll miss out on any critical points you are making.

The simpler you make your slides, the more your audience will grasp the meaning and retain the critical information. Here are a few ways to limit the amount of text on your slides.

1. Use Only Crucial Text on the Slides

Without making your point clear immediately, you will struggle to keep your audience's attention. Too much text can make your slides look cluttered and overwhelm the audience. Cut out waffle words, limiting content to the essentials.

To avoid cognitive overload, combine text and images . Add animated graphics , icons , characters and gestures to bring your research presentation to life and capture your audience's attention.

2. Split up the Content Onto Multiple Slides

We recommend using one piece of information on a single slide. If you're talking about two or more topics, divide the topics into different slides to make your slides easily digestible and less daunting. The less information on each slide, the more your audience is likely to read.

3. Put Key Message Into the Heading

Use the slide headings of your presentation as a summary message. Think about the one key point you want the audience to take from each slide. And make the header short and impactful. This will ensure that your audience gets the main points immediately.

For example, you may have a statistic you want to really get across to your audience. Include that number in your heading so that it's the first point your audience reads.

But what if that statistic changes? Having to manually go back and update the number throughout your research presentation can be time-consuming. With Visme's Dynamic Fields feature , updating important information throughout your presentation is a breeze. Take advantage of Dynamic Fields to ensure your data and research information is  always up to date and accurate.

4. Visualize Data Instead of Writing Them

When adding facts and figures to your research presentation, harness the power of data visualization . Add interactive charts and graphs to take out most of the text. Text with visuals causes a faster and stronger reaction than words alone, making your presentation more memorable. However, your data visualization should be straightforward to help create a narrative that further builds connections between information.

Have a look at these data visualization examples for inspiration. And here's an infographic explaining data visualization best practices.

Visme comes with a wide variety of charts and graphs templates you can use in your presentation.

5. Use Presenter Notes

Visme's Presenter Studio comes with a presenter notes feature that can help you keep your slides succinct. Use it to pull out any additional text that the audience needs to understand the content.

View your notes for each slide in the left sidebar of the presentation software to help you stay focused and on message throughout your presentation.

Explain Your Research

Since you're preparing a research presentation, use more slides to explain the research papers you directly contributed to. Sometimes people spend nearly all of the presentation going over the existing research and giving background information on the particular case. This is also helpful to so when creating a grant proposal as well.

Your audience is there to learn about your new and exciting research, not to hear a summary of old work. So, if you create 20 slides for the presentation, spend at least 15 slides explaining your research. However, don't try to include the words in the slide that you'll present.

Learn more about how to give a good presentation . This will help you explain your research more effectively.

Follow Presentation Design Best Practices

A study shows that 91% of presenters feel more confident when presenting a well-designed slide deck. So, let's move on to the design part of your research presentation to boost your confidence.

1. Create a Stunning Background

The background of each presentation slide is a crucial design element for your presentation. So choose the background carefully. Try not to use backgrounds that are distracting or make the text difficult to read.

Use simple backgrounds to make the slide aesthetically appealing. Always use the same background for the slides throughout the presentation. Look at these presentation background templates and examples to get inspired.

2. Use a Variety of Layouts

Slide after slide of the same layout makes your presentation repetitive and boring. Mixing up the layout of your slides can help you avoid this issue and keep your audience engaged.

The presentation template below has a wide variety of images, texts, icons and other elements to create an interesting layout for your presentation slides.

Have a look at these 29 best presentation templates for inspiration.

3. Use Colors Wisely

Colors play an essential role in designing your presentation slides, regardless of the type of presentation you're working with. However, if you're a non-designer, you might be unsure about about how to use colors in a presentation . So, here are some tips for you:

• Use complementary colors to stay on the safe side.
• Use a text color that contrasts with the background to make the text pop.
• Use colors to emphasize a text or design element.
• Keep colors simple — less is more.

Don't be discouraged if you still find it difficult to choose colors for your presentation. All the presentation templates in Visme come with perfect color combinations to get the job done for you. Below is an example.

4. Use Fonts Hierarchy

Fonts are another design element that can make or break the design of your research presentation. If you struggle a lot while choosing fonts for a presentation , you aren't alone. Here are some tips that you can follow:

• Try not to use smaller fonts that make your text difficult to read.
• Use different font sizes for headings and body text. For example, you can use 20 points for the body text, 24 for the subheadings and 40 for the title.
• Learn about font pairing and use it in your design. For example, use sans-serif with serif fonts as they always go well together.
• Use two or three fonts max—ideally two. One should be for the headlines and the other for the body text. Anything more than that can make your slides cluttered.
• Handwritten fonts and script fonts may look tempting, but they are a big no. They could negatively affect the readability and legibility of your research presentation.

Here's a Visme presentation template designed with the points mentioned above in mind.

5. Include High-Resolution Images

Are there any images you can use in your slides to introduce or explain a topic? What could be better than that? As the saying goes, "A picture tells a thousand words." Use pictures to help your audience listen to you more efficiently while viewing the slides.

Pictures can also help you reduce the text clutter in the presentation, as long as they prompt you to make the points you need to make. If you can't find an image for your presentation, browse through Visme's high-resolution stock photo library . It features over 1,000,000 free stock photos.

Have a look at the presentation template below. It includes only high-resolution images, like all the presentation templates in Visme.

Below is a video of 13 presentation design tips to help you design a research presentation that your audience will love.

Prepare Your Research Presentation Using Visme

Designing presentation slides from scratch isn't easy, especially if you have no experience. Fortunately, Visme comes with hundreds of professional presentation templates crafted by expert designers that make the job easy for you. You don't need any design experience to create effective research presentations.

Choose from hundreds of beautifully designed presentation templates and customize them according to your needs using Visme's all-in-one presentation software . Anyone can use our powerful software to create stunning presentations in minutes.

Create a free account in Visme today and start creating your research presentation like an expert.

Put together powerful research presentations in minutes with Visme.

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About the Author

Raja Antony Mandal is a Content Writer at Visme. He can quickly adapt to different writing styles, possess strong research skills, and know SEO fundamentals. Raja wants to share valuable information with his audience by telling captivating stories in his articles. He wants to travel and party a lot on the weekends, but his guitar, drum set, and volleyball court don’t let him.

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• What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

Published on June 7, 2021 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023 by Pritha Bhandari.

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall research objectives and approach
• Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research design.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities—start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed-methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.

• Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
• Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analyzing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study—plants, animals, organizations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

• Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalize your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study , your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalize to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question .

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviors, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews .

Observation methods

Observational studies allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviors or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what kinds of data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected—for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

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As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are high in reliability and validity.

Operationalization

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalization means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in—for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced, while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method , you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample—by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method , it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method , how will you avoid research bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organizing and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymize and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well-organized will save time when it comes to analyzing it. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings (high replicability ).

On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarize your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarize your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analyzing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question . It defines your overall approach and determines how you will collect and analyze data.

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

Quantitative research designs can be divided into two main categories:

• Correlational and descriptive designs are used to investigate characteristics, averages, trends, and associations between variables.
• Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used to test causal relationships .

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible. Common types of qualitative design include case study , ethnography , and grounded theory designs.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioral avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalize the variables that you want to measure.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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Innovative Laboratory Design Accelerates Research Breakthroughs

The lab design conference presentation highlights the forward-thinking design behind “cool” lab spaces .

MaryBeth DiDonna is managing editor, events for Lab Manager . She organizes and moderates the webinars and virtual conferences for Lab Manager as well as other LMG brands, enabling industry...

Laboratory design and construction is constantly driven by the need to address global challenges related to energy consumption, technological and scientific advancements, and ever-evolving research. Lab design experts recently spoke on these topics and more at the 2024 Lab Design Conference in Phoenix, AZ, highlighting cutting-edge approaches and principles that are redefining laboratory spaces as we know it. Innovative design concepts and forward-thinking facility plans seek to enhance productivity, adaptability, and functionality to enhance the future of scientific research and development.

One such presentation was “Cool Science: Spaces That Support Unique and Varied Needs at Different Scales,” delivered by Adam Denmark, science & technology strategist and director of lab planning with SmithGroup’s Phoenix office. Denmark’s session addressed a particular challenge faced by lab designers and planners—the need to think differently to keep up with the pace of scientific discovery and the formation of new science disciplines and space types. 

Science and technology buildings are expensive and time-consuming to complete as it is. Pair that with the pace at which research and technology is advancing, the process becomes even more challenging. Flexible building and laboratory designs are required so that research can continue even while equipment and processes are altered. 

Research facility design requires an innovative approach to accommodate new space types and varied scale projects. Many research buildings contain standard wet labs, but many others are unique. In these cases, says Denmark, status quo thinking just won’t do.

During his Lab Design Conference presentation, the audience received insight on a range of potential design responses to meet the unique and adapting needs of high-demand project types.

A particularly innovative project highlighted in Denmark’s presentation was the University of Arizona’s Applied Research Building (ARB), the first integrated facility in the country to house all research spaces related to the fabrication and testing of satellites. The University of Arizona’s research program has supported missions such as the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Mars Exploration Rover, so the ARB furthers the university’s collaboration with space science, advanced manufacturing, and imaging technology research programs.

This highly specialized, 89,000-square-foot facility combines new applied research capabilities with state-of-the-art equipment and technology and encourages cross-department collaboration by bringing together multiple interdisciplinary university programs (such as optics, manufacturing, space exploration, and more) under one roof. The ARB’s unique capabilities offer enticing partnerships with local industries and manufacturing organizations so that research and discovery can be developed into practical, real-world solutions to improve society.

Denmark’s presentation detailed the material characterization, imaging, optics, and advanced electronics cleanrooms and laboratories situated on the third floor of the building, designed to support the research devices and componentry on the floors below. An anechoic chamber on the facility’s ground level provides an environment for sound testing of satellite communications. 

The building’s centerpiece is a two-story, 40-ton thermal vacuum chamber—the largest of any university in the world—used to simulate the environmental conditions found in outer space. The Thermal Vacuum Chamber (TVC) can maintain a vacuum pressure at 5 torr for balloon-borne missions, and as low as 1x10-5 torr for space-based missions. Tests inside the chamber can span from one day to two weeks. The design also must account for the different performance conditions undertaken by the materials included in nanosatellites, such as aluminum and titanium. The TVC can simulate both the pressure and temperature conditions found in space so that researchers can study what happens to spacecraft and high-altitude, balloon-borne science payloads. Testing these materials prior to launch is crucial to prevent a loss of product, time, and money. 

The juxtaposition of a Tucson-based research facility (where the average April temperature is about 81 degrees Fahrenheit) to study conditions on Mars (where temperatures average about -81 degrees) is certainly an interesting one and shows just how creative the design team needed to be when developing this space. The building’s crinkled metal skin was inspired by the solar array of the International Space Station—it incorporates textured vertical fins, a breathable rain screen, and integrated frit that help lessen the severity of the intense heat and sunlight. All the water is recaptured on-site, stored below grade, and filtered through a system of bioswale ditches and rain gardens. The ARB’s mechanical systems are designed to be 30 percent more efficient than the ASHRAE baseline for this building type. 

Denmark outlined an in-progress project in his presentation as well, the Princeton Plasma Innovation Center (PPIC), part of the US Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). This state-of-the-art facility will support new research areas in microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences. Architects from SmithGroup first met with the PPPL in July 2022 to discuss the project, which broke ground in May 2024. Construction is slated to begin in December 2024, with projected completion in winter 2027. 

The 68,000 square-foot PPIC is the first new building at PPPL since 1977, and will replace the 1950s-era Theory Wing and Administration Wing. The sustainably designed facility is seeking LEED Gold certification and is targeted to be a zero-carbon emissions building that complies with President Biden’s Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability (EO 14057). The plan is to situate the PPIC as “the town center” of PPPL’s campus. It is designed as a U-shaped building with three axes. The first floor of the north wing is a collaborative space with the visitors’ entrance. The second and third floors house office space for about 170 staff members. Lab space is hosted in the wing to the south, with 10 medium-bay laboratories and 13 small-bay laboratories on the ground floor, including fusion-centric laboratories like diagnostic development and X-ray labs. Additional labs support PPPL’s research diversification in microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences.

The PPIC is leading the efforts to achieve commercial fusion energy by 2035 or 2040. It will partner with commercial fusion companies and host house theoretical and computational scientists to work toward that goal. Innovative technology such as artificial intelligence and high-performance computing will be utilized in this research, and remote collaboration space and a virtual reality cube are incorporated into the design so PPPL scientists can collaborate with research partners on experiments around the globe (examples are the international ITER in France, the Wendelstein 7-X in Germany, and the KSTAR in Korea). 

The common thread connecting all these projects is how innovative, future-focused laboratory design can support advancements in science and technology—especially when those advancements aren’t yet known. It’s crucial to design lab facilities that can be easily modified or reconfigured without extensive renovation and ensure that infrastructure can accommodate future technological enhancements such as additional cooling systems, advanced data networks, or highly technical automation systems and robotics. By creating specialized environments, enhancing productivity, incorporating adaptable and safe spaces, and planning for future changes, modern laboratories are equipped to support cutting-edge research and development. 

Interested in learning more about the Lab Design Conference? Visit www.labdesignconference.com for info on the 2025 event in Denver!

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• Volume 14, Issue 7
• Defining complicated urinary tract infection and route of antibiotics in children presenting to the emergency department: a cohort study using the Melbourne RUPERT clinical score
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• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2318-4642 Barry T Scanlan 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Laila F Ibrahim 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1107-2187 Franz E Babl 3 , 5 , 6 ,
• Sandy M Hopper 3 , 5 , 6 ,
• Sarah McNab 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• Susan M Donath 7 ,
• Andrew Davidson 3 , 8 , 9 ,
• http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5262-5323 Penelope A Bryant 1 , 2 , 3 , 10
• 1 Hospital-in-the-Home Department , The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 2 Clinical Infections , Murdoch Children's Research Institute , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 3 Department of Paediatrics , University of Melbourne , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 4 Department of General Medicine , The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 5 Emergency Department , The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne , Melbourne , Victoria , Australia
• 6 Emergency Research , Murdoch Children's Research Institute , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 7 Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit , Murdoch Children's Research Institute , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 8 Department of Anaesthetics , The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 9 Melbourne Clinial Trials Centre , Murdoch Children's Research Institute , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• 10 Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of General Medicine , The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne , Parkville , Victoria , Australia
• Correspondence to Dr Penelope A Bryant; penelope.bryant{at}rch.org.au

Objectives Most children with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) can be managed with oral antibiotics. However, identifying those likely to fail oral and need intravenous antibiotics due to complicating features at presentation is challenging. We aimed to derive, validate and test a score to guide initial antibiotic route.

Design This cohort study enrolled children both prospectively and retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups based on whether they received intravenous or oral antibiotics after 24 hours, including those who switched between routes. Children diagnosed with confirmed UTI were used to derive then validate the score, comparing complicating clinical features between the two groups. Combinations of significantly differentiating features generated receiver operating characteristic curves and the optimal cut-off for intravenous antibiotic use was selected.

Setting The emergency department of a tertiary paediatric hospital.

Participants All children aged 3 months–17 years with suspected UTI were eligible, and were included if they fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for UTI.

Outcome measures The effectiveness of the derived clinical score to differentiate patients at presentation who had complicated UTI requiring ongoing intravenous antibiotics.

Results There were 1240 patients, of whom 167 children aged 12 months–11 years with confirmed UTI comprised the derivation cohort. The combination of features that performed optimally (area under curve 0.85, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.91) were: rigors, urological abnormality, fever (≥38°C), emesis, recurrent (≥3) UTI, tachycardia: the RUPERT score (1 point each, maximum 6). A score ≥3 accurately classified route of antibiotics after 24 hours for 80% patients (sensitivity 77%, specificity 81%). For the 168 patients in the validation cohort, the score accurately classified 76% (sensitivity 67%, specificity 78%). The score tested well in ‘probable’ UTI and adolescents, and less well in infants.

Conclusion The Melbourne RUPERT score provides the first standardised, easy-to-use score to aid clinicians in deciding route of antibiotics for more complicated UTI in children. It now needs prospective validation.

• pyelonephritis
• urinary tract infections
• paediatric A&E and ambulatory care
• paediatric infectious disease & immunisation

Data availability statement

No data are available. No additional data available.

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-082222

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STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY

The study design builds on the existing evidence and creates a standardised approach where evidence is lacking.

The study deliberately incorporates a broad range of children with urinary tract infections to offer straightforward, clinical guidance for which patients with complicating features may benefit from initial intravenous antibiotic treatment.

The methods ensured internal validation and testing on different patient cohorts.

The study has the potential limitation that in the absence of an accepted gold standard to determine route of treatment, we have accepted that the treating clinicians made the correct judgement after 24 hours.

The single-centre study design may not be reflective of all populations or universal practice and the score therefore needs prospective multicentre validation.

Introduction

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common in children, with a prevalence rate in by the age 7 years of 1%–2% in boys and 7%–8% in girls. 1 2 Antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment, and most children are successfully treated with oral antibiotics. The decision between intravenous and oral antibiotics is important: not using intravenous antibiotics when they are needed risks clinical deterioration, while overuse places unnecessary burden on children and the healthcare system. Systematic reviews have concluded that oral antibiotics are sufficient for both lower UTI 3 and uncomplicated upper UTI, 4 including with fever, and these recommendations have been incorporated into the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 5 and UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. 6 For complicated UTI, intravenous antibiotics are often—but not always—used. There is no consensus on the definition of complicated UTI: definitions variably include multiple factors related to history and current presentation that may result in divergence from typical management. It is challenging to identify which children with a variety of complicating features at presentation should receive initial intravenous antibiotics because trials have variably excluded those with urological abnormality, 7–10 previous UTI, 7 8 vomiting, 8 10 dehydration 8 or prior oral antibiotics, 7–9 so recommendations are less robust.

In a previous study at our hospital, 72% children presenting to the emergency department had at least one of these complicating features and 28% received intravenous antibiotics. 11 Although there is no universal definition of complicated UTI, preliminary data showed that with an increased number of complicating features, there was a higher likelihood of initial intravenous antibiotic use. 11 When several factors inform treatment choice, clinical scores can help by combining important features. 12 We hypothesised that combining complicating features of UTI would generate a clinical threshold to determine route of antibiotics, and could provide an approach to defining complicated UTI.

We aimed to derive, validate and test a score that combines complicating clinical features and incorporates existing evidence to assist in determining the initial route of antibiotics in ED in children with UTI.

Study design

A clinical population of consecutive patients presenting to ED with UTI was used to derive, validate and test a clinical score for defining complicated UTI and initial route of antibiotics.

The study was conducted in ED at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, a tertiary paediatric hospital, from May 2016 to March 2018.

Inclusion/Exclusion criteria

All children aged 3 months–17 years inclusive with likely UTI in ED were eligible, and included consecutively if they fulfilled the NICE diagnostic criteria 6 for symptoms and urinalysis ( box 1 ). Patients were enrolled both prospectively to ensure integrity of the information collected, and also retrospectively to include sufficient patients to validate the findings. Patients were excluded if they were treated in ED via superseding pathways: severe infection (eg, sepsis or meningitis) or immunodeficiency (eg, febrile neutropenia or postrenal transplant).

Definitions of groups

(1) definitions for eligibility, nice clinical criteria* for diagnosis of uti at presentation to ed.

Symptoms: age <2 years—fever, rigor, vomiting, flank tenderness, poor feeding, irritability, offensive urine, gross haematuria or failure to thrive; age ≥2 years—fever, rigor, vomiting, abdominal pain, flank pain/tenderness, dysfunctional voiding, change in urinary continence, dysuria, gross haematuria, frequency, offensive urine or cloudy urine

AND (collected by clean catch, midstream urine, in/out catheter or suprapubic aspirate). Urinalysis— abnormal urinary dipstick leucocyte esterase >1 or nitrite positive OR white cell count >10×10 6 /L in uncentrifuged urine OR bacteriuria opinion

(2) Definitions for derivation/validation/test cohorts

Confirmed uti†.

Patients who met the NICE clinical criteria for diagnosis and who were treated as having UTI

Culture positive urine culture with no more than two species of microorganisms >10 7 CFU/L OR positive blood culture and no other recognised cause

Probable UTI

Patients who met the NICE clinical criteria for diagnosis and who were treated as having UTI but NOT fulfilling research criteria recommendations for culture-based ‘confirmed’ UTI.

(3) Definitions for group classification

‘ Likely to fail oral antibiotics ’—complicating features (vomiting, dehydration, urological abnormality‡, previous UTI or oral antibiotics prior to presentation) and on intravenous after 24 hours

‘ Oral antibiotics applicable ’—no complicating features, or complicating features and on oral after 24 hours

*NICE guidelines. 25

†Trial design recommendations. 25

‡Urological abnormalities included any known anatomical or functional abnormality of the urological tract, as deemed relevant by the physician in the management of the current UTI. These ranged from moderate/severe (eg, ureteric obstruction, duplex kidneys with VUR, grades III–V VUR, grades III–IV hydronephrosis, neurogenic bladder, postpyeloplasty and postureteric implantation), to mild (eg, posthypospadias repair, grade I–II VUR, grade I–II hydronephrosis, phimosis with balanitis).

CFU, colony-forming units; ED, emergency department; NICE, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence; UTI, urinary tract infection; VUR, vesico-ureteric reflux.

Clinical procedure and patient outcomes

After consent, data were collected using a standardised case record form during ED assessment for patients enrolled prospectively, and included demographics, clinical features prior to and in ED ( table 1 ), history including urological abnormality (defined in box 1 ) and urine results. Clinical observations recorded were fever ≥38°C, tachycardia (heart rate >95th centile by age), 13 tachycardia when afebrile and hypotension (systolic blood pressure <5th centile by 50th height centile). 14 Prospective data collected were compared with the electronic medical record and on determining a high degree of concordance, the same data were collected from retrospective participants using the same criteria. The concordance enabled missing clinical features in the retrospective clinical record review to be presumed absent. The decision to start intravenous or oral antibiotics was made by an experienced ED physician (at least registrar or fellow level). Institutional empiric guidelines for intravenous antibiotics for UTI recommend gentamicin administered every 24 hours and benzylpenicillin administered every 6 hours. Ongoing antibiotic route was re-assessed at 24 hours for patients in hospital. Patients discharged from ED on oral antibiotics were presumed to remain on oral unless they represented to our hospital and were switched to intravenous antibiotics. To test the assumption they were not representing to other hospitals, we contacted all prospective patients within 7 days, and none represented to other hospitals. Data were entered into Research Electronic Data Capture 15 at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

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Comparison between the ‘oral antibiotics applicable’ and ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’ groups in the derivation cohort

Standard for assessing treatment

There is no gold standard to determine which children with UTI need intravenous antibiotics. A standard for assessing appropriate antibiotic route was defined using existing evidence and published methodology. For a UTI clinical score to be useful, lower and upper UTI should be included as the distinction can be challenging in young children. Existing studies show children with lower UTI and upper uncomplicated UTI do not need intravenous antibiotics. 3 4 For patients excluded from those studies—those with complications of vomiting, dehydration, urological abnormality, previous UTI or oral antibiotics prior to presentation—a published method for establishing a standard for appropriate route was applied: ‘the route of ongoing antibiotic treatment after review by 24 hours is likely to be appropriate based on ongoing symptom progression, even if antibiotics were administered via the other route at presentation’. 16 Therefore, if a patient on intravenous antibiotics was reviewed within 24 hours, and switched to oral antibiotics, they were determined to have only needed oral antibiotics initially ( box 1 ). Likewise, if a patient treated with oral antibiotics represented within 24 hours and was started on intravenous, they were determined to have needed intravenous antibiotics initially. Based on this standard, patients were allocated to one of two groups: ‘oral antibiotics applicable’ (no complicating features 4 or complicating features and on oral after 24 hours) or ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’ (complicating features and on intravenous antibiotics after 24 hours).

Study cohorts

The study cohorts included derivation, validation and test cohorts.

Derivation cohort

To determine which complicating features are important for a clinical prediction score, patients were included aged 12 months–11 years with confirmed UTI—NICE diagnostic criteria plus positive urine or blood culture 17 ( box 1 ). This age range was defined because patients with UTI under the age of 12 months are frequently managed differently, 18 our previous study showed large variation under 12 months, 19 and studies of childhood UTI characteristically have an upper limit of 12 years. 19

Validation cohort

To assess whether the score works in a separate group defined in the same way, the 12 months–11 years age group with confirmed UTI was divided in half into the derivation and validation cohorts by assigning patients alternately by date of presentation. Alternate assignation avoided an external change during the study having a biased effect on one group.

Test cohort

The score was tested on additional patient groups: (1) age 12 months–11 years with probable (not confirmed) UTI, 17 (2) age 3 months–11 months and (3) age 12 years–17 years.

Statistical analysis

Univariate analysis was used to compare clinical features that were different between the ‘oral antibiotics applicable’ and ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’ groups. For categorical data, Fisher’s exact test was used and for continuous data Student’s t-test was applied. ORs and 95% CIs were calculated and p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Each differentiating feature between the two groups was converted to a binary score of 0 (absent) or 1 (present). Different combinations of these features were added and used to generate receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Scores for each feature were weighted (increased to 2) to determine whether that improved performance. The score performance with different cut-offs for identifying those likely to fail oral antibiotics was assessed as follows: (1) high ROC area under the curve (AUC); (2) most accurate assignment of patients to the groups ‘oral antibiotics applicable’ and ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’ and (3) sensitivity and specificity. The combination of features that had the highest overall results in all of these domains was used to derive a clinical score. Statistical analysis used Stata/IC V.15.1.

Patient and public involvement

Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

Over 22 months, 1438 patients had a diagnosis of UTI, of which 46 were excluded due to miscoding or other reasons ( figure 1A ). 1392 children were treated as having a UTI in ED. Of these, 152 were excluded for not fulfilling the NICE criteria ( box 1 ) or other exclusions, resulting in 1240 patients with UTI. Out of these 1240 cases, 276 (22%) were aged 3 months–11 months, 831 (67%) were aged 12 months–11 years and 133 (11%) were aged 12 years–17 years.

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Patient assignment to (A) derivation, validation and test cohorts and (B) within the derivation cohort to ‘oral antibiotics applicable’ and ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’ groups in the derivation cohort. ED, emergency department; m, month(s); y, year(s); UTI, urinary tract infections.

Clinical features and treatment of derivation cohort

Of 831 patients aged 12 months–11 years, 335 had confirmed UTI ( box 1 ). Half (167) were assigned to the derivation cohort and 168 to the validation cohort, with no difference between groups in triage category and hospital admission (data not shown). The treatment allocations at 24 hours were: derivation cohort 35 (21%) intravenous and 132 (79%) oral; validation cohort 47 (28%) intravenous and 121 (72%) oral. In the derivation cohort, there were 43 children with no complicating features and 89 with complicating features who were on oral by 24 hours (80 continuing and 9 de-escalated from intravenous) totalling 132 in the ‘oral antibiotics applicable’ group. Of the nine who de-escalated, eight had only a 24-hourly dosed antibiotic and one additionally had multidose antibiotics per day. There were 35 children with complicating features and on intravenous after 24 hours (32 continuing and 3 escalated from oral) and these were assigned to the ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’ group ( figure 1B ).

Derivation of clinical score

Multiple patient characteristics and clinical features that have been variably included in definitions of complicated UTI or excluded from definitions of uncomplicated UTI were compared between the ‘oral antibiotics applicable’ and ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’ groups. Ten features significantly differentiated between the groups (either recorded in ED or reported in the previous 24 hours): fever ≥38°C, rigors, vomiting, lethargy, flank pain/tenderness, dysuria, urological abnormality (known anatomical or functional anomaly of any part of the urological tract), previous UTI, documented recurrent (≥3) UTI, any tachycardia, tachycardia when afebrile ( table 1 ). For features that were variants of the same measure, the one that differentiated the groups more significantly was selected: ‘any tachycardia’ differentiated more than ‘tachycardia when afebrile’ and ‘recurrent (≥3) UTI’ differentiated more than ‘any previous UTI’. The ROC curve of this eight-feature score had a high AUC of 0.86 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.92). Features were serially removed from this score and different cut-offs were tested to compare performance in terms of AUC, correct identification of ‘likely to fail oral antibiotics’, sensitivity and specificity. Score performance did not deteriorate until the number of features was below six ( online supplemental table 1 and figure 2A ). There was expected overlap between some features: for example, in the total population, 217 (18%) children had both fever and tachycardia, while 92 (7%) had tachycardia when afebrile and 444 (36%) had fever without tachycardia. Likewise, 130 (6%) had both urological abnormality and recurrent UTI, while 214 (10%) patients had urological abnormality without recurrent UTI and 261 (12%) patients had recurrent UTI without documented abnormality.

Supplemental material

Comparison of receiver operating characteristic curves with (A) different numbers of features for the derivation cohort; (B) for derivation and validation cohorts and (C) for further test cohorts (area under the curve (95% CI)).

The Melbourne RUPERT score

Using six of the eight discriminating features, the combination that performed best was rigors, urological abnormality, fever, emesis, recurrent (>2) UTI and tachycardia, which can be remembered using the acronym RUPERT. Applying different weights did not affect score performance (data not shown). The score had a ROC AUC of 0.85 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.91) ( figure 2A ). Next, a RUPERT score cut-off was determined, above which patients should be considered for intravenous antibiotics due to having more complicated UTI, and below which oral antibiotics could be used. A cut-off of 3—patients with a score of 3 or more considered for intravenous antibiotics—correctly classified the route of antibiotics after 24 hours for 80% of patients, with sensitivity 77% and specificity 81% ( online supplemental table 1 , figure 3 ). Applying a cut-off of 3, intravenous antibiotics would have been recommended for 52 (31%) patients and oral for 115 (69%) patients. This threshold for use of intravenous antibiotics may act as a surrogate for identifying more complicated UTI. A cut-off of 4 correctly classified 81% of patients, with sensitivity 31% and specificity 95%. With a cut-off of 4, intravenous antibiotics would have been recommended for 18 (11%) patients and oral for 149 (89%) patients. Increasing the cut-off from 3 to 4 would result in increased patients failing oral treatment from 8 (5%) to 24 (14%). For the nine who de-escalated from intravenous to oral antibiotics by 24 hours, two had a score of 1 (both recurrent UTI), four scored 2 (two fever and vomiting, one fever and tachycardia, one fever and urological abnormality), one scored 3 (fever, rigors and vomiting) and two scored 4 (both fever, vomiting, recurrent UTI and urological abnormality—one with neurogenic bladder, one with pyeloplasty).

Sensitivity and specificity at each cut-off threshold of the Melbourne RUPERT score for the derivation cohort. IV, intravenous.

To ensure the derived score performed rationally, we examined its use on afebrile patients since only a minority would be expected to need intravenous antibiotics (and these patients would need three other features to reach the threshold). Only three patients were still on intravenous antibiotics at 24 hours: two with a RUPERT score of 3 (both with severe urological abnormalities—neurogenic bladder, Mitrofanoff and severe vesico-ureteric reflux—and recurrent UTI, one also had vomiting and the other also had rigors). The other patient had a RUPERT score of 1 (recurrent UTI), and had 7 days of failed oral treatment, so was treated with intravenous antibiotics while waiting for culture results at 48 hours, at which point was switched to a different oral choice for a resistant pathogen. It was therefore deemed to work appropriately.

Validation of the RUPERT score

The score was validated on 168 patients with the same criteria (age 12 months–11 years with confirmed UTI) ( online supplemental table 2 ). Applying the same standard, by 24 hours 121 (72%) were receiving oral antibiotics and 47 (28%) intravenous antibiotics. The RUPERT score had a similarly high AUC of 0.80 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.88) ( figure 2B ) in this cohort. A score cut-off of 3 correctly classified 76% of patients (sensitivity 67%, specificity 78%). Applying a cut-off of 3, intravenous antibiotics would have been recommended for 51 (30%) patients, while oral antibiotics would have been recommended for 117 (70%) patients. With a cut-off of 3 in the validation cohort, 10 (6%) patients who were recommended for oral antibiotics would experience treatment failure ( table 2 ).

Impact on patient management across all cohorts aged 3 months–17 years

Testing the RUPERT score on other cohorts

Age 12 months–11 years with probable UTI: there were 498 patients in this group diagnosed with UTI, which was likely but not confirmed by culture. 17 Applying the score resulted in an AUC of 0.82 (95% CI 0.76 to 0.87), and the cut-off of 3 correctly assigned 82% of patients (sensitivity 54%, specificity 85%) ( table 2 ) ( figure 2C and online supplemental table 3 ).

Age 12 years–17 years with confirmed or probable UTI: there were 133 patients in this adolescent group. Applying the score resulted in an AUC of 0.86 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.92), and the cut-off of 3 correctly assigned 86% of patients (sensitivity 57%, specificity 86%).

Age 3 months–11 months with confirmed or probable UTI: there were 276 patients in this infant group. Applying the score resulted in an AUC of only 0.58 (95% CI 0.51 to 0.65), and the cut-off of 3 correctly assigned 64% patients—the lowest proportion in any group (sensitivity 43%, specificity 72%).

There was no difference between the performance of the score in the 12 months–17 years age range between the 276 patients where data were collected prospectively (AUC 0.84, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.87) and the 688 patients where collection was retrospective (AUC 0.83, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.87).

The Melbourne RUPERT score is applicable to a broad range of children presenting to hospital with UTI. By including all children presenting to ED with UTI, it avoids the need to determine whether a child fits an existing definition of complicated UTI. It offers straightforward, clinically relevant guidance for assessing which patients with complicating features of UTI may benefit from initial intravenous antibiotic treatment that is currently not articulated in major guidelines. It also offers a potential new approach to defining complicated UTI: instead of a one-size-fits-all definition based on specific features, it can be considered as a threshold of multiple complicating features that lead to a distinct management pathway. The definition of complicated UTI is widely variable between studies and guidelines with a range of different host conditions and types of severity falling under the same umbrella term. The RUPERT score solves the problem of separately categorising these often overlapping presentations, by using patients’ own various complicating features to establish a threshold for recommending intravenous antibiotics, irrespective of the specific individual features. Each of the features in the score is easily assessable, well-defined and objective and the score does not require patients to verbalise symptoms. Additionally, it does not rely on invasive blood tests or waiting for urine culture results. The score performed well in preschool and primary school age children and adolescents with confirmed and probable UTI. It less accurately identified infants under 12 months receiving oral antibiotics. Although this could be attributable to the score having reduced performance in infants, it is more likely due to the frequent initiation and/or continuation of intravenous antibiotics beyond 24 hours in this age group, often without a clear clinical indication. There is no pathophysiological reason that infants aged 3–11 months should be different to older children, but both our data (45% intravenous initiation for all UTI in 3–11 months vs 28% in the derivation/validation cohorts) and previous studies have shown higher intravenous rates in this age group without clear clinical reasons. 18 20 This therefore would benefit from prospective application and testing, and could help reduce unnecessary intravenous in this age group.

Using a RUPERT score cut-off of 3 provides a higher sensitivity to reduce oral antibiotic failures, at the expense of considering more patients for intravenous antibiotics. Alternatively, a cut-off of 4 substantially increases the number of patients recommended for oral antibiotics but reduces the sensitivity. Like most clinical scores, it performs well at the extremes and the mid-range involves a balance between sensitivity and specificity. 12 Scores in the mid-range give clinicians information about the need for monitoring in the first 24 hours of treatment. Scores in the lower range reassure that even with features potentially associated with sepsis (rigors, tachycardia), in isolation do not necessitate intravenous antibiotic use. We did not seek to exclude features that were more likely to occur together (eg, fever and tachycardia, urological abnormality and recurrent UTI), as co-occurrence may signal increased severity of illness or risk of rapid damage to the kidney, when the intravenous antibiotics would be appropriate.

The lack of a gold standard required the development of one from a combination of existing evidence (which is robust due to multiple RCTs contributing), and where evidence was limited, using published methodology derived from early clinical reviews. Although the methodology was devised for cellulitis, we have previously shown that patients with UTI who received <24 hours’ intravenous antibiotics were more similar to patients who received only oral antibiotics than patients who received 2–3 days’ intravenous antibiotics. 11 This adds weight to the supposition for the devised gold standard that this group only needed oral antibiotics. However, without a definitive clinical marker for ‘need for intravenous antibiotics’, this could not be guaranteed in every case. It was therefore important to ensure that clinical practice at our hospital is similar to practice elsewhere. A recent study of UTI at 36 US hospitals between 2010 and 2016 reported that in children aged 3–24 months, 35% were treated with intravenous antibiotics. 21 This is similar to 39% use in this age group at our hospital (data not shown separately). 11

Guidelines have proved useful in standardising management of UTI, and major international guidelines developed by NICE 6 and AAP 5 are clear in many areas of diagnosis and management (eg, need for imaging). However, both guidelines leave treatment with intravenous antibiotics more flexible, suggesting that it should be based on ‘practical considerations’ (AAP) and ‘if oral antibiotics cannot be used’ (NICE). The range of conditions which broadly and inconsistently fall under the wide definition of complicated UTI means that it has consistently been excluded from trials, guidelines and even retrospective studies of management. Clinicians are left trying to determine if their patient really has a complicated UTI, what exactly that means and how to manage the child in front of them. By defining patients not previously fitting within evidence-based recommendations, the RUPERT score adds clinical context to practical considerations and standardises recommendations for when oral antibiotics are more likely to fail. It allows for an individualised approach by using an individual child’s own clinical features rather than trying to impose a particular definition of complicated UTI, which is additionally lacking evidence for management.

Incorporating a clinical score into management decisions offers an aid to reducing variation in care. Paediatric scores that have been successfully developed and implemented include the Westley et al score 22 for croup, the Pediatric Asthma Severity Score 23 and the Melbourne ASSET score for cellulitis. 16 In addition to reducing variation in care, a clinical score can standardise route of antibiotics in trials, important for generalising outcomes. For example, in one study describing the outcomes of outpatient parenteral antibiotic treatment for UTI, the authors admitted that the patients could have been treated with oral antibiotics. 18 This clinical score could be used for inclusion/exclusion criteria in studies (eg, whether participants exceed a score cut-off) and/or to describe the relative clinical severity of study subjects by recording their RUPERT score. 24

The strengths of this score, in addition to being the first to attempt to provide standardised guidance where evidence is lacking, are that it is easy to use and does not require invasive tests or waiting for culture results. In addition, by being applicable to all children with UTI because it incorporates existing strong evidence for those with uncomplicated UTI, clinicians do not need to determine whether a patient has complicated UTI before applying it. There are several limitations, the main one being that it has not yet been tested prospectively in other settings and populations. Although the heterogeneity of our population provides some assurance about generalisability, the score could perform differently in other populations that are more homogenous or heterogenous in a different way. Prospective validation in other settings is therefore essential. Another potential limitation is that we have accepted that the treating clinicians made the correct judgement at 24 hours on treatment route. While these decisions are made by senior doctors, practice varies between clinicians. Review of medical records, however, did not indicate any unusual practice or a high rate of patients returning after receiving oral antibiotics. Using this score does not negate the possibility of overtreating some patients with intravenous antibiotics and undertreating some with oral antibiotics. However, it aims to be a starting point for standardising the rationale for intravenous antibiotics, while allowing institutional flexibility to determine the treatment outcomes for which they are aiming.

The Melbourne RUPERT score is an easy-to-use and reproducible clinical score for UTI management in children. It is inclusive of all children with UTI, by incorporating robust evidence for children with uncomplicated UTI, and a new approach to defining patients with complicated UTI to standardise risk stratification and treatment recommendations, both for clinical practice and research. As with any decision-support tool, the aim is to offer a guide rather than completely replace clinical judgement for individual patients. The score will now benefit from external validation, refinement and impact analysis.

Ethics statements

Patient consent for publication.

Not applicable.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by RCH Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC36255). Participants gave informed consent to participate in the study before taking part.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the participation of patients and families at RCH and clinical staff in the ED.

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Supplementary materials

Supplementary data.

This web only file has been produced by the BMJ Publishing Group from an electronic file supplied by the author(s) and has not been edited for content.

• Data supplement 1
• Data supplement 2
• Data supplement 3

Contributors BTS was involved in the design and co-ordinated the study, carried out the initial and subsequent data analysis, drafted the initial manuscript, revised subsequent drafts and approved the final manuscript as submitted. PAB, FEB, AD, LI, SMcN and SMH were involved in the concept and design of the study, provided input into data analysis, reviewed and revised the manuscript and approved the final draft. SMD was involved in the design of the study, advised on statistical analysis, revised and approved the final manuscript as submitted. All authors take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors approved the final manuscript. PAB is responsible for the overall content as the guarantor.

Funding This study was made possible through funding from The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, with wholehearted support from Jim Carroll and the Donald Ratcliffe and Phyllis Macleod Trust. PAB was supported in part by a Melbourne Campus Clinician-Scientist Fellowship, Melbourne, Australia and in part by a Medical Research Futures Fund Investigator Grant (MRF1197970). FEB was supported in part by a grant from the RCH Foundation and a Melbourne Campus Clinician-Scientist Fellowship, Melbourne, Australia and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellowship, Canberra, Australia. The emergency research group, MCRI, is in part supported by an NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence Grant for Paediatric Emergency Medicine, Canberra, Australia and the Victorian government infrastructure support programme.

Competing interests None declared.

Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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Automation has reached its tipping point for omnichannel warehouses

Never before has the competition for warehouse and fulfillment labor been so fierce, strongly driven by sustained growth in B2C channels. In the United States, for example, employment levels across distribution centers are at all-time highs and wages have risen to well above $18 an hour, yet attracting and retaining warehouse employees remains elusive. In the short term, strategies such as bonuses, accelerated pay raises, and tuition reimbursement are helping. But the long-term implications of a high reliance on labor are clear: automation in warehousing is no longer just nice to have but an imperative for sustainable growth.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by John Barbee, Alan Davies, Raoul Dubeauclard, Tim Lange, and Christoph Lennartz, representing views from McKinsey’s Consumer & Retail Practice.

Fueled by venture capital over the past five years, the automation industry has seen increased availability of new warehouse-automation innovations, supply chain as a service (SCaaS) models, and technology that integrates multiple solutions to help retailers address some of these challenges.

For instance, the adoption of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), technology that eliminates significant nonproductive walking time in warehouses, has progressed from early-stage pilots about four years ago to multiple at-scale deployments today. For example, DHL rolled out 1,000 Locus Robotics AMRs and will deploy up to 2,000 robots by 2022. 1 Steven Crowe, “Locus Robotics scaling AMR deployments with DHL supply chain,” The Robot Report , June 2, 2021, therobotreport.com. These technologies aren’t just for larger companies. German toy retailer Rofu Kinderland built a new warehouse that includes 57 robots retrieving 3,500 different products from more than 28,000 bins, increasing efficiency and delivery speeds. 2 Melanie Wack, “E-Commerce: AutoStore für Spiel-, Schreibwaren und Dekorationsartikel,” Logistik Heute , November 12, 2020, logistik-heute.de. Innovators are gaining momentum as well. For example, Alert Innovation developed a microfulfillment-center technology platform for Walmart to handle the demands of grocery e-commerce. The proof-of-concept pilot system is now in full operation.

Automation capabilities will play an influential role in the future size and scale of omnichannel networks. To successfully navigate the many choices for automation, retailers must have an informed perspective on where automation can create value, reduce risk, and improve reliability across an increasingly complex network of fulfillment nodes. Retailers should then use a three-step process—strategy, design, and implementation—to translate their vision into an optimal automated warehouse.

The changing face of the warehouse-automation industry

Investments from retailers in automation are poised to fuel significant industry growth: the warehouse-automation market is forecast to reach $51 billion by 2030, a CAGR of 23 percent. 3 David Edwards, “Revenues from robotics in warehouses to exceed $51 billion by 2030,” Robotics and Automation News , August 19, 2021, roboticsandautomationnews.com. The wave of innovation in warehousing has been fueled disproportionately by venture-capital funding for new start-ups, whose solutions increasingly influence the future of the omnichannel warehouse. In addition, private equity has provided a significant tailwind for key companies. For example, SoftBank invested $2.8 billion in AutoStore, an automation provider geared to the e-commerce and grocery industries. 4 Sam Shead, “SoftBank invests $2.8 billion in Norwegian robotics firm AutoStore,” CNBC, April 6, 2021, cnbc.com. Many of these technologies—for example, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) or the next level of automation AMRs as unmanned transport next to warehouse employees—have proved their effectiveness at scale in addressing the challenges of traditional e-commerce warehouses, such as labor shortages, SKU-complexity growth, and increasing service expectations.

Increased M&A and investment

Marketplaces and platform players have long recognized the importance of automation and have been rapidly acquiring robotics companies. Several at-scale investments have grabbed headlines. In 2019, the online marketplace Shopify spent $450 million to acquire automation provider 6 River Systems, with the goal of extending its AI-enabled fulfillment network. 5 Emil Protalinski, “Shopify acquires 6 River Systems for $450 million to expand its AI-powered fulfillment network,” VentureBeat, September 9, 2019, venturebeat.com. Amazon is developing proprietary automation solutions via Amazon Robotics to improve warehouse productivity and lessen the labor burden. Zalando has partnered with multiple automation partners to accelerate consumer-delivery times and improve operating efficiencies.

Several retailers have publicly committed significant capital toward their automation strategies. For instance, Walmart plans to allocate nearly $14 billion for warehouse automation and other business areas, 6 Tonya Garcia, “Walmart to invest nearly $14 billion in automation and other business areas in fiscal 2022,” MarketWatch, February 22, 2021, marketwatch.com. and ASOS announced $100 million in spending to expand the capacity and productivity of its warehouses. 7 “Retailer ASOS to spend $100M to automate Georgia warehouse,” U.S. News, July 12, 2021, usnews.com. These moves are indicative of an industry-wide focus on automation, now even further accelerated as a response to changing market conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. 8 “Warehouse automation investment up due to COVID-19,” Material Handling and Logistics, July 13, 2020, mhlnews.com; Mark Dunaway, “Why are so many companies investing in warehouse automation?,” Modern Materials Handling, January 10, 2020, mmh.com.

Larger players in the warehouse-automation industry have sought to create distinctive and integrated capabilities through acquisition. For instance, Toyota Material Handling has acquired integrators including Vanderlande and Bastian Solutions, Kion Group has acquired Dematic and software company Digital Applications International, and Honeywell has acquired Intelligrated and Transnorm. Acquirers are seeking to develop more end-to-end solution sets rather than point technologies as they seek to unlock greater value through integrated solutions. The automation market remains concentrated, with the top five automation and material-handling players still accounting for more than 50 percent of current market share. 9 “Warehouse automation market,” LogisticsIQ, 2021, thelogisticsiq.com. Beyond the top ten in each region, players mostly are specialty and niche automation providers.

Automation in action

Leading retailers are aiming to make warehouses responsive, resilient, and reliable to accommodate the ever-growing e-commerce market and incorporate lessons from the global pandemic. Along with improving existing warehouse capabilities and enabling new nodes of fulfillment (such as urban fulfillment centers), they view warehouse automation as an important part of the solution. In a recent McKinsey survey of 50 retailers across apparel, grocery, and other key sectors, more than 80 percent of respondents indicated they intend to increase automation investments over the next two to three years. 10 For more, see “ Retail speaks: Seven imperatives for the retail industry ” on McKinsey.com.

And it’s worth it: some retailers have cracked the code and have begun rolling out ambitious upgrades. As part of a €500 million initiative, Edeka invested €93 million to expand its existing warehouse in Berbersdorf, increasing the total number of SKUs from 2,900 to 12,700 while adding a 300,000-square-foot, partially automated picking-and-storage area. 11 Stefanie Schmitt, “EDEKA Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen erweitert Logistikzentrum in Berbersdorf für rund 93 Mio. €,” EDEKA, March 12, 2021, verbund.edeka.

Leading retailers are aiming to make warehouses responsive, resilient, and reliable to accommodate the ever-growing e-commerce market.

Navigating automation choices

Multiple technological advancements have pushed the boundaries of what is possible in warehouse automation. As part of an overarching automation strategy, retailers that develop an end-to-end vision for the warehouse of the future have to identify the specific use cases and unlock value (Exhibit 1). Navigating the choices has become more complex, with new providers entering the market and larger conglomerates and venture-capital funds pursuing consolidation in an effort to build an integrated portfolio of solutions for clients. Acquisitions within the automation-provider landscape will continue, significantly increasing the pressure on automation companies to offer warehouses end-to-end solutions.

We envision three warehouse archetypes that will inform the design of automation systems: dedicated, shared, and integrated omnichannel (Exhibit 2). These archetypes can help retailers narrow down the set of use cases and solution sets and better understand the complex choices among automation providers, integrators, and start-ups.

Dedicated warehouses

This archetype consists of warehouses specifically designed for a given channel (such as e-commerce), product flow (for example, consolidation), or product type (apparel versus hard goods). Generally, dedicated warehouses solve for scale and cost efficiency in the network. Distribution formats can range from large-scale facilities that cover national distribution needs (more than one million square feet) to smaller, urban-based fulfillment centers (less than 20,000 square feet) that balance same-day and next-day speed with cost efficiency.

Given the specific focus of these distribution formats, integrated and specialized end-to-end automation concepts generally work best. These warehouses benefit from improved space efficiency, greater labor productivity, faster four-wall cycle time, 12 Cycle time from entering until exiting the warehouse. and downstream efficiencies (such as store-friendly pallets). Examples of dedicated warehouses include retail fulfillment (Amazon Go stores), national e-commerce fulfillment (Zara), store replenishment (such as Albertsons and Carrefour), delivery centers for small parcels (Post), and category-specific facilities (such as Reckitt Benckiser and Zalando).

Shared warehouses

Warehouses serving multiple channels or product segments, which may include wholesale and direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels or ambient and perishable-product segments, make up this archetype. While these warehouses exist under the same roof, the operations and inventories are independently managed by channel. This archetype offers greater flexibility than a dedicated warehouse in that multiple channels and categories may be served under one roof or in a campus setting. The multipurpose structure has several benefits: more efficient use of distribution space, cost savings from consolidated labor and overhead, and external advantages such as inbound consolidation. The systems technology and automation may need to support specific flows, handling requirements, and order profiles of each channel. As a result, individual warehouses still operate mostly independently. Automation solutions can still be integrated, but they may combine various fit-for-purpose technologies to address unique channel needs—for example, a retail-store warehouse could be on the side of the building (with automated pallet and case storage where store replenishment orders are prepared), while the e-commerce warehouse could be on mezzanines where individual units are picked with a multishuttle or autostore.

Integrated omnichannel warehouses

Omnichannel warehouses seamlessly serve all channels in the network and generally have the technology and systems to handle inventory across a mostly common stock pool (for example, the same picking locations or an automated storage system). These facilities offer the greatest flexibility in the network and reduce systemwide inventory-carrying costs, but retailers may have to make trade-offs on cycle time, dedicated capacity, and productivity. The set of automation solutions, which may be a hybrid of the capability or shared archetypes, could allow convergence in upstream warehouse processes such as inbound and storage. Distribution operations may have different requirements for fulfillment-execution processes to meet the needs of individual order profiles and channels. For example, online consumers might order small quantities and request a lead time of less than 24 hours, while stores might accept 48-hour or longer lead times with larger volumes being picked and shipped. Hence, the requirements in warehouse operations need to be matched along the steps across channels, balancing the trade-offs of solution benefits.

This archetype, which is best suited for stores that order in eaches 13 A unit of measure where each individual piece is tracked by the computer system. (an approach many apparel and electronics retailers take), can support a shared picking location between stores and online. It provides two benefits: First, it allows inventory pooling and the more efficient use of space. Second, it enables increased scale for automation and the better use of system capacity, with the ability to handle stores and online channels with different seasonality and peaks.

Because each type has its own advantages, identifying and implementing the optimal solution requires an informed decision-making process.

Selecting the right automation solutions

In response to a rapidly changing marketplace, many retailers are moving away from a single solution or turnkey provider and building a portfolio of solutions to fit their network. Traditionally, partnering with a turnkey provider offered advantages, such as integration across multiple solutions and pricing transparency. While this still holds true, the pace of innovation in solutions continues to accelerate, and innovations in technology and operating models provide compelling reasons to explore a multipartner strategy.

For instance, along with technological innovation, many new robotics and automation providers have innovated as-a-service models (XaaS), such as robotics as a service (RaaS) and fulfillment as a service (FaaS). These solutions alleviate the traditional hurdles of up-front capital risk (RaaS helps retailers overcome ROI hurdles such as a payback of two to three years) and offer retailers a variable cost structure better aligned to testing and learning across new technologies and concepts. Because of lower investment levels, retailers are now able to test and learn with selected partners, building up their automation capabilities. Companies can excel in innovation by replacing their tried-and-true approaches to warehouse automation with in-house capabilities to explore earlier-stage implementation. For example, companies can conduct a pilot with AMRs that assist picking operations alongside employees on site. The benefits of this experimentation can be significant—for example, progressing from proof of concept to large-scale implementations.

The range of design and implementation choices varies considerably depending on strategy. An AMR project may require six to eight weeks to pilot, whereas case multishuttles can take 12 months or more to accommodate infrastructure procurement and build-out. In our experience, a three-step process can help retailers determine the right approach to warehouse automation.

Traditionally, retailers might take a site-by-site view of their automation strategy. This exercise includes both establishing criteria for prioritizing automation opportunities and defining business cases to evaluate fit-for-purpose use cases and potential partners for a new or existing operation. We find the more innovative retailers are taking an end-to-end view of their network, developing scenarios for both productivity and short- and longer-term labor risks. A balanced approach to use cases may open up a variety of solutions, while the site-to-site approach focuses solely on payback for individual locations.

In this step—segmented into preconceptual, conceptual, and detailed design—retailers conduct a financial evaluation, create optimized warehouse designs, and select providers by stress testing simulations. The design workshops include retailers, joined by their chosen automation suppliers; beyond them, an objective, informed, third-party perspective—for example, via consultancy—is essential to reach the optimal design. The design process goes beyond the selection of automation to encompass warehouse analytics, strategic network effects, and much more.

Implementation

Where necessary, retailers can identify and select a warehouse-automation system integrator or can orchestrate across a set of partners to build the case-specific automated warehouse. Some companies may also select a logistics service provider to operate the new warehouses and orchestrate the warehouse launch, based on a case-by-case evaluation.

This process has repeatedly captured substantial value because even small decisions (for example, initial product-segment growth assumptions that, in the end, significantly influence automation-picking capacities) have a major impact on projects of this scale. By following this holistic approach, retailers can create a compelling business case for automation and gain buy-in for investments.

The rise of e-commerce in omnichannel has elevated the demand for warehouse automation across industries. Retailers that innovate in this space can keep pace with high consumer expectations for service and personalization. A structured approach helps to pinpoint their current status, identify available and suitable options, and implement warehouse automation and utilization—including harnessing analytics enabled by warehouse automation. With these insights, companies can select the optimal automation for their warehouses.

John Barbee is a partner in McKinsey’s Atlanta office, Alan Davies is a senior expert in the Miami office, Raoul Dubeauclard is a senior expert in the Lyon office, Tim Lange is a partner in the Cologne office, and Cristoph Lennartz is a consultant in the Düsseldorf office.

The authors wish to thank Lucas Clement, Katharina Hauck, and Michael Kalt for their contributions to this article.

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Changing Research Culture (9 July 2024) - keynote talks

Keynote talks (recordings and slides) from the following event:

Changing Research Culture: 9th July 2024, University of Sheffield

In anticipation of REF2029’s heightened emphasis on People, Culture and Environment, ‘research culture’ is increasingly coming into scope as a focus of attention for UK institutions. But critical and reflective work is needed to avoid the term becoming, like ‘excellence’ itself, a floating signifier that obscures the genuine conditions, processes and limitations of academic practice.

This one-day workshop will address this task with a particular focus on practices around openness and transparency. With reference to UKRIO’s component principles of research integrity , we will examine the degree to which open practices present a necessary condition of a culture of research integrity and inclusion and explore the extent to which embedding and facilitating open practices offers a significant mechanism of culture change.

Keynote speakers:

Dr tanita casci, director, research strategy & policy unit, university of oxford, research culture: making it stick.

Better research, and better trust in research, depends on making sustained improvements to our day-to-day research habits, including how we implement the highest standards of practice in the design, planning, execution, and reporting of research findings. Our practices, however, are too often shaped by the somewhat narrow and traditional way in which we evaluate quality, support careers, and recognise contributions made to research.

Research funders and REF are increasingly holding institutions and PIs responsible for demonstrating positive and supportive research cultures — now is therefore the right time to promote positive practices across institutions, funders, publishers, and the wider sector.

Professor Stephen Curry, College Consul and Professor of Natural Science, Imperial College London, and Chair of the Declaration on Research Assessment ( DORA )

Weaving the threads of a revitalised research culture.

Plans to place greater emphasis on People, Culture and Environment in the UK’s next Research Excellence Framework represent the latest strand of work worldwide to reform research culture. These include efforts to address research issues such as assessment, integrity, openness, and diversity & inclusion, which have emerged from many different parts of the academic landscape. In my presentation I will argue that these strands need to be woven together through inspiring and action-oriented leadership if we are to create the fabric of a revitalised research culture that is focused on the challenges of the 21st Century.

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