Gates Open Res Gates Open Research 2572-4754 F1000 Research Limited London, UK 10.12688/gatesopenres.16350.1 Research Article Articles Knowledge Exchange is Essential to Contraceptive Technology Innovation: Findings from the CTI Exchange Co-Creation Process Hoppes Emily Conceptualization Data Curation Formal Analysis Resources Supervision Visualization Writing – Original Draft Preparation https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0178-4068 a 1 Fratus Audrey Conceptualization Methodology Resources Writing – Original Draft Preparation 1 Leavitt Gracie Conceptualization Project Administration Writing – Original Draft Preparation 1 Sosler Andrée Conceptualization Supervision Writing – Review & Editing 1 Vogelsong Kirsten M. Conceptualization Supervision Writing – Review & Editing 2 FHI 360, Durham, North Carolina, USA Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, USA ehoppes@fhi360.org

No competing interests were disclosed.

 19 6 2025 2025 9 47 26 5 2025 Copyright: © 2025 Hoppes E et al. 2025 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The field of contraceptive research and development (R&D) has not historically benefitted from a strong or coordinated knowledge exchange effort, due in part to the fact that it has no base in any single academic field of study. A number of funders, platforms, and research and advocacy organizations play a role in knowledge promotion and coordination, but these efforts are limited. The Contraceptive Technology Innovation (CTI) Exchange is one such platform that recently embarked on a co-creation process to improve knowledge exchange for the contraceptive R&D field as a whole and to inform its own redesign and relaunch efforts. This co-creation process, informed by design thinking principles, collected information and ideas from 55 participants from 35 organizations and 11 countries and identified three significant knowledge exchange needs in the contraceptive R&D community: 1) credible, current, and creative field-specific content, 2) curated, aggregated, and easy-to-use resources, and 3) audience-driven knowledge exchange. These findings will be used to simplify and refocus the CTI Exchange to better meet the needs of contraceptive researchers and developers at every career stage, but these findings also have field-wide applicability. We are calling for a swell of knowledge exchange efforts in the field of contraceptive R&D to prompt and promote health and well-being worldwide. We encourage contraceptive innovators and knowledge exchange specialists to make use of and contribute to the CTI Exchange and apply the findings outlined here to shape their own work.

 family planning contraception contraceptive R&D contraceptive technology contraceptive innovation knowledge exchange knowledge sharing research utilization Gates Foundation [INV-043013] Gates Foundation [INV-043013] Background & purpose

For any field of scientific research, knowledge exchange is essential. 1, 2 It allows for more coordinated efforts within a field, promoting work that builds rather than duplicates and forming partnerships for more effective research. Additionally, knowledge exchange is important for engaging with external audiences. It can work to spark interest in a field of study and bring in new talent and investment. Finally, it is essential to communicating with and gaining the trust of the public and advocating with key decision-makers. 3

The field of contraceptive research and development (R&D) has not historically benefitted from a strong or coordinated knowledge exchange effort. This is in part because the field has no base in any single academic field of study. Contraceptive researchers and developers can be bioengineers, gynecologists, endocrinologists, chemists, reproductive biologists, public health practitioners, or social behavioral scientists. And while this diversity of background strengthens the field, it also makes coordination efforts challenging.

Organizations like the Male Contraceptive Initiative, 4– 6 the Initiative for Multipurpose Prevention Technologies 7– 9 and Impact Global Health 10 have played a role in knowledge promotion and coordination, but have a narrower focus than the entire field of contraceptive R&D. Funders, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the NICHD (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) have also played a role in coordinating efforts within the field by hosting meetings with their funding recipients, 11 but these meetings involve a smaller group of researchers within the larger field. In 2015, to fill this knowledge exchange gap, the Contraceptive Technology Innovation (CTI) Exchange was launched with the goal of supporting contraceptive researchers through knowledge sharing and collaboration. 12 Since its launch, it has grown in scope and reach, supporting the field by promoting news and achievements on a website, in a newsletter, and through social media, by highlighting thought leadership through a blog and online events, and more recently by developing youth engagement opportunities in the field. 13

Despite success in meeting some of the knowledge exchange needs of the field, there is still room for improvement and growth. For this reason, the CTI Exchange team, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, embarked on a co-creation process to improve knowledge exchange for the contraceptive R&D field and inform the redesign and relaunch of the online CTI Exchange platform.

 Assessing knowledge exchange needs Methods

The CTI Exchange redevelopment process was based on the iterative human centered design thinking model originally developed by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (or “d.school”). 14 This five-stage non-linear process, pictured in Figure 1, generally begins with empathy, a value that’s operationalized through observation, user engagement, and combined “watching and listening”. Over a three-month period, the CTI Exchange team reached out via email to the platform’s current and intended user base – a multi-disciplinary cohort of scientists, project implementers, students, funders, and advocates – through 45 one-on-one semi-structured conversations i held over two rounds, and two small-group design sessions. Every participant provided verbal consent to have the sessions recorded and were informed that insights from the interviews and discussions would be summarized for funders and web design consultants, as well as used in future papers and presentations. Full interview and group discussion guides are provided in Supplement 1.

CTI Exchange co-creation process (adapted from the d.school model <sup> <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref14">14</xref> </sup>).

*Note that this is not a linear process and that activities often move back and forth between these stages.

The first round explored what users felt they wanted and needed from a knowledge exchange platform; 22 cross-disciplinary participants described the online resources they found useful, their first reactions to the format and content of the current CTI Exchange website or new website concepts, and how they build connections (or would like to build connections) within the field. Users engaged through the first small group session completed “journey maps” or representations of how a user might interact with the CTI Exchange platform – what they might react to, feel, and think. User mapping was paired with a rapid ideation activity (part of the “ideate” stage), during which participants developed ideas for site features and user engagement experiences. Ideation, a subsequent step in the design thinking model, was also conducted internally, through design team conversation.

In order to “define” and refine the problem, learnings from the initial “empathy” and “ideation” stages were synthesized and used to inform the next step of the design thinking process, “prototyping”. The CTI Exchange team developed static site mock-ups that reflected the user desires and ideation results produced in conversation and collaboration with the community. The team then returned to the “empathy” stage for a second round of conversations and small group work. In this stage, questions focused on how and why users translate intention (e.g., general interest in a new website) to behavior when presented with an opportunity to engage in knowledge exchange. The design team and participants discussed the site prototypes in this context, exploring not just how a user might use a feature, but whether a user actually would (or would not) use a feature to achieve tangible knowledge exchange goals. Design thinking is fundamentally iterative, 15 and the return to empathy afforded essential insights regarding real-world use cases and user objectives in seeking, sharing, and contributing contraceptive R&D knowledge.

Following “prototyping”, the CTI Exchange team conducted testing, both of the current site and with an interactive beta version of a new site. While simplified versions of the design thinking process often place testing as the last step, the process’s iterative and non-linear nature often distributes testing throughout a design project. This was the case in CTI Exchange’s redevelopment; during the second empathy phase, users were asked to complete tasks on the current website, narrating their experience and process without input from the design team. This “test” framed the current site as a prototype itself, allowing designers to understand which site elements were intuitive and aligned with site objectives, and therefore could be maintained, and which were not. As a final step before site development began in earnest, seven participants also tested an interactive beta site and provided feedback on design, functionality, and alignment with the knowledge needs of the contraceptive development field. Learnings from the empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing stages were synthesized using rapid qualitative analysis tools and used to complete definitions (or the core point of view of the project), the final step of the design process. This project received a non-research determination from The Office of International Research Ethics at FHI 360, indicating that it does not meet the criteria for human subjects research.

 Findings

This co-creation process collected information and ideas from 55 participants from 35 organizations and 11 countries (Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, India, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, South Africa, Switzerland, USA, and Zambia) representing many of the roles within the field of contraceptive R&D, including early discovery researchers, clinical researchers, product introducers, social-behavioral researchers, students, regulatory experts, manufacturers, donors, investors, media, and knowledge managers (see Table 1 for more detail).

Co-creation participant characteristics.
Characteristics Participants n (%)
Age
 18-24 4 (7)
 25-34 9 (16)
 35-44 15 (27)
 45-54 14 (26)
 55-64 7 (13)
 65 & Over 6 (11)
Participant Type
 Product introducers 12 (22)
 Clinical researchers 11 (20)
 Knowledge managers 9 (16)
 Donors 6 (11)
 Social-behavioral researchers 4 (7)
 Students 3 (5)
 Regulatory experts 3 (5)
 Early discovery researchers 2 (4)
 Manufacturers 2 (4)
 Investors 2 (4)
 Media 1 (2)
Social Media Use *
 LinkedIn 45 (82)
 Instagram 20 (36)
 Facebook 19 (35)
 X 18 (33)
 WhatsApp 14 (25)
 TikTok 10 (18)
 YouTube 5 (9)
 None 5 (9)

Participants noted “all that applied” so total is greater than 100%.

The co-creation process identified three significant knowledge exchange needs in the contraceptive R&D community, as well as strategies for addressing these needs within the field.

1. Credible, Current, and Creative Contraceptive R&D-Specific Content

NEED : The first need identified during this process was for field-specific resources and content that come from trusted and credible sources. Participants identified a common set of resources and events accessed by those in the field (see Table 2), but few of these are specific to contraceptive R&D (indicated with a “*” in the table). There is also a need for original, meaningful content that highlights thought leadership in the field. This need is illustrated by the following participant quote.

Resources and events currently accessed by contraceptive researchers and partners.
Resources AVAC Calliope, The Contraceptive Pipeline Database * Center for Open Science (OSF) Clinicaltrials.gov Contraception (Journal) Contraceptive Infertility Target Database Contraceptive Technology Innovation Exchange * Demographic Health Surveys Endocrine Society and Journals European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care FDA Site FemTech Insider FP2030 Guttmacher Harvard Dataverse High Impact Practices IBP Network ICH Guidelines Impact Global Health Initiative for MPTs Injectables Access Collaborative Male Contraceptive Initiative * MedTech Women Pink Sheet PubMed Regulatory Societies Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition WHO Site
Events Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health Congress International Conference on Family Planning National Contraception Meeting * Population Association of America Annual Meeting Society for the Study of Reproduction Conference Society for Family Planning Annual Meeting

Specific to contraceptive R&D.

“ My need is actually to be kind of reminded of all of this, like complexity and be abreast of all these new things and be inspired by the work being done … And then you guys kind of match my inspiration, like my need for inspiration by giving me something I’ve never heard of before that will hopefully change the way that I think about my work … it’s something about the thought leadership that you all put out there and what it’s capable of, which is a very cool thing.” – Co-Creation Group Discussion Participant

STRATEGIES : Three knowledge exchange strategies emerged during the co-creation process that could help to address this need. First, anyone endeavoring to create and share information in this space needs to demonstrate credibility and build trust with their audience. This can be done in several ways, including attributing content and resources to trusted people and organizations. Second, content does not just need to be credible, it also needs to be creative. It needs to inspire and start conversations in a way that much of the content in this field currently does not. And finally, these efforts need to focus not just on stagnant content but on creating places where ideas can be shared, and people can connect.

2. Curated, Aggregated, and Easy-to-Use Resources

NEED : The second need is for aggregation of reliable and credible resources and information in one place. Many participants expressed the need for an up-to-date snapshot of the contraceptive R&D field. A place where the most recent and applicable news, publications, events, jobs, and funding opportunities are readily available and easy to navigate. There was overwhelming feedback that the CTI Exchange’s contraceptive pipeline database 16 has the potential to be a key and one-of-a-kind resource for the field if it is more navigable and updated more regularly. It could provide a set of essential information that can spark new ideas, encourage collaboration, and ensure work is not repeated across the field. As one interview participant mentioned:

“I like the fact that it’s (referring to a site prototype) pulling so many things together in one place, like a one-stop shop. I like the fact that you can get calls for papers, and you can get funding opportunities or read about news from other similar organizations all in one place. One-stop shops are always great because people get very busy and it’s like ‘ok, where am I supposed to search for this?’” – Co-Creation Interviewee

STRATEGIES: To address this need, regular expert-informed resource review, updates, and aggregation will be essential. Whether it is a newsfeed, a resource collection, or a database, it was clear from participant feedback that these snapshots and aggregations need to be as user-friendly as they are technically sound.

3. Audience-Driven Knowledge Exchange

NEED : The field of contraceptive R&D involves a wide range of actors; therefore, knowledge exchange in this space can suffer from trying to do too much or serving too many audiences. During the co-creation process, many participants discussed the need to more effectively serve each of the prioritized audiences/user groups. A number of specific audiences were mentioned and are summarized in Figure 2. In particular, participant interviews and discussions surfaced a demand to better reach audiences with unique and unmet needs in the field, including youth and researchers in low-and-middle-income countries, which is reflected in the following interview quote:

User personas.

“How can we make science more democratic through the CTI Exchange?… Are we opening enough space for future researchers to be in the field? Are we making an effort to recruit differently? (We) need to include local actors and students who are not close to science.” – Co-Creation Interviewee

STRATEGIES: In order to reach the wide range of audiences identified through this process, knowledge exchange efforts need to make use of a variety of different formats and outreach methods. Those working in this space should not be afraid to prioritize and focus on specific audiences when developing key resources and content. There is also a need to facilitate connections between audience groups (see Figure 2) in order to promote more access and equity in the field. For example, established researchers (“The Veterans”) hold a lot of power and information but are not always incentivized or even asked to share their expertise with those who are new to the field (“The Newbies”). Knowledge exchange efforts need to be creative in fostering opportunities for mentorship and connection among these various groups.

In-line with these findings, the redesign of the CTI Exchange will simplify and refocus the site to better meet the needs of contraceptive researchers and developers at every career stage by curating efficient, easy to-use, technical resources and by promoting an up-to-date snapshot of the field of contraceptive technology and innovation. ii

Call to action

The field of contraceptive R&D has yielded life-changing, culture-shifting discoveries and, with equitable investment and attention, it promises many more. New infusions of funding have the potential to unlock boundless innovation and subsequent improvements in health and quality of life for individuals and couples around the world.

Together with time and money, we need to see real knowledge exchange and collaboration across silos and continents. And it will be no small feat, as lack of funding has engendered a competitive scarcity mindset in the field that can be difficult to overcome. Also, many researchers understandably have guarded not only the results of their work but even the lessons they have learned along the way due to fears and assumptions about divulging proprietary information, weakening their reputation or jeopardizing the financial horizon of their projects. There is a need to lower the barriers to entry to this field, especially for students and emerging professionals and for researchers in low- and middle-income countries—not the least because young people and people from LMICs are some of the current and potential users of contraceptives, and the products themselves will be improved by richer representation in the development process.

We are calling for a swell of knowledge exchange efforts in the field of contraceptive R&D to prompt and promote health and well-being worldwide. The products themselves and the research leading up to and around them, all will be improved through richer, more meaningful and accessible exchange of ideas, questions, resources, and lessons. We encourage contraceptive innovators and knowledge exchange specialists to make use of and contribute to the CTI Exchange and apply the findings outlined here to shape their own work. If we are all guided by a similar vision and set of strategies, we will be that much more effective in our collective efforts.

 Author contributions

All authors contributed to developing the concept for this paper. A. Fratus drafted the methods section, G. Leavitt drafted the call to action, and E. Hoppes drafted all other sections of the paper. A. Sosler and K. Vogelsong provided detailed review and feedback.

 Supplementary material SUPPLEMENT 1: Data collection tools CTI Exchange Re-design: In-Depth Interview Guide, Round 1

Thank you so much for joining me today for this interview. As we mentioned in our communications, we are going to be completely redesigning the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Exchange website and the resources on that site, for example our resource library and the contraceptive technology pipeline database (what we call “Calliope”).

Currently the site serves as both an informational clearinghouse and a platform to engage and connect different actors in the contraceptive R&D community.

We are hoping to create a new site that can better serve the needs of the contraceptive R&D community and as a potential future user, we’d like to take this opportunity today to gather some of your thoughts and insights. This session will take about an hour.

Do you have any questions before we start?

User Information

First, we’d like to collect some basic information from you.

Collect any of the information below that you do not already have:

Name:

Age [Under 18; 18-24; 25-34; 35-44; 45-54; 55-64; 65 and over]

Organization:

Country of residence:

Role in contraceptive R&D:

Social media accounts:

Which platforms do they use?

Links to any accounts (NOTE: These can be added later)

Thank you! Now we are going to begin the interview. We would like your permission to record this interview, both the video and the transcript, for our own internal analysis. Any information gleaned from these interviews will be summarized for our funder, the Gates Foundation, our web design consultant, and may be used in future presentations and papers, but any illustrative quotations will be attributed anonymously We will, however; provide you with the option to include your name and/or organization in an acknowledgements page on the new site. Do we have your consent to record and begin?

*** HIT RECORD***

Journey Mapping

To begin, I am going to take you through some questions about how you currently access resources online and how you might like to access resources in the future. Note that we define resources very broadly – these can include websites, blogs, publications, guidelines, toolkits, videos, webinars, groups and group meetings, databases, etc.

During this conversation I’d like you to think specifically about your work and needs related to contraceptive research and/or development.

Can you explain the work you do related to contraceptive research and development? What is your role in the field?

What types of online resources do you access on a regular basis in this role?

Do you ever use the current CTI Exchange website? (If YES, use the prompts below. If NO, move to the next question.)

How often would you say you visit the site?

Tell me about your experience using it?

What do you do on the site?

Which resources do you use?

How long do you usually spend on the site?

Ok. Now I’m going to ask you to tap into your creativity and think about the future of knowledge sharing in the contraceptive R&D community.

Talk me through some resources you wish you had access to.

PROMPT for more detail about each resource idea:

What do you think makes a resource useful?

What makes you actually want to access and use a resource?

Take me through what a resource like this might look like.

Why would it be important?

How would it make your job easier and/or more effective?

Any additional resource ideas?

Is there a problem in the contraceptive R&D space when it comes to accessing the resources you need to do your job?

With this redesign we are hoping to not just provide resources but to also encourage and enhance collaborations between different actors in the contraceptive R&D community.

Talk me through what it might look like to make better connections with your colleagues working in contraceptive R&D.

PROMPT for more detail:

Take me through what a space like this might look like.

What would a space like this feel like?

What other types of virtual events, spaces, or platforms might make these connections stronger?

What groups of people might you want to connect with and learn from?

As someone with a busy schedule, what might motivate you to actually spend time making these connections?

Prototype Feedback

Our team has done some brainstorming about the future of the CTI Exchange and we’ve also conducted a short survey with our current listserv. We’ve created a rough prototype of the future site based on this feedback and our own internal ideas. I’d like to show that to you now and get your thoughts.

Share your screen and take a few minutes to take the participant through the current website prototype, explaining each element and the basic organization of the site.

What’s your first reaction to this prototype?

What do you like and dislike about this prototype?

How would you improve the design of the site? What elements are missing?

Based on this prototype, who do you think the target audience is?

Would you use this site?

Wrap-Up

Before we wrap up, is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Do you have any questions for us?

Thank you so much for you participation today. Your perspectives are really important in helping us understand and better meet the needs of our community in the future. Please feel free to reach out to me or our project lead Emily ( ehoppes@fhi360.org) and we’ll be in touch early next year about the launch of the new site.

Pre-Prototype Questions:

In accessing the site, what’s your first reaction to the format and initial content you can see on the homepage?

Based your review yesterday, what features of the site did you like? What about elements - site content, navigation, design - you didn’t like?

Looking just at the current site, who would you say the target audience is?

Keeping in mind the CTI Exchange’s central goal of being a clearinghouse for contraceptive research and development information, I’m going to ask that you stretch your imagination a little.

If you were building a brand new CTI Exchange and had no technical limitations, what features would be your top priority to include? For example, someone who was interested in using the site to network and build their career might ensure that it had a highly interactive job board.

Considering navigation and design, how would you ensure that your new site was accessible to a broad audience?

Is there anything else you’d recommend as we consider the layout and design of the new site?

CTI Exchange Re-design: In-Depth Interview Guide, Round 2

Thank you so much for joining me today for this interview. As we mentioned in our communications, we are going to be completely redesigning the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Exchange website and the resources on that site, for example our resource library and the contraceptive technology pipeline database (what we call “Calliope”).

Currently the site serves as both an informational clearinghouse and a platform to engage and connect different actors in the contraceptive R&D community.

We are hoping to create a new site that can better serve the needs of the contraceptive R&D community and as a potential future user, we’d like to take this opportunity today to gather some of your thoughts and insights. This session will take about an hour.

Do you have any questions before we start?

User Information

First, we’d like to collect some basic information from you.

Collect any of the information below that you do not already have:

Name:

Age [Under 18; 18-24; 25-34; 35-44; 45-54; 55-64; 65 and over]

Organization:

Country of residence:

Social media accounts:

Which platforms do they use?

Links to any accounts (NOTE: These can be added later)

Thank you! Now we are going to begin the interview. We would like your permission to record this interview, both the video and the transcript, for our own internal analysis. Any information gleaned from these interviews will be summarized for our funder, the Gates Foundation, our web design consultant, and may be used in future presentations and papers, but any illustrative quotations will be attributed anonymously We will, however; provide you with the option to include your name and/or organization in an acknowledgements page on the new site. Do we have your consent to record and begin?

*** HIT RECORD***

Resource Use In-Depth

To begin, I am going to take you through some questions about how and why you access resources online and how you might like to access resources in the future. Note that we define resources very broadly – these can include websites, blogs, publications, guidelines, toolkits, videos, webinars, groups and group meetings, databases, etc.

During this conversation I’d like you to think specifically about your work and needs related to contraceptive research and/or development.

Can you explain the work you do related to contraceptive research and development? What is your role in the field?

What types of online resources do you access on a regular basis in this role?

As you are thinking through some of the resources that you access regularly, what causes you/leads you to access them?

Is it part of a daily/weekly routine?

Is it a “go-to” resources for a certain type of work you do?

Do you receive reminders to access the resource? Where do those reminders come from? Where do you see them (email, social media, etc.)

What makes you trust the resources you’ve mentioned?

There are a lot of resources available online that just never get used. What is it about the resources you’ve mentioned that makes you actually want to use them?

As resources become out of date or no longer essential to your work, how do you recommend they be preserved?

Scavenger Hunt

Now we are going to visit the current CTI Exchange website. I’m going to ask you a few questions about it and then I’m going to take you through an activity using the site. You’ll see why in a minute, but could you please follow the link I’ve put in the chat and share your own screen showing the site. Add CTI Exchange site link to the chat and assist the interviewee in sharing their screen with you.

Do you ever use this current version of the CTI Exchange website? (If YES, use the prompts below. If NO, move to the activity.)

How often would you say you visit the site?

What do you do on the site?

Which resources do you use?

How long do you usually spend on the site?

Now we are going to do an activity to give us some information about the user experience of the current site. I am going to provide you with the name of a resource that is located somewhere on the site and I would like you to narrate your process of trying to find this resource. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. We are just trying to understand how you naturally move through the site.

Based on the interviewee’s background and role, choose one of the following resources:

A list of trainings, fellowships, and scholarships for advancing your career in contraceptive R&D (Note: One way to find this resource is to go to updates and search for “fellowship” or a similar key word)

A summary of and link to the Society for the Study of Reproduction (Note: One way to find this resource is to go to the resource library and search for “Society for the Study of Reproduction”)

Information about a biodegradable implant being developed by Yale University (Note: One way to find this resource is to go to Calliope and select “Yale University” under the filter options)

Remind the interviewee to narrate the steps they are taking as they hunt down the resource. If a few minutes have passed or the interviewee has told you they don’t think they are going to be able to track down the resource, use the information above to show them where it is located.

Prototype Feedback

Based on the first round of interviews we conducted this month, our team developed a few rough prototypes for three important elements of the CTI Exchange: the Contraceptive Pipeline Database, the Resource Library, and an Interactive Hub. I’d like to show each of these to you now and get your thoughts.

Note: If you are running low on time at this point in the interview, feel free to prioritize these final sections based on the types of resources the interviewee is most likely to access. You can also skip any section below that might not apply to your interviewee.

Calliope, The Contraceptive Pipeline Database

Share your screen and take a few minutes to take the participant through the current Calliope prototype, explaining key elements, including the purpose of the AI chatbot.

What’s your first reaction to this prototype? Would you use this resource? (If yes, move to question 14. If no, move to question 16.)

Talk me through a scenario in which you would actually use Calliope.

How often might you access it?

Do you like the name Calliope? What does it make you think of?

You can see there is a list of basic information about each product provided – is there any information missing from this list?

If there were an option to visualize the information in this database, what might that look like? What type of visualizations would be helpful?

Do you think the AI chatbot would enhance your experience using Calliope? (If the interviewee seems knowledgeable or experienced in using AI, follow-up with additional questions, including the prompts below.)

Have you used AI in your past work? How?

What if any problems have you used AI to solve?

Or what if any problems could you imagine using AI to solve?

How did you feel about using AI?

Resource Library

Share your screen and take a few minutes to take the participant through the current Library prototype, explaining key elements.

What’s your first reaction to this prototype?

Talk me through a scenario in which you would actually use this Library.

How often might you access it?

Do you regularly access other libraries online?

What, if anything, would make you come directly to this library rather that just doing a Google search?

If our resources do show up in a Google search, what would make you click on them?

Interactive Hub

Share your screen and take a few minutes to take the participant through the current Interactive Hub prototype, explaining key elements.

What’s your first reaction to this prototype?

Talk me through a scenario in which you would actually use this Hub.

How often might you access it?

What types of people would you want to be able to interact with on this Hub?

What might be the benefit of a site like this over or in addition to social media sites like LinkedIn? Is there an added benefit?

What if any trust-and-safety features might enhance your experience of this Hub?

Wrap-Up

Before we wrap up, is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Do you have any questions for us?

Thank you so much for you participation today. Your perspectives are really important in helping us understand and better meet the needs of our community in the future. Please feel free to reach out to me or our project lead Emily ( ehoppes@fhi360.org) and we’ll be in touch early next year about the launch of the new site.

CTI Exchange Re-design: Group Session Guide

Before beginning with the script below have people quickly introduce themselves.

Thank you so much for joining us today for this group session. As we mentioned in our communications, we are going to be completely redesigning the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Exchange website and the resources on that site, for example our resource library and the contraceptive technology pipeline database (what we call “Calliope”).

Currently the site serves as both an informational clearinghouse and a platform to engage and connect different actors in the contraceptive R&D community.

We are hoping to create a new site that can better serve the needs of the contraceptive R&D community and as a potential future user, we’d like to take this opportunity today to gather some of your thoughts and insights. This session will take about two hours.

Do you have any questions before we start?

Thank you! Now we are going to begin the session. We would like your permission to record this discussion, both the video and the transcript, for our own internal analysis. Any information gleaned from these sessions will be summarized for our funder, the Gates Foundation, our web design consultant, and may be used in future presentations and papers, but any illustrative quotations will be attributed anonymously. We will, however; provide you with the option to include your name and/or organization in an acknowledgements page on the new site. Do we have your consent to record and begin?

***HIT RECORD***

We are going to begin with a quick activity to set the stage. I have a coffee mug here and I’m sure many of you also have one on your desk. Now we all know that the most common use for this is to hold a drink, but what else could we use if for? I’m going to give you 3 minutes to write down as many “alternative uses” you can think of on the white board in front of you.

*Set a timer for 3 minutes. Add your own ideas, for example “a flower vase,” to get ideas flowing. Tell everyone to stop after the timer goes off.*

Now the purpose of this is to show that all of us here are innovative, we just have to be given the time and space to do so. Hopefully todays’ sessions will give you that space. We also encourage you to push yourself and think out of the box today – we want a range of ideas – from “holding coffee” to “insert craziest idea”.

Persona Creation

Today we are going to think through several aspects of the future CTI Exchange platform and ask you to share your insights as a [current and] future user of the site. As you work through these activities it is important to keep the goal of the CTI Exchange in mind:

To grow the global contraceptive research and development ecosystem through collaboration and knowledge sharing *Share screen to show this goal*

The first aspect we are going to explore is our target audience, which includes you. You’ll see on the screen here three key aspects about our users that we would like to understand:

Motivations: What motivates you professionally to seek out resources and connection?

Needs: What do you need to make your work easier and more effective?

Barriers: What keeps you from accessing the resources you need and making the connections you need?

We are going to focus in on each of these for 5 minutes and ask that you add feedback on the sticky notes around each aspect that reflect your own motivations, needs, and barriers.

*OPTIONAL: Take participants through each aspect and the question that accompanies it reading out a few interesting answers after each brainstorm session and ask if anyone would like to share any important thoughts or challenges they faced in answering these questions.*

Now we want to put you in the shoes of a potential future user that is very different from yourself. I’m going to assign each of you a stakeholder and I’d like you to complete the same activity but through the eyes of this person:

*Assign each person one of the following: Contraceptive product researcher, Contraceptive product introducers, Acceptability researchers, Regulatory expert, Funder, Student, Knowledge manager, or Media personnel. Complete the activity again as described above.*

Thank you so much! Let’s keep these in mind as we work through the next few activities.

Journey Mapping

We are now going to ask you to help us fill in a “journey map” that will help visualize the steps a user will take when accessing the future CTI Exchange platform and their needs and problem areas along the way. *Show the journey map template on the screen* Figure S1

This map is meant to depict the journey a user takes from before they even discover the site, through using the different parts of the site, and finally to sharing the site with colleagues.

You’ll see that our team has already filled in the “Actions” and “Touchpoint” sections. *Explain these sections in more detail while showing your screen.* We won’t be focusing on these areas during our activity today but feel free at any point to add ideas to these sections.

We would like your help in brainstorming your own needs and potential problem areas at each stage along this journey. We will use sticky notes again to add your ideas and you’ll have 3 minutes to add them to each section. Let’s begin with the “Discovery” phase. What are you needs and problems areas before you even find this resource? Why do you even start this journey? Note that some of this will be a reflection of your own personal needs that you brainstormed in the previous activity.

Take participants through each phase – “Discovery”, “First Use”, “Registration”, “Return Use”, and “Sharing”- reading out a few interesting answers after each brainstorm session and ask if anyone would like to share any important thoughts or challenges they faced in answering these questions.*

Now we’d like your input on how each of these stages might feel as a user. Please take a few minutes to add a 1-2 word description, emojis, or pictures to this section on the journey map for each stage.

*Give participants a total of 10 minutes to add their ideas, reading out reactions as they come in. Ask if anyone would like to share any important thoughts or challenges.*

CTI Exchange & calliope journey map.

Card sorting (15 mins)

Now let’s get more specific and start to think through some of the components that might be a part of the future CTI Exchange site. We’ll take just 5 minutes to brainstorm - throw out any ideas you have.

PROMPT:

How might we design a site that is user-friendly?

How might we design a site that is comprehensive?

How might we design a site that is [add in ideas from the first activity above]?

*If participants struggle coming up with initial ideas, provide a few examples (Resource Library, Discussion Boards). Write each idea on a separate “card” on the slide you are showing. Once all of the ideas have been shared and written on cards, copy and paste the set of cards into each of the slides with the participants names on them.*

Now I’m going to share a link to a Google slide deck in the chat and I’m going to ask each of you to follow the link and navigate to the slide with your name on it. You’ll have 5 minutes to sort the cards on your slide into groups that makes sense to you. There are no rules about how these groups should be formed- as long as they makes sense to you and you can explain them. You can even use text boxes to name each of your groupings if you’d like.

*After 5 minutes ask that each participant briefly explain their sorting technique.*

Prototyping

For our last activity today, we are going to do some very quick prototyping. Keeping in mind all of the components we just brainstormed, as well as the needs, motivations, and problem areas for users, we’d like you to take just 10 minutes to sketch your own version of the new CTI Exchange website’s homepage.

How would you organize things?

What parts of the site would you emphasize?

What components would you include? Which would you just leave out?

You can either use this virtual white board tool *share link* or sketch it with the pen and paper you have in front of you.

*Give participants 10 minutes to create their sketches and then ask them each to share their prototypes with the group, allowing for questions from other participants.*

Wrap-Up

Before we wrap up, does anyone have any final questions or comments?

Thank you so much for you participation today. Your perspectives are really important in helping us understand and better meet the needs of our community in the future. Please feel free to reach out to me, Emily ( ehoppes@fhi360.org), and we’ll be in touch early next year about the launch of the new site.

Data availability

The qualitative data generated and analyzed during this process are not publicly available for ethical reasons because even after removing directly identifiable information such as names, participant identities may be difficult to fully conceal, presenting a risk of deductive disclosure. Access to the data may be granted under rare and specific conditions. Interested researchers may apply for access by contacting the corresponding author at ehoppes@fhi360.org. Applications should include a detailed research proposal outlining the purpose of the data request and how the data will be used. Access will be granted on a case-by-case basis, subject to approval by the research team and adherence to strict confidentiality agreements to protect participant privacy.

 Acknowledgements

We appreciate Laneta Dorflinger and Kate Hilgenberg of FHI 360 for reviewing draft manuscripts.

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The d.school model emphasizes that, unlike research interviews, design thinking interviews are reciprocal conversations between designer and user, who collaborate as peers with the goal of meaningful and mutual understanding rather than unbiased data.

The newly redesigned CTI Exchange platform will be relaunched and made widely available in January 2025.