Applied Research · Data Science · Societal Impact
Turning data into better decisions and greater impact.
Impactful Data helps international organizations, research institutions, and NGOs turn complex data and scientific evidence into better decisions, stronger programs, and measurable societal impact.
How we can help
We combine economics, scientific research, and data science to help organizations understand complex challenges, design effective solutions, and turn evidence into meaningful impact
Diagnose
Research, Evaluation & Evidence
Understand what works, identify evidence gaps, and assess opportunities for greater impact through applied research, evaluation, and data diagnostics.
Focused Diagnostics
Build & Improve
Data Science & Decision Intelligence
Transform complex data into actionable insights through analytical models, monitoring systems, scenario analysis, and practical decision-support tools.
Tailored Solutions
Advise & Lead
Evidence-Based Strategy & Leadership
Bring senior scientific and strategic expertise to guide programs, strengthen capabilities, and translate evidence into effective decisions and measurable impact.
Strategic Partnerships · Capacity Building · Interim Leadership
FEATURED SERVICE
Evidence-to-Impact Diagnostic
Understand where you stand. Identify what matters. Decide what comes next.
Many organizations invest in research, monitoring, data collection, and analytical tools, yet struggle to translate this evidence into effective decisions and measurable impact.
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Our focused diagnostic identifies gaps between available evidence, organizational capabilities, and strategic priorities—providing practical recommendations to strengthen decision-making and improve outcomes.
What you'll get
A concise assessment, prioritized recommendations, quick wins, and a practical roadmap to strengthen evidence-informed decisions
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Typically 3–5 days · Scope tailored to your organization
Sounds Familiar?
A development program had invested in a comprehensive monitoring dashboard:
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Reliable data
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Multiple indicators
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Comparisons across regions and time
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Yet the dashboard was at risk of being discontinued.
Not because the data was wrong, but because the insights weren't informing real decisions.
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The challenge wasn't simply technical. It was connecting evidence to action.
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And this is not unique to dashboards. Research, evaluations, and analytical tools can face the same problem when their findings aren't connected to the decisions they are meant to support.
Examples of work
Examples of how data and evidence were used to support real decisions.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Future-proof and sustainable healthy diets based on current eating patterns in the Netherlands
To keep global warming <1.5°C as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), eating patterns must change.Within Dutch eating habits, satisfying optimization constraints required a shift away from beef, cheese, butter, and snacks toward plant-based foods and fish and shellfish, questioning acceptability. Satisfying 2050 food system GHGE targets will require research in consumer preferences and breakthrough innovations in food production and processing
Frontiers in Nutrition
To quantify the performance of food products in a sustainable diet based on the balance of their contribution to nutrient intake and environmental impact, within the context of the Dutch diet.
Lancet Global Health
The SWPER index for women's empowerment in Africa: development and validation of an index based on survey data
The Sustainable Development Goals strongly focus on equity. Goal 5 explicitly aims to empower all women and girls, reinforcing the need to have a reliable indicator to track progress. Our objective was to develop a novel women's empowerment indicator from widely available data sources, broadening opportunities for monitoring and research on women's empowerment.
White Paper
A Conceptual Model on Women and Girls' Empowerment
This is a citation of your published work. Make sure you list the precise publishing medium of your work, whether it be a book, an essay, an article, or a research manuscript. If your work appears only on certain pages, include those details and the date of publication to make it easier for your readers to identify and find your piece.
Experimental Economics
Information and strategic voting
We theoretically and experimentally study voter behavior in a setting characterized by plurality rule and mandatory voting. Voters choose from three options. We are interested in the occurrence of strategic voting in an environment where Condorcet cycles may occur and focus on how information about the preference distribution affects strategic behavior
Living Income
Guidance manual on calculating and visualizing the income gap to a Living Income Benchmark
A main objective of this guidance manual is to contribute to creating consistency of process and (visual) language in how income gaps are calculated and reported once income data is available. It intends to contribute to the discussion about standardized approaches
Q&A with Marcelo Tyszler
Marcelo Tyszler
25+ years at the intersection of data, economics, sustainability and international development.
Translating data and evidence into practical, decision-oriented solutions.
Bio
Who I Am
I help organizations in development and sustainability ensure that their data actually supports real decisions.
Across development programs, sustainability initiatives, and research projects, large amounts of data are collected every year. Yet surprisingly little of that data directly informs strategic choices about how resources should be allocated, which interventions should scale, or how programs should adapt.
The missing piece is often not more analysis — but better decision systems.
Through Impactful Data, I work with NGOs, research institutes, and mission-driven organizations to design the structures that connect data, evidence, and decision-making.
This includes:
• Making sure monitoring and data systems actually inform decisions
• Clarifying what evidence is needed before scaling or adapting programs
• Translating analysis into clear strategic choices
• Structuring data systems that are reliable and usable in practice
My background combines economics, impact evaluation, and data science, with over 20 years of experience across Europe, Africa, and Latin America. I hold a PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam and have worked with organizations operating at the intersection of development, sustainability, and public policy.
I am particularly interested in helping organizations answer questions such as:
• What evidence is needed before scaling an intervention?
• Which data truly matters for decision-making?
• How should programs design learning systems that improve over time?
