Research doesn’t mean action either. I could study something my whole life, learn great amounts, even make discoveries but if I do nothing with the information there is no impact.

Research alone won’t change or improve a country. There’s fundamental changes to be made that don’t need research on. I think researching can help bring countries a bit further to an extent. Sweden for example has been doing quite strong in this area for a while. They have also designed better rehabilitation prisons as they have made great progress with the fundamentals. The prison system changing wouldn’t drastically improve its HDI but through research they’ve learned how to better their communities.