Paper short abstract:

The decolonization of academe is growing. But what does this mean for the institutional architecture teaching and researching development studies?We analyze institutions in the North and South to understand what do these say about themselves and how do they present themselves within decolonization.

Paper long abstract:

Moves to decolonize the academe are growing in strength and vigour. Much of the focus is, on the courses, modules and teaching and research agendas that give academic disciplines their professional calling. In this paper we take a different, complimentary approach: what does 'decolonization' mean for the institutional architecture that teaches and researches development studies? How is this architecture, and moves to decolonization within the discipline that it demonstrates, being challenged by developments in funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

Development Studies has grown and evolved across several disciplines nurtured by critical mass of research placed within higher education and research institutes. Found largely in the Global North, these institutions are focused in providing education, research and training programs that ultimately address the challenges raised by the SDG goals and aim to improve the living conditions of the underprivileged peoples in in the Global South. In the first instance we ask what do these organizations say about themselves and their own work? How do they represent themselves within a context of decolonization? We do so using two samples of institutions across the North and South. Second, we examine GCRF spending strategies placed adopted by UK Universities as a requirement by their funding councils in order to receive bespoke GCRF funding to support research activity in their Universities. Here we focus on Higher Education Institutions in the UK which do not have recognized development studies institutions to ask what difference does development studies make to broader institutional thinking.

Paper short abstract:

This paper draws on data from a programme of strategic research and capacity building for the RCUK's on 'fair and equitable research partnerships'. It explores an approach to interdisciplinarity that frames research through the priorities, perspectives and practices of civil society practitioners.

Paper long abstract:

This paper responds to the recent drive by research funders and policy makers towards trans-national, cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary research partnerships (e.g. the Global Challenges Research fund - see ICAI 2017). While there is an extensive literature that argues for the benefits of multi/inter/cross/trans-disciplinarity for extending research into 'the real world' beyond the silos of the academy (e.g. Lang et al 2012) others have critiqued the alleged neutrality of interdisciplinary practice which conceals inequalities between disciplines and based on geo-politics (e.g. Burawoy 2013; Barry and Born 2013). In response, this paper draws on the findings from a recent programme of strategic research and capacity building funded by the UK's Research Councils (RCUK) to develop a 'partners' perspective' on 'fair and equitable research partnerships that responds to global challenges'. By exploring the interrelation between the politics of evidence and distribution of participation in partnerships, the paper identifies opportunities and challenges facing interdisciplinary working and concludes by offering a framework based on framing an approach to interdisciplinarity through the priorities, perspectives and practices of civil society practitioners.

Barry, A. and Born, G. (eds). (2013). Interdisciplinarity: reconfigurations of the social and natural sciences. London: Routledge

Burawoy, M. (2013). 'Sociology and Interdisciplinarity: The Promise and the Perils' Philippine Sociological Review (2013) Vol. 61: 7-20

Lang, D., Wiek, A., Bergmann, M., Stauffacher, M., Martens, P., Moll, P., Swilling, M., & Thomas, C. J. (2012). Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science - practice, principles, and challenges. Sustainability Science, 7 (Supplement 1), 25-43

Paper short abstract:

Researchers in developing countries face many challenges in their research environments, limiting their capability and capacity to produce knowledge. This paper brings to light the challenges faced by the academic research community in Kenya, and the associated global inequalities.

Paper long abstract:

Research forms an important development agenda of any nation. However, research environments differ between regions and nations resulting in global inequalities in the production and consumption of the outputs of research. This paper presents the findings of a study that sought to explore the major challenges facing research work in Kenya. The study employed a mixed methods research design involving 248 academic scientists in four disciplines across four public universities in Kenya. The results indicate major challenges facing research work as including problems of funding and access to special equipment, scarce information resources, rigid bureaucratic structures and processes in Kenyan universities, lack of and/or insufficient policies, weak links with industry, stiff competition among the universities and non-observation of research ethics. All of these undermine the research processes. The results are discussed in the light of the resulting global inequalities, by making references to the differences in research and knowledge production processes between the developed world and the Kenyan case. The subsequent recommendations provide guidelines for addressing the challenges, towards the promotion and improvement of research environments in Kenya and developing countries in general.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation seeks to establish core principles and methods which can support an intellectual practice capable of working across multiple disciplines, informed by and contributing to discourses at all levels and locations

Paper long abstract:

This presentation builds on the IKM Emergent Programme, which drew researchers and practitioners together to explore the functioning of the development knowledge ecology, and a review of subsequent progress being published as a chapter in EADI's book on development studies later this year. It will outline the need for and give examples of emerging conceptual, methodological and practical approaches which aim to enable development studies to function as a hub for transdisciplinary work within academic settings and to interact effectively with external social processes ranging from global policy to local practice.

Its core concepts are the need to for good links between the knowledge development actors - aka ordinary people - use in their daily lives and knowledge produced professionally in order to support development. This is considered in relation to interfaces between researchers and local communities and, on a systemic level, to the knowledge processes required to achieve the SDGs. Second it addresses multiple knowledges, how 'knowledges' from different disciplines, schools of thought or derived from different learning processes, cultures or world views can be assessed and brought into constructive dialogue. Finally, it will explore the idea and potential benefits of a development knowledge ecology and some of the practical data and information issues which are key to making such a concept a reality.

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses co-creative research processes to investigate community-led innovations to support sustainable social change and challenge power and agency in development. We present case studies of using creative approaches to address sorcery and gender related violence in Papua New Guinea.

Paper long abstract:

The field of international development is characterised by uneven power dynamics between those who fund programs and those who are regarded as beneficiaries of such initiatives. A gap often exists between western frameworks and developing locally appropriate solutions to development. To address this gap and make visible everyone's varied contributions, arts-based approaches can create spaces that acknowledge people's creative and innovative engagements embedded in local contexts. Here, creative processes embedded in the arts based forms are critical in ensuring that these spaces provide equal opportunities to participants while exploring different perceptions, understandings and tensions. In these spaces arts based practitioners can contribute to mediate tenuous spaces using the tools and processes that artistic practices offer.

In this paper, we draw on our collective experience using storytelling, drama and film for research, advocacy and monitoring and evaluation. We present case studies of undertaking action research using creative approaches to develop communication strategies to address sorcery and gender related violence in Papua New Guinea. In partnership with local human rights organisations we used participatory creative methods including digital storytelling and process drama forms to yield nuanced understandings of local conceptualisations and knowledges, and to uncover innovative community-led approaches addressing the issue of violence. Incorporating an indigenous research framework, the project emphasises joint ownership of narratives and visual outputs which in turn are shared with communities and stakeholders nationally. This paper then makes a key contribution to understanding collaborative and co-creative research processes to investigate community-led innovations that can support sustainable social change and challenge power and agency in development.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores methods of co-production of knowledge between forecast users, social scientists, meteorologists and local forecasters focusing on equally valuing different sources of knowledge to enable a greater uptake of Met Office generated climate information by farmers in Burkina Faso.

Paper long abstract:

Climate change is having significant impact on climate extremes in West Africa. Moreover, it is affecting the indigenous indicators that farmers in these regions have used to predict the weather and seasonal climate. Conversely, scientific data, generated by Meteorological Offices worldwide, is becoming increasingly able to forecast weather and climate which could increase people's resilience to climate shocks. However, many barriers exist in making this information accessible, relevant and useable for people at risk including illiteracy and lack of access to radio or smartphones. Access to information also differs across socio-economic and gender delineations. In addition, there often exists a lack of trust in scientific data and a preference for long-held indigenous knowledge and techniques for forecasting.

This research, funded by NERC Innovation Placement scheme, focuses on identifying conditions necessary for co-producing consensus forecasts which focus on equally valuing different sources of knowledge, such as local indicators as well as scientific knowledge. What spaces and processes could enable farming households in Burkina Faso, traditional forecasters and Meteorological Office scientists to change the way they perceive and value each other's knowledge concerning seasonal weather forecasts? The paper explores how participatory techniques can be used to create disruption in the current way stakeholders acknowledge and analyse forecasts in order to allow for a co-production process to happen. Co-produced consensus forecasts, equally valuing all sources of knowledge, would lead to greater uptake of scientific climate information which, in turn, would improve people's resilience to climate extremes.

Paper short abstract:

In the Lake Victoria Basin, a consortium of researchers led by climate scientists at the University of Leeds and the Met Office - are trying to understand what future rainfall patterns hold for economic development in the region over the coming decades.

Paper long abstract:

The Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) programme aims 'to generate fundamentally new climate science focused on Africa, and to ensure that this science has an impact on human development across the continent.' In the Lake Victoria Basin, predicting the onset and severity of the rainy seasons into the future is critical for development decision-making at virtually all levels. In this paper, two development scholars, i.e. a social anthropologist (Ainslie) and a scholar of critical pedagogy (Walker) critically explore their interactions with the UK climate scientists leading the four year research project and try to make sense of these interactions and their import for East African decision-makers.