Short Abstract:

Strong southern research leadership is essential to maintain evidence-based decision making for development. This MIT Theory-U presencing workshop will bring together researchers policymakers and practitioners to co-design prototype elements of a global social platform for piloting afterwards.

Long Abstract:

Society is changing rapidly and developing innovative ways to share knowledge. The purpose of this session at the DSA2020 is to discuss how technology can help ensure southern research can contribute to solving local problems. The session is just part of a longer-term process with northern and southern researchers using reflective and collaborative approaches to identify and then test new ways of using technology to engage with policymakers and practitioners to serve the needs of local communities. In preliminary discussions with regional facilitators in the AuthorAID (https://www.authoraid.info/en/) network we have already identified three distinct challenge areas: 1) Access to high quality relevant findings; 2) Channels or spaces for communication between and among researchers and decision makers; and 3) Researchers’ capacity to influence policy and practice. We invite you to join us to identify possible technological solutions that can be piloted on AuthorAID and other platforms. Before the conference there will be an online discussion using a padlet pinboard to identify specific challenges amenable to technological solutions. The discussion during DSA2020 will review and refine these challenges and co-create some possible solutions for piloting. After the conference you will be invited to be involved in these pilot projects and to a second online workshop in early 2021 to review progress and identify further collaborative work. If you are interested in being part of this longer-term collaborative process sign up on this EventBrite Page (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unleashing-southern-research-leadership-tickets-106071970118). If you would simply like to join the online discussion during DSA2020 there will be a link to join the session from this panel details page.