Barrett, E, Conway, PF, Farren, S, McEvoy, P, Nakabugo, GM,

2010

Development-related Research Capacity in Irish and African Higher Education Institutions:Findings from a Stakeholder Consultation StudyDevelopment-related Research Capacity in Irish and African Higher Education Institutions:Findings from a Stakeholder Consultation Study

DublinDublin

Irish African Partnership for Research Capacity BuildingIrish African Partnership for Research Capac

Published

 

Executive Summary

1. In a world in which socio-economic development is rapidly becoming more knowledge-intensive and is relying increasingly on professional and managerial specialists with advanced training, the role of higher education becomes a crucial element for a balanced and coherent national development strategy. This is especially true for developing countries.

2. Meanwhile, the link between research and policy in development is of increasing interest to both researchers and policy-makers. Both parties are interested in knowing what works. Everywhere there is a critical need to generate knowledge that can be used to improve service delivery, policies and practices. Many research findings are available to inform policy-makers on poverty prevalence, HIV/AIDS, unemployment, better quality health and education, and service delivery, but more often than not a gap exists between research results and the desired outcome of putting them into practice. This is of particular concern in terms of the challenge of meeting the MDGs.
3. Though there are a variety of definitions of research capacity building / strengthening, some common threads are discernible:

• It operates at three levels: individual, institutional and the external environment.
• It is context-specific.
• It is a conscious intervention, designed in response to an assessment, or needs analysis, and motivated by some rationale of desired change.
• It builds on existing capacity, and is therefore part of a wider continuum of knowledge and understanding.
• It is on-going: very often long-term, with no clear cut-off points.
• It needs to be sustainable, and seeks to confer sustainable benefits.

4. Throughout the 13 institutions included in the consultation, there was a clear desire to become more research intensive. This was accompanied by a drive towards 4th level education and a strong focus on efforts to build a critical mass of researchers around key themes or 'clusters'. In both the Irish and African universities, support is available to equip researchers with skills in areas such as bid writing and management of budgets. Much of this support is provided by research support offices, research managers or through training departments.

5. Many of the opportunities and constraints to RCB cited by the interviewees during the field research were of a generic nature, and applicable almost irrespective of either the thematic area of research engagement, or geographic location. These generic factors, though critically important, are already familiar to most and include:

• The need for a clear and coherent research policy framework.
• A nurturing and enabling environment for research at institution level, including a career structure for research personnel, and a mentorship culture, involving guidance and peer support arrangements.
• Obstacles to publishing, especially for Southern partners.
• Funding support.
• Research infrastructure.
• Influences exerted by national research assessment exercises where these exist.

6. For the purposes of this Report, it is clearly more productive to focus on factors which relate more directly to research in the international development context, and on the global South in particular. Looking more specifically at RCB within this international development context, some key observations emerged from the study:

• North-South and South-South institutional partnerships are vital to capacity-building and knowledge-sharing, especially in terms of the opportunities they offer for collaborative PhD research supervision, and sandwich-type programmes. In the context of these structured partnerships, the premium element of fees payable by overseas partner candidates should be reconsidered.
• One recognised advantage of partnership is the ability to facilitate multi-disciplinary research engagement, especially between the sciences and the humanities. There is a recognition that research needs to become increasingly multi-disciplinary, prompted by emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals (education, health, food and livelihood security, etc), and cross-cutting issues such as gender, environment, and human rights. It is felt that the Irish African Partnership (IAP) and its sister projects funded under the Programme of Strategic Cooperation would allow researchers across the disciplinary spectrum to become more attuned to the need for global approaches to the prevailing challenges posed by climate change, environmental degradation, energy shortage, sustainable food production, and disease eradication.
• Development-related research is of value to the Irish universities and was part of a duty of civic engagement. It was also presented as an opportunity to build development strategies in Ireland while at the same time building the reputation of the institutions concerned.
• Research in the service of development is a function that requires a specific locus of responsibility within the organisational structure of institutions (including at faculty/school-level). Cross-disciplinary and trans-institutional mechanisms should be created to widen the circle of development engagement. The emergence of inter-faculty forums (e.g. Trinity International Development Initiative) is proving to be a success in practice, projecting development-related research to greater prominence.
• The 'language of development' should be encouraged to become more current in academic discourse, and collaborations/alliances between research academics and development practitioners should be promoted. Research outcomes related to development should reach a wider popular audience, and the scope for dissemination of research findings/outcomes to new audiences through more accessible media should be more widely exploited.

In addition to long-term human capital development short-term training and induction of researchers needs to be more systematic, in particular at the foundation stage; for example, an initial pre-doctoral programme on topics such as the selection/refinement of research problems, report-writing, research methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed), research ethics.

• Supervisor development: Training and induction into the supervisor's role and function is necessary.
• Clear and imaginative institutional policies are necessary to address gender related barriers to undertaking research, and to mainstream the practical implementation of the principle of gender equity.

7. Even though the relatively positive funding climate which prevailed in Ireland at the outset of this exercise had given way to a much more subdued mood by the time the results came to be analysed and written up, this Stakeholder Consultation has nonetheless proved to be an extremely valuable exercise for the IAP and, arguably, for the wider development community in Ireland. It provided the opportunity for dialogue, transparency and clarification of partners¿ needs and expectations for future collaboration. IAPRCB.  

Executive Summary

1. In a world in which socio-economic development is rapidly becoming more knowledge-intensive and is relying increasingly on professional and managerial specialists with advanced training, the role of higher education becomes a crucial element for a balanced and coherent national development strategy. This is especially true for developing countries.

2. Meanwhile, the link between research and policy in development is of increasing interest to both researchers and policy-makers. Both parties are interested in knowing what works. Everywhere there is a critical need to generate knowledge that can be used to improve service delivery, policies and practices. Many research findings are available to inform policy-makers on poverty prevalence, HIV/AIDS, unemployment, better quality health and education, and service delivery, but more often than not a gap exists between research results and the desired outcome of putting them into practice. This is of particular concern in terms of the challenge of meeting the MDGs.
3. Though there are a variety of definitions of research capacity building / strengthening, some common threads are discernible:

• It operates at three levels: individual, institutional and the external environment.
• It is context-specific.
• It is a conscious intervention, designed in response to an assessment, or needs analysis, and motivated by some rationale of desired change.
• It builds on existing capacity, and is therefore part of a wider continuum of knowledge and understanding.
• It is on-going: very often long-term, with no clear cut-off points.
• It needs to be sustainable, and seeks to confer sustainable benefits.

4. Throughout the 13 institutions included in the consultation, there was a clear desire to become more research intensive. This was accompanied by a drive towards 4th level education and a strong focus on efforts to build a critical mass of researchers around key themes or 'clusters'. In both the Irish and African universities, support is available to equip researchers with skills in areas such as bid writing and management of budgets. Much of this support is provided by research support offices, research managers or through training departments.

5. Many of the opportunities and constraints to RCB cited by the interviewees during the field research were of a generic nature, and applicable almost irrespective of either the thematic area of research engagement, or geographic location. These generic factors, though critically important, are already familiar to most and include:

• The need for a clear and coherent research policy framework.
• A nurturing and enabling environment for research at institution level, including a career structure for research personnel, and a mentorship culture, involving guidance and peer support arrangements.
• Obstacles to publishing, especially for Southern partners.
• Funding support.
• Research infrastructure.
• Influences exerted by national research assessment exercises where these exist.

6. For the purposes of this Report, it is clearly more productive to focus on factors which relate more directly to research in the international development context, and on the global South in particular. Looking more specifically at RCB within this international development context, some key observations emerged from the study:

• North-South and South-South institutional partnerships are vital to capacity-building and knowledge-sharing, especially in terms of the opportunities they offer for collaborative PhD research supervision, and sandwich-type programmes. In the context of these structured partnerships, the premium element of fees payable by overseas partner candidates should be reconsidered.
• One recognised advantage of partnership is the ability to facilitate multi-disciplinary research engagement, especially between the sciences and the humanities. There is a recognition that research needs to become increasingly multi-disciplinary, prompted by emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals (education, health, food and livelihood security, etc), and cross-cutting issues such as gender, environment, and human rights. It is felt that the Irish African Partnership (IAP) and its sister projects funded under the Programme of Strategic Cooperation would allow researchers across the disciplinary spectrum to become more attuned to the need for global approaches to the prevailing challenges posed by climate change, environmental degradation, energy shortage, sustainable food production, and disease eradication.
• Development-related research is of value to the Irish universities and was part of a duty of civic engagement. It was also presented as an opportunity to build development strategies in Ireland while at the same time building the reputation of the institutions concerned.
• Research in the service of development is a function that requires a specific locus of responsibility within the organisational structure of institutions (including at faculty/school-level). Cross-disciplinary and trans-institutional mechanisms should be created to widen the circle of development engagement. The emergence of inter-faculty forums (e.g. Trinity International Development Initiative) is proving to be a success in practice, projecting development-related research to greater prominence.
• The 'language of development' should be encouraged to become more current in academic discourse, and collaborations/alliances between research academics and development practitioners should be promoted. Research outcomes related to development should reach a wider popular audience, and the scope for dissemination of research findings/outcomes to new audiences through more accessible media should be more widely exploited.

In addition to long-term human capital development short-term training and induction of researchers needs to be more systematic, in particular at the foundation stage; for example, an initial pre-doctoral programme on topics such as the selection/refinement of research problems, report-writing, research methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed), research ethics.

• Supervisor development: Training and induction into the supervisor's role and function is necessary.
• Clear and imaginative institutional policies are necessary to address gender related barriers to undertaking research, and to mainstream the practical implementation of the principle of gender equity.

7. Even though the relatively positive funding climate which prevailed in Ireland at the outset of this exercise had given way to a much more subdued mood by the time the results came to be analysed and written up, this Stakeholder Consultation has nonetheless proved to be an extremely valuable exercise for the IAP and, arguably, for the wider development community in Ireland. It provided the opportunity for dialogue, transparency and clarification of partners¿ needs and expectations for future collaboration. IAPRCB.

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