Our role in transforming research collaborations
The role of research management and its contribution towards achieving a sustainable world through transformative research collaborations between Africa and the global North.
Abstract
Launched on 5 July 2023, the Africa Charter was co-created by Africa’s major higher education and science constituencies. It is an Africa-centred framework to enable transformative research collaborations which can advance the continent’s place in the global production of scientific knowledge.
It describes the multiple layers of imbalances that currently exist within the global academic system and presents principles for redressing these, including the need to develop sustainable research management. The belief is that a rebalanced academic system can better address the multiple global challenges that need to be overcome to achieve a sustainable future for everyone. Research management has played and will continue to play a key role in transnational research collaborations. It is implicated in the existing inequities within the academic system and therefore is an integral part of the solution.
The University of Bristol is a member of the steering committee for the Africa Charter. Our poster will report and present on Charter initiatives that Bristol and its partners are collaborating on which have significance for research management. These include the development of a Theory of Change that will capture the expected outcomes and impacts of implementing a transformative collaboration mode in Africa-global North research projects. Visually the poster will centre around a Theory of Change graphic. This will highlight the implications for and role to be played by research management, identifying pathways and actions to support transformative transnational collaborations between Africa and the global North.
The poster will also reference other initiatives to provide contextual case studies. For example, Bristol is working with the University of Cape Town to investigate strategies for strengthening institutional support for knowledge co-creation, transdisciplinary and equitable partnership working between the two institutions. The project is bringing together research managers to feed into the co-production of an action plan for embedding change at both institutions.