09/11/20

Level the playing field for science in the global South

MADISE意见主要
It is vital for scientists to work together across national and regional boundaries, says Nyovani Madise. Copyright:文森特Tremeau/World Bank,(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). This photo was cropped.

速度阅读

  • 可持续发展目标已帮助推动LMIC的提高,生产力和研究质量
  • Nyovani Madise is head of Malawi office of the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP)
  • More needs to be done to level the playing field for LMIC scientists and research groups

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Nyovani Madise写道,社区参与,开放访问将加强发展中国家的科学研究。

当前的COVID-19紧急情况表明,如果需要更多证据,则与世界之间的互连以及科学家在国家和地区边界之间继续合作的重要性。尽管危机有经济,政治和社会影响,但World Science Day for Peace and Developmentwe should reflect on the progress made in global development as a result of scientific cooperation.

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), we have seen a great increase in productivity and in the quality of research and innovation. These include major multi-country clinical trials and advances in health, mobile technology and data sharing, and the spread of affordable, sustainable energy technologies.

This progress has been pushed forward by the Sustainable Development Goals, agreed by all countries in 2015 as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”. Countries have chosen which of the 17 SDGs to focus on, and this has created coalitions of shared interest around these goals.

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英国官方发展援助(ODA)通过与其他全球资助者的加入计划和资助合作伙伴关系所利用,为跨学科合作创造了许多机会,并提高了全球研究生产力,从而使所有人受益。它还支持脆弱国家,人道主义紧急情况和冲突的研究合作。

However, more needs to be done to ‘level the playing field’ for LMIC scientists and research groups. I would make four broad recommendations to funders and policy makers:

First, there should be an increase in equitable partnerships. This leads to co-creation of ideas and co-authorship of research papers. Crucially it encourages scientifically excellent research, driven by the needs of research users and policymakers in LMICs. Such research is likely to have an impact because of its contextual relevance and ownership by LMIC stakeholders.

Most UK ODA-funded research strengthens the research capacity of researchers in the UK as well as LMICs. In light of that fact, more programmes should be led by LMICs. This is now being implemented in new programmes by funders, notably UK Research and Innovation, and the National Institute of Health Research, with guidance on good practice collated by theUK Collaborative on Development Research.

Secondly, there is now greater expectation from the UK and LMICs that ODA-funded research should involve and engage communities. Research teams are encouraged to dedicate time and effort from the outset to engage, share knowledge and empower communities to have shared ownership of research. This can lead to more accurate data, more use of results, and acceptance of future projects.


It also enriches the research process for researchers. For example, working in informal settlements in Nairobi, researchers found poor sanitation was making children sick with diarrhoea, and engaging with the communities led to great improvements. We need dedicated funding or greater flexibility with funding for better community involvement.

Thirdly, open access to research findings aims to make the published outputs of research widely and freely accessible to all, under conditions that allow maximum reuse. Open access is central to the UK Government’s ambitions. Its research and innovation funding agencies are reviewing their policies on it.

作为这项工作的一部分,他们委托国际发展慈善机构INASP就开放访问LMIC利益相关者的挑战和机会进行咨询。他们的report10月份出版,发现在当前的开放访问模型下,高级文章处理费用来自LMIC的缺点研究人员,他们经常不得不从自己的口袋里付款。为了确保更多公平的政策,资助者必须继续协作以审查其开放访问政策,并加入诸如开放访问出版计划的倡议 -Plan S.

第四,支持个人或者是至关重要的der to conduct high quality research, and to train upcoming generations that are the future researchers in a developing country. Stronger local research institutions and networks should be a key goal of research capacity strengthening efforts. They provide the infrastructure and architecture on which researchers depend. It is vital to strengthen the capacity of the research and innovation in LMICs. This includes people, the organisations they work in, and the legal and regulatory systems that affect them. Doing this will produce good research. It will also allow it to be put to good use in policy and practice.

There are now many exciting examples of how these approaches are working all over the world, including notable successes from UK-funded partnerships. Some of these relate directly to peace and health in conflict situations, such as the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Early Childhood Development for Peacebuilding (链接), working in six countries, and the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Post-conflict Trauma (PrOTeCT), which is training clinicians in surgical techniques for gunshot and landmine injuries and developing a thriving research community between the UK, Sri Lanka, Gaza and Lebanon.

其他人则专注于技术基础设施,例如Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA)Project使用平方公里阵列作为催化剂来促进伙伴关系,促进南部非洲八个伙伴国家的教育和经济发展。还有许多例子,说明了英国支持的科学合作如何增强全球国家对COVID-19紧急情况所面临的许多挑战的能力。

World Science Day is an opportunity to renew our commitment to shared scientific endeavour and to forge stronger partnerships for science, peace and development.

Nyovani Madise is the director of research and development policy and head of the Malawi office of the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP).

*本文于2020年11月10日进行了纠正,以将参考资料删除为56亿英镑。