The strategic research sought to elicit a ‘partners’ perspective’ on participation in UKRI funded research around global challenges. Data were collected rapidly over a period of three weeks through webinar-based focus group discussions, interviews and written testimonies, with three of the co-investigators taking responsibility for data collection and preliminary analysis:
- Praxis targeted civil society practitioners based in the global South
- UNESCO Chair (PRIA and University of Victoria) targeted academics based in the global South
- INTRAC targeted practitioners from UK-based INGOs and research capacity building providers based in the global North.
To identify participants we reached out within our own networks and shared possible contacts; samples were therefore purposive and based on existing relationships. Originally we anticipated using primarily webinars and group interviews, but many individuals were not available to join joint sessions and respondents were therefore offered three options: webinar, individual interview, or written response. Some responses were very detailed, while others were very brief. An overview of the data will be submitted to the UK Data Service.
We deliberately targeted a mix of people who could be potential research partners. Therefore some knew about and had been involved in recent GCRF or UKRI-funded international development research schemes. Others were less or not at all engaged with UKRI-funded schemes, but had been involved in other UK-government funded research (e.g. through DFID programmes) or research collaborations funded by other governments or donors.
A summary analysis of the data from the three partner groups is available at the following links:
Data analysis: Civil Society based in the global South
Rethinking Research Collaborative 