NN41, December 2008
The New Politics of Partnership: Peril or Promise?
First NORRAG Cluster Meeting in the Netherlands: A Short Report
By Ad Boeren, Nuffic, The Hague
Email: aboeren@nuffic.nlNuffic organized a first NORRAG cluster meeting in the Netherlands on 6 October in Utrecht. Dr Jos Walenkamp, Director Knowledge and Innovation, Nuffic, welcomed the participants. The meeting consisted of four topics:
1. Dr Henk Molenaar, Deputy Director of NWO-Wotro, presented the outcome of the international conference ?Knowledge on the Move: research for Development in a globalising World? which took place 26-28 February 2008 in The Hague (www.knowledgeonthemove.nl). The objective of the conference was to reflect upon the state of affairs concerning research for development and to generate a new spirit and new enthusiasm, particularly in the Netherlands. The conference took place against the backdrop of a number of global trends:
? The global context for development and international cooperation is changing rapidly;
? Knowledge and innovation are increasingly recognized as basic ingredients for economic and social development;
? Unfortunately, in many of the poorest developing countries, the capacity for
research and innovation is fragmented and even deteriorating;
? Because of its international orientation, research is becoming less embedded in the societal context;
? As a consequence, research cooperation and development cooperation seem to be moving in opposite directions, one focusing on international research agendas and the other on national development agendas;
Concluding observation: Research for development finds itself caught in between.
The participants of the conference looked at these trends and challenges from three perspectives: a) research partnerships; b) embedding research, and c) research capacity. They concluded that the new understanding of research for development acknowledges the need for a more equitable global knowledge order in which knowledge and research capacities are widely distributed to be able to link generalized and contextualized knowledge. Such a global knowledge order is essential if we are to meet the development challenges of the 21st century. The capacities needed to meet these challenges relate to the ability for transdisciplinary research and interactive learning within innovation systems. But they equally relate to disciplinary quality and rigour. These two capabilities ? interdisciplinary skills and disciplinary knowledge ? are complementary and indispensable for research for development, which needs to be grounded in both society and academia. This means that research for development has to be highly networked both locally and internationally.
The conference book is expected to be published within the next few months.
2. Dr Robert Palmer, NORRAG, gave a short presentation of the findings of the NORRAG web-survey among its members. He highlighted the composition of the membership, their professional interests, how the members use the NORRAG facilities, and their preferred topics for future issues of NORRAG News. The topics which gained most support are: TVET (21%); ii) Partnership, Education Financing, Aid Modalities (9%); iii) Access, Equity, and Quality (9%).
3. Professor Kenneth King, CAS-University of Edinburgh, NORRAG NEWS Editor, discussed with the audience some topics related to ?The Politics of Partnerships?, the working title of the next NORRAG NEWS issue. Professor King explained how topics of NORRAG NEWS are chosen and contributions solicited. While in the past a small number of ?usual suspects? were asked to write a short piece, nowadays members spontaneously submit articles once the theme for the coming issue has been announced. Contributions come from all over the world.
It is a challenge to increase the membership in non-English speaking countries. To tackle the under representation of the network in some regions, policy briefs (synthesis of the main topics in a NN issue) are now being translated into French, Spanish, German, Arabic and Chinese. Adding a translation into Russian in the near future has also been suggested.
NORRAG NEWS has little competition because it is not a peer reviewed academic journal but a platform where academicians and professionals can share ideas, views and experiences in a quick and informal way. It that sense it is unique.
4. Ad Boeren, Senior Policy Advisor, Knowledge and Innovation Directorate of Nuffic, led a brain storming session on what NORRAG could mean to the Dutch members, and what the members could do for NORRAG. The audience was positive about organizing NORRAG meetings like this one, but the topic of the meeting should be more closely linked to current or upcoming policy debates and should avoid duplicating similar initiatives by other networks, such as those of DPRN and NWO/Wotro. It would be wise for NORRAG to explore where it could organically link up with those initiatives and major policy meetings in the Netherlands. Younger researchers should be encouraged to contribute to NORRAG NEWS.
Although the attendance of this first meeting was smaller than expected, 15 of the 86 registered Dutch members showed up, the participants were positive in their evaluation of the event. Overall, the initiative was welcomed and should have a follow-up.
Full contents of NORRAG NEWS 41.
Download the full issue of NORRAG NEWS 41 in pdf.