Research News

An earlier news story (click here) reported the initial results of the consultation on research priorities for DFID.

Since then, the total number of responses to the various surveys has reached more than 700, from all corners of the world.

Further analysis of the contributions reveals some interesting points:

Respondents to the question on sustainable agriculture addressed several themes:

• the need to work at grass roots levels; although some contributors suggested that subsistence farmers were often not aware of potential new areas for diversification. New technologies and new crop varieties that will lead to sustainability and counter some of the effects of climate change need to be developed.
• The impact of climate change was noted with suggestions of closer monitoring and new crop varieties being the most common responses. Many respondents emphasised the need for irrigation systems to combat drought as well as the need for clean water for survival of people and livestock.
• the need for new technologies was raised by a majority of respondents but how these could be harnessed remains elusive.

Respondents to the question on health and diseases emphasised the continuing need to develop more vaccines for the killer diseases and the need to move to a more primary health care approach based upon early education and thus disease prevention rather than cure.

For the question on good governance, anti-corruption stands out as the major theme to ensure good governance. A way of achieving this is to have end users and government officials involved in all internationally funded research. Another frequent suggestion was that teaming researchers from the north and south would assist in this respect.

Regarding capacity building, the major focus from respondents was on training and employment of local researchers. The need for exchanges of personnel was also a strong focus as was the need to build in country incentives such as inclusion in research or employment on research projects for people to remain there. It was also argued that intermediaries such as the media have a powerful role in generating awareness.

Regarding research communication and dissemination, the need to get research into practice has featured in some responses to most questions. The role of the media wa mentioned as important as respondents felt it vital that such dissemination not be restricted to academic journals but short summaries and media press releases would be more important to the end user of research. Ensuring that local institutions have internet access was also a strong point. Sponsorship and funding for dissemination were also raised and many respondents felt that every research proposal need to include a dissemination element before being funded.

On the question concerning multi-donor collaboration, respondents stressed the need for cooperation with many stating the need for a multi-agency response calling on renowned centres of excellence in fields to build capacity in local partners.

How to give your views

You can contribute to a blog for the consultation here, join the consultation d-group here, or email r4d-consult@dgroups.org.

For documentation associated with the consultation, click here.