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SciDev.Net turns the spotlight on South-South research collaboration

Recent years have seen a growing interest in the idea that a potentially rewarding and effective way of building scientific capacity in developing countries is by encouraging researchers in these countries to collaborate on joint research projects or programmes.

This week, SciDev.Net publishes a set of articles outlining the advantages – and challenges – of South-South research collaboration. We hope that they will be of interest not only to those already thinking of engaging in (or supporting) such activities, but to all who are keen to explore ways of building research capacity that do not rely on ‘Northern’ expertise.

Read SciDev.Net’s new spotlight on South-South Cooperation.

*    An overview policy brief sets out the logic of South-South research collaboration, outlining the opportunities and the challenges that collaborative initiatives face, and providing some conclusions on what makes them successful.

*    In an accompanying guest editorial, Athar Osama argues that a substantial amount of further research is needed in order to identify more accurately the key factors behind success.

*    As a practical example of what collaboration can achieve, Thomas Egwang, a prominent Ugandan researcher, describes how regional cooperation between scientists has helped to boost malaria research in Sub-Saharan Africa.

*    Mohamed Hassan, executive director of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World (TWAS), argues that collaboration works best when each partner has already established a strong domestic research base.

*    In an interview with Carla Almeida, Jacob Palis, president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences – and also president of TWAS – sketches out the possible future growth of South-South research collaboration.

*    Dinesh Abrol and Purnima Rupal provide a brief analysis of the factors behind the recent growth in research collaboration between India and China, and analyse its potential implications for both countries.

Finally, we provide annotated links to key documents and organisations that address many of the above issues. And we have also brought together recent news, features and other items from the website that are relevant to the same themes.

Please pass this information on to colleagues and those within your network who will find it of interest. All our material is free to reproduce provided that the author and source are credited.

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Best Wishes,

David Dickson
Director, SciDev.Net