British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
African Answers to African Problems Needs Stronger Humanities and Social Science research base
The British Academy and the Association of Commonwealth Universities argue in their Nairobi Report, to be launched on Friday, 27 March, that it is essential for the humanities and social science research base in African universities to be strengthened so that African scholars can more effectively address African problems.
The report – the culmination of a two-year process of dialogue between African and UK scholars - makes three main recommendations:
- Improve structures, systems and governance
Many of the barriers to research are organisational and managerial rather than simply financial. New money for research can only be provided if there is confidence in the ability of institutions to manage it and to deliver good research.
- Forge collaborations within Africa
If African research is to be strengthened, then African researchers need to be better connected to each other, as well as to the rest of the world. Improving collaboration and networking within African must be a priority, and must be encouraged and supported within research funding programmes.
- Invest in academics early research career
It is ultimately individual academics who will revitalise research and take humanities and social sciences scholarship into the future. Postgraduate training must be dramatically increased, but it must also be harnessed more effectively so that researchers can build an active postdoctoral career on doctoral foundations. Achieving this at the scale required, and to make best use of the money available, will require new methods of delivery and new types of PhD. More of this training will also need to take place within Africa and there is great potential for partnerships between African and UK institutions.
Dr Charles Chillimampunga, Director, University of Malawi Centre for Social Research said:
“Increasing staff development must take place in Africa because this is relatively less expensive than overseas scholarship. But there is need for the universities to provide the staff with an environment that is conducive to research and teaching if brain drain is to be reduced. Developing staff locally is important also because staff are likely to do much of their research and teaching on African issues/problems and to publish their research findings in local journals. Currently, there is greater flow of staff on training programmes, from the South to the North. There is need to increase the flow from the North to the South, so that more staff from the North can use their expertise to train staff in Africa.”
Professor Duncan Gallie, FBA, Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the British Academy, said:
"There is a vital need to foster a strong humanities and social science research community in Africa that can take its full place in international research networks. In a period of rapid and often turbulent change, it is essential that African scholars are able to chart and to understand the transformations occurring in African societies and cultures and their impact on the quality of people’s lives. Effective policies, critical to the continent’s future, can only be developed with deep and textured knowledge of the societies in which they are to be implemented."
The Nairobi Report will be launched on Friday 27 March at the British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH. For further details please visit http://www.britac.ac.uk/intl/nairobi-launch.cfm or contact Rachel Paniagua, International Relations Manager, British Academy r.paniagua@britac.ac.uk / 020 7969 5235.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Published:
24 March 2009
1. For media enquiries please contact, Michael Reade, External Relations: m.reade@britac.ac.uk /020 7969 5263.
2. The origin of the report dates back to 2007 when the British Academy and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) invited more than 150 academics and staff development and research support managers based in universities across Africa to offer their views on North-South collaboration. This dialogue continued in September 2008 with a meeting in Nairobi, at which some sixty academics and research leaders from the UK and Africa came together to discuss the salient issues raised by the initial consultation.
The British Academy
3. The British Academy is the UK ’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in these disciplines throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value. More information about the Academy’s work is available at www.britac.ac.uk.
4. The Academy’s own engagement with Africa has been long-standing, with the support and sponsorship of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) forming a key part of its international work for almost half a century. The BIEA’s mission to foster collaboration in the humanities and social sciences between scholars in the UK and Africa, ties in closely with the Academy’s ethos for international engagement, and its focus on the development of a new generation of scholars is mirrored in the Academy’s own focus on early-career and inter-generational research through its visiting fellowship and post-doctoral fellowships scheme for early career researchers. More: www.biea.ac.uk
5. Inter-generational research and cross- cultural partnerships are also supported through the British Academy’s UK-Africa Academic Partnership scheme which supports the development of ongoing links between UK and African research institutions, through a programme of capacity training and mutual exchange of knowledge and resource. It was the development
The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)
6.The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was founded in 1913. It is the world's oldest inter-university network and approximately 500 universities across the Commonwealth are members of the ACU. More information about the Association of Commonwealth Universities can be found at www.acu.ac.uk
7. Current ACU activities in Africa include substantial projects on research management and access to academic journals for research and teaching, funded respectively by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Arcadia Trust, in addition to networks of key practitioners in these and other areas such as Human Resource Management, Public Relations and Communications and Extension work.
8. The Association houses the Africa Unit, an initiative funded by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills, which helps to broker partnerships between African and UK higher and further education institutions, and also provides the secretariat for the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, which will this year support scholarship and fellowship opportunities for some 1400 individuals from throughout the Commonwealth.