Funded by
Brazil
Dr Rudi Rocha Federal, University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Professor Sonia Bhalotra, University of Essex
Access to Health Care, Health Outcomes and Hospital Performance in Brazilian Cities
AF160082 Three-Year £84,155
In September 2015, economists from 44 countries signed the Economists Declaration on Universal Health Coverage, calling upon global policymakers to prioritize it as a pillar of sustainable development. The Declaration was published in The Lancet and publicized in The New York Times. Brazil is exemplary among developing countries in having instituted universal health coverage. However the system is struggling under a growing burden of chronic disease, alongside continued high levels of infectious disease. The government has responded by introducing in 2003 a National Policy on Emergency Care. This project assesses the impacts of innovations within this new scheme on mortality and hospitalization rates and on the efficiency of the health system. This will involve a major effort of matching administrative with census data into a geocoded longitudinal data set, at the census tract or hospital level, and employing a state of the art econometric approach to evaluate the policy impact.
Dr Leonardo Weller, Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV)
Dr Ali Coskun Tuncer, University College London
The relation between democracy, autocracy and sovereign debt in Brazil: How polity shaped government-creditor relations in the first age of globalisation.
AF160123 Three-Year £96,399
Sovereign debt is a financial as well as a political topic. Politics shapes the way governments borrow and repay. The existing historical literature on the pre-1914 sovereign debt market focuses on creditors (the supply side) and assumes that autocratic regimes are more likely to default than democracies. This project claims that this model is oversimplified. Focusing on major debtors (the demand side) from 1870 to 1914, it researches a range of combinations between polity and credit records: Russia and Mexico, which were autocratic and creditworthy; the Ottoman Empire and Egypt, autocratic defaulters that became creditworthy; Argentina and Spain, democracies that built a reputation after defaulting; Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria, which were democratic defaulters; Chile and Brazil, oligarchic regimes whose records oscillated between good and bad; and Romania, Portugal and Uruguay, creditworthy democracies. Based on these cases, we will construct a new econometric model to assess the relationship between polity and credit risk. Economic history is relatively undeveloped in Brazil and the research resources in the field are not comparable with Britain's. The project will contribute greatly to its improvement. It will enable the inclusion of the applicant and his institution in a broad and global network of researchers and the interaction of leading scholars from abroad with students and academics from Brazil. The project will also enable the training of the applicant in political science and quantitative methods which will be transferred through interactions with students and fellow researchers in classes, seminars and other future projects in Brazil. The project will produce new insight on the relation between politics and sovereign debt today. This is relevant for countries such as Brazil that have a record of debt mismanagement and new democratic institutions.
Dr Claudia Beltrao da Rosa, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro UNIRIO
Dr Federico Santangelo, Newcastle University
Images of the gods: the discourse on cult statues in Cicero and late Republican debates on Roman religion – building research capacity and collaborative international partnerships.
AF160128 Three-Year £98,810
This Fellowship will support the development of an outstanding Brazilian scholar, working with colleagues at Newcastle to enable the completion of a major study and to improve research capacity within Classics and Ancient History at her home institution and across Brazil. The focus of the project will be the discourse on cult statues in the work of the Roman intellectual and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC). Close attention will be given to the role of the engagement with divine images in Cicero’s reflection on the interplay between religion and politics in Republican Rome. This major study will lead to the applicant’s first substantial publication in English. For Brazil, this process would match the current expansion trend in Humanities graduate programs, at a time when Brazilian historians are increasingly keen to pursue the serious study of historical problems that are not only those of their home country. Graduate programs in the Humanities are a relatively new development in Brazil, and the evaluating bodies of Brazilian graduate and research programs are increasingly interested in pursuing the study of periods and themes beyond national history. The outputs, three international colloquia, as well as seminars to be held in Rio de Janeiro and at two universities located in the poorest regions in terms of economic and social development (the Midwest and the Northeast), will contribute to disseminating knowledge and good practice of historical research to a broad set of academic audiences with an interest in the Roman world, and more broadly in the interaction between politics and religion: scholars working in Classics, Anthropology, Law, and Philosophy. The Fellowship will enable training for the researcher at Newcastle and will support the creation of a collaborative partnership between UNIRIO and Newcastle, providing a platform for further intellectual and scholarly exchange between British and Brazilian researchers in the field.
Dr Silvia Marina Pinheiro, Fundação Getulio Vargas
Dr Diane Holt, University of Essex
Inclusion and Formalization of Amazonian Informal Entrepreneurs into MNC Value Chains: Mechanisms, Partnerships and Impacts
AF160034 Three-Year £104,030
This research focuses on the inclusion of indigenous and ‘traditional peoples’ living in forest reserves in the Brazilian state of Amazonas into Multi-National Corporations (MNC)’s value chains. Utilising a value chain framework the research focuses on low-income producers, local stakeholders and the key actors in the sustainable extraction of productive assets from the Amazon rainforest, especially in enhancing the benefits gained by the poorest in these communities. The research examines the formalization of informal entrepreneurs, identifying specific mechanisms used by MNCs to promote their inclusion into value chains, partnerships between State, NGOs, communities, or law enforcement and resultant impacts on local producers and their communities. Recommendations will be drafted to promote the equitable inclusion of ‘traditional peoples’ into inclusive value chains and promote their formalization; as a mechanism to support poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
Professor Maria Fernanda Peres, University of Sao Paulo
Professor Manuel Peter Eisner, University of Cambridge
Risk and Protective Factors for Adolescent Violent Behaviour in Sao Paulo, Brazil: The Sao Paulo Project on the Social Development of Children (SP-PROSO)
AF160099 Three-Year £81,000
The focus of this proposal is the investigation of risk and protective factors for violent behaviour and victimization among adolescents in Brazil, in a comparative, cross-cultural perspective. This will be reached by two main activities. The first is the conduction of a school based cross-sectional survey in Sao Paulo, using the same methodology previously used in Zurich and in Montevideo. At the same time, the applicant will participate in the development of a protocol for a longitudinal multi-county comparative study, the Evidence for Better Life project, leaded by the co-applicant. The training component will consist in group discussions, workshops and short courses in UK institutions with emphasis in data analysis. A violence prevention intervention and a training module on youth violence prevention will be formulated. This project has a strong potential to result in practical interventions that will contribute to prevent, control and reduce violence levels in Brazil.
Dr Raphael Corbi, University of Sao Paulo
Professor Paolo Surico, London Business School
Fiscal Policy and Labour Market Outcomes: Quasi-experimental Evidence from Brazil
AF160119 Three-Year £75,700
This project proposes to evaluate the ability of government interventions to stimulate the economy. By exploring a source of exogenous variation in fiscal spending at the municipal level in Brazil, we aim to estimate how many public sector jobs are created due to an increase in public spending and whether this policy exhibits important and hard to measure spillover effects into the income and employment of the private sector. In addition, we will be able to study how heterogeneous these effects are across Brazilian regions, according to their pre-existing economic conditions such as openness to trade and credit market constraints. A complementary aim of this research is to increase our understanding of the effects of fiscal policy on both income inequality and consumption inequality at the municipal level of disaggregation.
Malaysia
Dr Santhidran Sinnappan, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Dr Giuseppe Alessandro Veltri, University of Leicester
Engaging with Road Safety among Youth through Social Media
AF160094 Two-Year £23,640
Changing the behaviour of road users towards safer behaviours has been a subject of much interest to researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. It can be argued that the main thinking in this area has been much influenced by behavioural assumptions of rational behaviour. However, policymakers have seized on the idea that a better understanding of individual agent behaviour enables more effective policy to be carried out by ‘nudging’. A main implication of behavioural research is that it is possible to apply insights from bounded rationality theory to correct mistakes by citizens or to induce certain types of conduct in cases in which their behaviour is inconsistent. We aim to apply this approach in combination with network science insights through online social media. The goal of this project is designing and testing information provision about road safety disseminated by social networks means online targeting Malaysian youths to identify a potentially effective campaign.
Dr Ken Kyid Yeoh, University of Nottingham (Malaysia)
Professor Emmanuel Adegbite, De Montfort University
The Nature and Extent of CSR Stakeholder Engagement in the UK and Malaysia
AF160089 Two-Year £25,313
Even though firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance is dependent upon meeting the expectations and demands of various stakeholder groups, indications are that managers often make uninformed presumptions or misinterpret what these actual demands mean. This is especially prevalent in emerging economies where CSR decision-making is frequently non-strategic. Using a mixed methods approach (interviews and questionnaires), we explore how managers in 200 large Malaysian and UK firms undertake CSR in meeting stakeholder expectations. In addition, we will scrutinize stakeholder engagement of the Malaysian subsidiaries of UK firms to determine whether strategies employed are distinctive from those of their local peers. This will enhance our understanding of how CSR processes differ according to cultural and institutional differences. Implications of our research are relevant to the Fellowship’s aims of improving industry practice in both countries, enhancing research skills of applicants and the reputation of their respective institutions.
Dr Weng-Tink Chooi, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Professor Robert Logie, University of Edinburgh
Serial order memory efficiency in working memory (dual n-back) training – exploring implications for Malaysia’s education and health sectors.
AF160093 Two-Year £27,375
Cognitive Neuroscience/Psychology is still a relatively young field in Malaysia. While interest in the field is growing as psychology in general gains more attention in the country, there remains a need for established experts to help promote its growth and development. Cognitive training, specifically working memory training, has gained much attention in educational and health care settings. Over the past decade, there are multiple studies suggesting that repetitive practice of increasing levels of difficulty (adaptive training) in working memory are beneficial in improving academic achievements, and clinical symptoms in attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, stroke, and after head injuries. Although these studies show positive effects of working memory training, accumulated studies on working memory training do not provide conclusive evidence for concrete and lasting benefits of such training. The award will enable the Applicant to establish their own cognitive psychologylaboratory in Malaysia. This could be one of the few cognitive neuroscience/psychology laboratories in the country that trains future cognitive psychologists in Malaysia.
Dr Halimatus Sakdiah Minhat, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Dr Matthew Flynn, Newcastle University
Managing a greying social care workforce: a Malaysian ageing population imperative – exploring health management and employment issues.
AF160205 Two-Years £66,140
Ageing populations are putting pressure on the Malaysian eldercare sector as carers are at risk of being pushed out of work due to stress, physical strain or health problems. “Light-touch” healthcare interventions can benefit both carers (by avoiding early labour market exits) and employers (by retaining valued workers). In this project, Dr Minhat will work with colleagues at Newcastle University Institute for Ageing to identify and test interventions to support older social carers manage health issues. The project has four strands: 1) interviews with carers focused on their health concerns and support they need to maintain employment; 2) working with social care providers and employee representatives to identify and trial health care interventions; 3) a self-administered questionnaire of social care employers in both countries to test the feasibility and business case for such interventions and 4) a comparison of approaches in the UK and Malaysia. This Fellowship will build on collaborative relationships with practitioners who can use the research findings to support employers in the social care industry to make best use of older talent while supporting older carers in managing health and work.
Mexico
Dr Mauricio I. Dussauge-Laguna, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)
Professor Martin Lodge, London School of Economics and Political Science
Regulatory Capitalism and Development in Latin America: The Mexican Experience in Comparative Perspective
AF160229 Three-Year £111,000
Regulation and “regulatory capitalism” have become central topics for academics and policymakers around the world. In developed countries such as the UK, the quality, performance, and reputation of regulatory instruments and agencies are under increasing scrutiny. Scholars are even asking whether regulation is in crisis. Meanwhile, in Mexico and Latin American countries, there is much debate about the kind of regulatory institutions that should be devised to cope with new markets, emerging risks, and policy reforms. This project will try to bridge both discussions in theoretical and empirical terms. It will explore whether some kind of “regulatory capitalism” has diffused across these regions, how, and with what consequences. It will compare at one level the UK and Mexico, and at another Mexico and Latin American countries. Research will provide fresh empirical information to enrich international debates, and comparative policy lessons that may inform public decisions and policymaking processes related to advancing economic development in Mexico.
Dr Jorge Manuel Herrera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Professor Jon Adams, University of Southampton
Maritime Archaeology of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) – investigating new insights and approaches to promote cultural tourism.
AF160206 Three-Year £97,030
Archaeology in Mexico plays a central part in the construction of its national identity. Mexico has immense coastal zones and marine surfaces, which should be considered for proper archaeological research, but maritime archaeology has lacked the momentum which can propel it to further development. Currently, archaeology is typically restricted to the study of terrestrial cultures. Maritime sites, as part of the broader spectrum of archaeology, are not reflected in university programmes nor in professional common practice. Maritime archaeology is almost non-existent. This programme will allow UNAM to put maritime archaeology into the intellectual forefront of academic discussion within the Mexican scientific community. The study will build up a cross-cultural and transdisciplinary approach, as it will incorporate an academic interplay involving maritime archaeology, maritime geophysics, history, ship science, historical cartography, and conflict and landscape archaeologies. The project will investigate the maritime aspects of the Mexican-American War in order to understand and explain the strategic decisions undertaken to control the maritime landscape of the Gulf of Mexico. In doing so, the project will archaeologically research a series of coastal and riverine Mexican defensive fortifications; the shipwreck site of the USS Somers, a vessel lost in action off the port of Veracruz during this war; and the movements and strategies of squadrons and individual ships from both countries involved. Hence, the research will construct a better understanding frame of the maritime aspects of this war. Once formally established, maritime archaeology will provide a more complete and broader view of the nation’s past for the benefit of wider society. As well, it will add a new spectrum of opportunities to newcomers to the field. This award will directly impact the development of maritime archaeology in Mexico. Furthermore, tourism is the second major economic industry in the country, just behind oil. Millions of visitors travel to Mexico to visit archaeological sites. When maritime archaeology is truly developed in the country, it has potential to add new incentives for cultural tourism.
Professor Giovanni Mantilla, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)
Professor Fionnuala Ni Aolain, University of Ulster
Conflict, Legal Compliance, and Democracy: Addressing the Complexities of Humanitarian Law in Mexico, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and Colombia
AF160252 Three-Year £89,247
This project investigates the construction and implementation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in states facing serious security threats. We propose to study and compare Mexico and the United Kingdom (UK) as core cases, and Colombia as a supplementary case. Widely divergent in their history and geopolitical standing, these countries have all historically confronted serious internal threats while being formally committed to IHL and human rights regionally and internationally. We focus on both the influence of these three countries in the making of IHL, as well as on the influence of IHL, human rights, and international criminal law on the conflict dynamics, security policies, and rights protection in each country. This project will contribute substantive policy-relevant knowledge, advance the Applicant's career, and establish a robust UK-Mexico research network aiming for sustained, long-term collaboration.
Dr Luis Rocha-Lona, Instituto Politécnico Nacional
Dr Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes, University of Derby
Adoption of Green Technologies and Sustainability Standards for Emerging Economies: The Case of Mexico
AF160218 Three-Year £101,700
Sustainable Development has become a major challenge for governments, companies, and all stakeholders involved. Concerns about negative impacts of industrial activity on the environment, society, and the economy have led to an international debate of what should be done to tackle these problems. Emerging economies are reported to be some of the main areas of opportunity to mitigate social inequality, greenhouse emissions, and to foster economic development. Under this context, the objective of this project is to conduct an investigation of the adoption of green technologies and energy sustainability standards in Mexico considering best practices in the UK. There is little research documenting these adoptions in the Mexican industrial environment and its benefits to economic development. Thus, the adoption of such technologies and energy sustainability standards are key factors that can foster regional development, help to mitigate social inequalities, and provide a better quality of life.
Dr Ulises Xolocotzin Eligio, Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV)
Dr Matthew Inglis, Loughborough University
Individual Differences in Attention in the Mathematics Classroom – democratising access to algebra in primary education in Mexico
AF160191 Three-Year £67,750
Mexico is failing to deliver the mathematics literacy that individuals require to succeed in an increasingly quantitative society. The struggle with algebra is a global educational problem with harsh consequences in Mexico. These however can be alleviated by introducing key algebraic ideas in primary education. This proposal aims to democratise access to algebra in primary school. Since the function concept embodies some of these ideas, the nurturing of functional reasoning is a promising approach to early algebra. However, pilot research indicates that Mexican children are likely to struggle with functional reasoning. Mexican children from diverse public schools invest their attention whilst reasoning about functional tasks. First, we will conduct a survey to find individual, contextual and instructional variables likely to influence functional reasoning. Then we will conduct eye-movement studies to identify the attentional strategies employed by successful functional reasoners. The project will influence academic and teaching audiences through workshops in which researchers will be introduced to eye-tracking and teachers will be guided to nourish successful functional reasoning strategies in the classroom. This project will offer research-based information for deciding whether algebraic ideas should be introduced in primary education and how. This will help to modernize the mathematics curriculum, the training of student teachers, and the professional development of teachers.
Dr Gisela Zaremberg, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) Sede Mexico
Dr Valeria Guarneros-Meza, De Montfort University
Conversing with Goliath? Participation, Mobilisation and Repression around Neo-extractionist and Environmental Conflicts
AF160219 Three-Year £78,224
Despite the normative framework promoting consultation of communities, violent conflicts have increased in Mexico during recent implementation of mineral, hydrocarbon and alternative energy projects. Demand for the professionalisation of public policy makers in the regulation of these industries is imperative in Mexico. The increase of conflict in a context of low statehood, alongside the presence of armed actors, makes this demand an urgent need for government officers, members of civil organisations defending environmental and human rights and businesspeople to implement socially responsible projects. Alluding to the project’s title, it appears as if the metaphorical conversation between David (communities) and Goliath (private sector), has encountered obstacles in its implementation. Isolated academic research prompts this project to systematise information regarding these conflicts in Mexico (national and subnational levels). Focus will be placed on: involved actors (communities, companies and governments), their relationships and repertoires of action, their type of demands, regulation and use of judicial strategies and the capacity of governmental intervention. A typology of governance frameworks in managing conflicts will be offered and causal arguments will be examined between the above mentioned factors and results impacting economic, human-rights, political and environmental spheres. This proposal builds upon an existing collaboration between Mexican and British research teams. It proposes to provide actors with systematised information that can analytically contribute to understanding the factors that help to improve participatory governance and management of conflict, while achieving acceptable benefits for communities. The project will make a valuable contribution to the understanding of social conflicts around neo-extractivist and environmental projects in Mexico.
South Africa
Dr Arlene Archer, University of Cape Town
Professor Carey Jewitt, University College London
The Impact of Digital Forms of Writing on Access and Diversity in Higher Education
AF160189 Three-Year £76,234
South Africa is a developing country with vastly inequitable access to material, cultural and educational resources. This project will develop a sustainable research community to investigate the changing status and forms of writing in Higher Education in a digital age with a focus on student access and diversity. Contemporary writing is marked by an increasing multiplicity and integration of different forms of meaning-making, including images, sound, layout. Technological changes are transforming how writing is produced, distributed and accessed. This has implications for teaching writing in Higher Education particularly as writing remains the main mode of assessment. Specific aspects focused on include academic voice and argument; access to different modes and media; ways of teaching and assessing writing. This research is important in developing contexts like South Africa and globally where diversity is a feature of Higher Education and will thus contribute to advancing economic development in previously disadvantaged communities.
Dr Stephanie Cawood, University of the Free State
Dr Jonathan Vincent William Fisher, University of Birmingham
Memorializing struggle: Dynamics of memory, space and power in post-liberation Africa – building research capacity, creating knowledge and strengthening regional and international collaborations.
AF160100 Three-Year £62,904
This project aims to develop a partnership between institutions in South Africa and the UK, one which will have a significant impact on the career development of the applicant. The research proposed will compare how liberation struggles have been memorialized in South Africa under the African National Congress (ANC) and Uganda under the National Resistance Movement (NRM). The aim is twofold: 1) to explore how these practices are used and contested within legitimisation strategies of post-liberation regimes; 2) to build and develop a sustainable partnership between the institutions involved. The proposed research project will contribute towards the wider South African social and economic development through four main aspects: 1) the development of human capital through the Applicant and her network including postgraduate students; 2) creating knowledge bases through research and knowledge production; 3) distributing and applying knowledge created in this collaboration through journal articles and a teaching resource in the MPhil Africa Studies at the University of the Free State and maintaining the knowledge by transmitting it to postgraduate students. The added benefit will be in strengthening regional ties in Africa. For South Africa, a country often accused of assuming a hegemonic role in Africa, building strong, positive relations with countries from regional blocs beyond SADC is crucial for its sustainable growth and development.
Dr Shari Daya, University of Cape Town
Dr Alexandra Louise Hughes, Newcastle University
Sustainable and ethical consumption - Consumer Ethics in Post-apartheid South Africa.
AF160043 Three-Year £75,988
Cities are both essential to national social and economic development and sites of intense contestation over identity and belonging. Expanding our research capacity to understand these dynamics and their implications for the future is essential to ensure development that is both environmentally and socially sustainable. This Fellowship aims to deepen understanding of how consumption, ethical judgements about food, and identity intersect in post-apartheid South African cities. Most research assumes that agents of ethical consumption are in the global North, while poor producers are in the South. We challenge this narrow conceptualisation of Southern economic actors, using the framework of ordinary ethics to expand what counts as ethical, and to interrogate how changing values and ideals relating to consumption, particularly among rapidly growing middle classes, may advance understanding of how identities of race and class are also shifting. Such an understanding will benefit both retailers and civil society organisations in South Africa, and UK businesses seeking ethical markets in the global South. The Fellowship will build a fuller appreciation of how ethical consumption and sustainability are imagined by diverse citizen groups, taking seriously the everyday practices of shopping, cooking and eating that contribute to shaping social relations in the turbulent contemporary moment in South Africa. This project will help fill the gap that exists between discourses of sustainability and ethical consumption on the one hand, and ordinary citizens’ experiences and feelings about consumption on the other. It will build much needed research capacity in South Africa in the social sciences and humanities, by extending the applicant’s research training and international networks, by contributing to the training of a research assistant (and a wider network of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in Western Cape HE institutions) in the field of consumer ethics, and by enabling this researcher to develop their research skills and simultaneously benefit from sustained contact with an international research network. The project’s engagement with young and emerging scholars, as well as its production of scholarly publications and public and non-academic outputs, will ensure that a diverse group of users benefits from the research. It aims to contribute to public understandings of the social and cultural dimensions of ethical consumption.
Dr Lindie Koorts, University of the Free State
Dr Matthew Graham, University of Dundee
The Age of Opportunism: Paul Krugers Transvaal, 1886-1899 – establishing an international network for young South African scholars
AF160207 Three-Year £111,000
The relationship between government and capital remains contentious in South Africa. Newspapers regularly report scandals surrounding tenders; the relationship between the political elite and business; the role of political connections, and allegations of corruption. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding into the role of transnational networks, both formal and informal, between capital and the state in a society undergoing rapid modernisation within the context of globalisation. It is built on a historical case study, that of the 19th century Transvaal, following the discovery of gold in 1886. This will not only deepen our historical knowledge, but it will also contribute to our understanding of the patterns of behaviour that emerge under such conditions, which are particularly relevant in the contemporary South African context. In this regard, the South African government has launched a National Development Plan, with a vision for 2030. It recognises the challenges of ‘Policy making in a complex environment’. Its objectives include ‘Fighting Corruption’ and ‘Building a capable and developmental state’. It admits that it should take account of office-holders’ family and corporate networks, although this remains a contested affair. This project will expose the intricacies, embeddedness, and fragility of such networks, and make these findings accessible to a wider audience, thereby fostering a deeper understanding of the dynamics of a state and society undergoing comprehensive transformation in a globalising context. this project seeks to cement the process of knowledge exchange, offering practical skills training programmes, and creating closer institutional links in research, teaching and supervision. The study will be anchored around a biography of Paul Kruger, the president of the Transvaal from 1883-1900, thereby making the insights that can be gained from history accessible to the general public, commentators and journalists – and by extension policy makers.
Professor Jaco Barnard Naude, University of Cape Town
Ms Julia Chryssostalis, University of Westminster
An Investigation of Inequality and Poverty due to Spatial Injustice in the Postcolony: Legacies of the Nomos of Apartheid.
AF160177 Three-Year £72,586
Whereas law played a defining role in the constitution and maintenance of colonialism and apartheid in South Africa, the wager of two decades of transformative constitutional democracy has been that the productive power of law can be used to overcome this destructive legacy. Yet, spatial segregation along racial and class lines remains pervasive in post-apartheid South Africa. It is perhaps apartheid's most enduring legacy. The project reads this condition as a spatial injustice that suggests the failure of transformative constitutionalism. This spatial orientation limits opportunities and exacerbates inequality. We attribute the spatial injustice(s) of post-apartheid South Africa primarily to a profound lack of concern in transformative constitutionalism for the spatial dimension of law. The project accordingly seeks to focus attention on law's potential for and role in spatial transformation.
The project aims to develop an enlarged understanding of the nature, causes and effects of apartheid's spatial legacy on persistent inequality and poverty. Through its engagements with architects, town and city planners as well as with social justice activists and government stake holders, the project aims to be a node of knowledge production in this relatively new field of enquiry in South Africa. We also investigate the causes, nature and effect of spatial injustice in the postcolony, with a view to interventions that can contribute to the achievement of a post-apartheid spatial order in South Africa. The potential beneficiaries of this project are the postcolony's urban and rural poor who continue to live on the outskirts of towns and cities as a result of segregationist colonial spatial planning.
Dr Rory Pilossof, University of the Free State
Dr Andrew Peter Cohen, University of Kent
Labour Migration and Labour Relations in South and Southern Africa, c.1900-2000 – informing public debates nationally and regionally.
AF160092 Three-Year £94,000
No platform currently exists that provides data to undertake historical and long-term comparative work on employment and labour development in southern Africa. The primary focus of this project is to make census and labour data from South and southern Africa more accessible to researchers, academics and other interested parties. In doing so, it will offer hitherto unprecedented opportunities for comparative and collaborative work. Labour migration has been of crucial importance in southern Africa for centuries, with large numbers of people having moved across the region to mines, farms and urban centres in South Africa. This continues to this day. We will, therefore, analyse the long-term impact of labour migration in southern Africa; the changes in occupational structures over the course of the twentieth century; and processes and rates of proletarianisation and the legacies of labour surpluses across the region. Given the continued importance of labour and migration in contemporary South Africa this project will provide crucial empirical data which will enable a thorough understanding of the issues. This has the potential to critically inform on-going public debates around labour and migration, both in South Africa and regionally. In doing so it will challenge popularly held, if ill-informed, notions of South African exceptionalism and offer the opportunity to foster greater community cohesion through mutual understanding.
Dr Tamsen Jean Rochat, Human Sciences Research Council
Dr Rebecca Pearson, University of Bristol
Conduct Disorders, Executive Function and Parenting in South African Children
AF160108 Three-Year £96,420
Globally, conduct disorder (CD) is a common, and concerning psychological disorder in children, given associations with adult antisocial behaviour. Children in South Africa (SA) are exposed to epidemic levels of violence and HIV with likely negative developmental effects. Despite this, CD is relatively under-researched in SA. In the United Kingdom (UK) approximately 5% of children have CD, while estimates are double that in SA. Although difficult, CD can be treated. Established UK guidelines on prevention and management of CD could have public health benefit in SA, if aetiologies were established to be similar across settings. This project examines CD in SA establishing rates of clinical CD, investigates the role of early child cognitive and familial risk factors, uses comparative SA-UK data to establish shared risks, and uses sophisticated analytical techniques to establish the direction of effects, potentially leading to innovations in prevention and treatment in SA and the UK.
Professor Hermann Wittenberg, University of the Western Cape
Dr Michelle Kelly, University of Oxford
Coetzee's Other Arts: Visuality, Intermediality and Adaptation – building international links and networks for research in South African humanities.
AF160236 Three-Year £81,000
J.M. Coetzee is one of the most significant contemporary literary figures, with steadily growing international scholarly interest in his writings. This project seeks to contribute a new critical perspective by focusing on the intermedial relationships between Coetzee’s work and other creative and performative media. Coetzee’s writing has increasingly been transposed and adapted by various artists for the screen and stage; and also conversely, various media such as music, film and photography have influenced his fiction. The project's intermedial focus will pay particular attention to creative forms such as painting, sculpture, music, photography, film, dance, opera and theatre, and their often-reciprocal relationships with the novels. The project seeks to develop a more grounded understanding of this complex intermediality, leading to a conference, a book of scholarly essays edited by the applicants, an exhibition of Coetzee's early photographs, and a monograph written by the main applicant that will explore Coetzee's visuality in the published oeuvre and the larger archival record. The project would help to re-invigorate Coetzee studies in South Africa, and the broader theoretical framework of intermediality would be beneficial for a number of other studies. The area of adaptation and intermediality is under-developed in South Africa. The project would develop capacity and supervisory expertise so as to benefit graduate students. Closer linkages and the establishment of research networks with Oxford and other UK institutions would also contribute to much needed internationalisation in the South African humanities and build on a longer history of Oxford - South Africa relations.
Thailand
Dr Navaporn Sanprasert Snodin, Kasetsart University
Dr Tony Young, Newcastle University
Enhancing the Quality of International Student and Staff Mobility Experience: Narratives from International Students and Academics across Different Regions in Thailand
AF160059 Two-Year £65,920
The HE internationalisation is identified as contributing significantly to Thailand’s economic growth and to its aspirations to become an educational hub in Southeast Asia. Thailand has set targets to recruit 100,000 international students but, in reality, the number of international students is currently around 20,000. More importantly, there is a lack of locally based research that focuses on lived experiences and voices of international students and academics. Such research can inform strategies regarding internationalisation, thus developing and strengthening Thailand’s position. To this end, we propose to investigate the multiple realities of international students and academics in Thai HE by using an ethnographic approach. These people are from many different cultures and, investigating their experiences will enable us to make a contribution to the realisation of effective policy and practice. In addition, a further outcome will be an online database which will be a valuable reference point for developing internationalisation, enabling Thailand to export education services.
Turkey
Dr Emre Toros, Atilim University
Professor Sarah Birch, King's College London
Understanding and Mitigating Electoral Violence in Turkey
AF160050 Three-Year £81,323
The aim of the proposed project is to analyse electoral violence in Turkey with the help of conceptual, practical and methodological tools developed by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded Explaining and Mitigating Electoral Violence project. Although Turkey is a ‘second wave’ democracy, issues related to the electoral process and electoral violence have risen to the top of the political agenda, especially during the last decade. Focusing on these problems, the project will combine cutting-edge qualitative and quantitative research techniques with state-of-the-art political-science analysis to create a comprehensive picture of electoral violence in Turkey. This project will produce valuable information not only for academics but also for policy makers. Understanding the phenomenon of electoral violence and assessing prevention measures will both help support the democratic process in Turkey. Our project also offers significant training to the Applicant, to post-graduate students and to civil society organizations in Turkey.
Dr Elif Koparal, Hitit University
Professor Sam Turner, Newcastle University
Understanding landscape as cultural heritage - Unlocking the Ionian Landscape: Historic Landscapes of Urla-Çeşme Peninsula (Izmir, Turkey)
AF160103 Three-Year £102,500
This project will develop innovative methods for landscape archaeology through the case-study of the Urla-Çesme Peninsula (Izmir), an area that forms a considerable part of the Ionian landscape. The research will build a new approach to historic landscapes through a series of successive steps. The first step is to analyse datasets collected by the Applicant from 2006-15, and supplement them with targeted geomorphological survey. The second step is to apply a relatively new method, Historic Landscape Characterization (HLC, pioneered in Turkey by the co-applicant), to model and present the changing historic character of the study area. Finally, the project will use the resulting models to facilitate co-creative approaches to landscape with local communities. The aim is to develop skills, create knowledge and promote understanding of landscape as cultural heritage amongst both academic researchers and non-specialist community groups. This will contribute immensely to the improvement and transformation of archaeological practice in Turkey.
Dr Isik Kuscu Bonnenfant, Middle East Technical University
Dr Neophytos Loizides, University of Kent
Reuniting Cyprus: The British-Cypriot Diasporas as Peace Agents
AF160002 Three-Year £97,698
This project aims to explore and analyse the transformative role of the Cypriot diaspora in Britain. It introduces the first collaborative research programme focusing on the Greek and Turkish Cypriot diaspora and proposes a series of activities to study and encourage its positive engagement and inclusion in the current peace talks. An estimated quarter of the Cyprus population lives as diaspora in Britain. These communities engage in activities which insinuate their desire to be involved in homeland politics. Yet, so far, there has been little effort to study diaspora perceptions of conflict or to engage their community organizations into the ongoing peace process. The project’s goals are twofold: a) to provide a theoretically informed analysis as to why diaspora members support or oppose peace initiatives; b) to promote positive engagement of the diaspora through high-profile events involving British and UN policymakers.
Dr Klimis Aslanidis, Gediz University
Professor Sam Turner, Newcastle University
Locating religious communities: new approaches to the Christian heritage of the Ottoman era in western Turkey – exploring new methodologies to support the country’s cultural heritage and economic development.
AF160045 Three-Year £104,500
The western coast of Asia Minor is one of the most developed parts of modern Turkey. However, the care for architectural heritage, especially of recent centuries, has not kept pace with economic growth. Economic benefits from tourism, which is a key component of the development tools in this coastal region, is closely related to sustainable management of cultural heritage. Recent efforts to conserve or restore churches in this part of Turkey demonstrate that society, as well as local and central authorities, have understood the role that these monuments can play in cultural and economic development. It is, however, important that this effort is underpinned by scientific knowledge. This Fellowship will enable a collaboration focused on churches built during the Ottoman period on the western coast of Asia Minor, a particularly important part of Turkey’s cultural heritage, for which research is only just beginning. It will enable the applicant and his team to learn and apply cutting-edge digital humanities techniques, including GIS and digital building analysis, using terrestrial laser scanning and digital photogrammetry. Developing new methods for architectural heritage analysis will promote the appreciation and management of churches as a valuable aspect of Turkey’s cultural heritage. The upkeep and regeneration of non-Muslim buildings is also significantly contributing to the development of international understanding and friendship, which can be the basis for the building of fruitful international relationships as well as for peace and prosperity in the eastern Mediterranean - a key factor for economic growth and international collaboration.