Support for Young Researchers
Retaining talented young researchers is a significant challenge for all the DRC collaborators. Therefore, one of the Capacity Building programme's principal goals is the professional development of a group of young researchers who will help enhance the research capacity of partner institutions.
The professional development model the Capacity Building Programme supports attempts to address this challenge by:
- Incorporating promising young scholars into long-term research projects (3-5 years)
- Providing incentives to obtain professional degrees – Masters or Doctorate – as a part of participation in research projects.
The CBP has tried to find a balance between individualized and collective professional development activities. The former include specific –individual- support for junior scholars working within one of the three Research Programmes, thus funding allocations are discussed with the respective Programme Convenors. Examples of such activities include IDS or South-South visiting fellowships to work on a specific project, seed money support for producing a grant proposal, and turning existing research into publishable material. The latter includes long term training initiatives in Southern research institutions.
Visiting Fellowships
In 2008 we have the following visiting fellows under the CB programme:
South-South Exchange
In 2008 the CB supported the following exchanges:
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Monika Dowbor visited MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) USA in late November-early December 2008, to: 1. complete writing up and present research results of the Model of Service Delivery and Collective Action Project in collaboration with the senior investigator, Peter Houtzager; and 2. present and discuss any doctoral dissertation project which is a part of the programme 2 project.
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Exchange and learning between South-South (Brazil and India) . Suchi Pande a young Indian Researcher visited Brazil for one month in January 2009 to work with Graziella Castello at CEBRAP. The purpose of this exchange was to collaborate on analysis of issue networks in Sao Paulo and Delhi, which will contribute to a book chapter for the edited volume of the BIM project.
Suchi shares her experience
Commonwealth Scholarship
The CFS-DRC have again been successfully invited in 2008 to nominate a eligible candidate for the scholarship in the UK tenable from October 2009.
In previous years we have organised a formal internal selection for this nomination. This year it was evident that the applicant submitted was so much the superior potential, that we have nominated directly. This is an indication of our very high faith in the candidate's abilities. We are pleased to announce that in March 2009 we were informed that Erik Manga, a researcher at IDS Nairobi, one of our partners, has been successful in obtaining a scholarship award to study his Phd for three years at IDS, tenable in October 2009.
England-Africa Partnerships initiative
The CBP contributed with IDS Fellow David Leonard to develop a successful funding application from the British Council's “ England-Africa Partnerships initiative ”. The grant promoted and facilitated professional social science research between IDS and two African Universities , the Ashesi University College (Ghana ) and the National University of Rwanda (NUR). Initially, in June 2007 six students from these universities attended the Annual Research Workshop at IDS, and during their visit to IDS, students also explored opportunities for future exchange and training with David Leonard, the Capacity Building Programme, and the British Library of Development Studies.
Peter Houtzager, an IDS fellow facilitated a series of Research Methods workshops at Ashesi University Ghana and NUR Rwanda in April and May 2008.
Further details of previous years professional development
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