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Workshop Series
With funding from the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), the British Academy launched a series of workshops in 2024 to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with equitable research partnerships. Hosted in Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, Malaysia, and the UK, these workshops brought together key stakeholders — including researchers, universities, funders, and sector networks — to identify barriers and opportunities for fostering equitable research collaborations while understanding the unique contexts and challenges specific to each region.
London Conference
The London Conference on Equitable Partnerships, took place on 11–12 February 2025, marking a pivotal moment in this initiative. By convening researchers, universities, funders, and sector networks, the conference built on the insights gathered during the workshops, identify shared goals, and fostered a collective commitment to advancing equity in international research collaborations.
Regional workshops
Brazil Workshop
Equity vs. Equality
Participants emphasised the importance of moving beyond equality to embrace equity in international research collaboration. Many projects fail to consider the specific circumstances of international partners, highlighting the need for frameworks that adapt to varying local realities.
Institutional Challenges and Recognition
Participants noted that at Brazilian universities, international collaboration and network building are not incentivised or recognised beyond publication metrics. This lack of institutional support diminishes the perceived value of international research efforts.
Long-Term Partnerships and Trust
Long-term partnerships were identified as essential for building trust, reducing administrative and bureaucratic challenges, and fostering sustainable collaboration. Such partnerships reduce reliance on individual relationships and create institutional knowledge that can ease future collaborations.
Research Outcomes and Impact
While publishing remains a primary goal for most participants, ensuring equitable participation and recognition in authorship remains challenging. Beyond academic publishing, participants called for innovative metrics to measure impact, such as community engagement, network development, and shared success indicators.
Open Science and Accessibility
Open science practices, data sharing, and intellectual property protection emerged as key concerns. Language barriers, particularly for non-English-speaking researchers, further hinder equitable collaboration. Participants underscored the need for clear frameworks to address these challenges while improving the visibility of research published in languages like Portuguese.
South-South Collaborations
Collaboration among researchers and institutions from the Global South was highlighted as a promising pathway to reduce reliance on Northern partners and build locally driven research networks.
Mutuality in Collaboration
Mutual recognition and mutual benefits were consistently highlighted as cornerstones of equitable partnerships. Participants stressed that both outcomes and contributions must be recognised equally across collaborators.
Kenya Workshop
Research Management Capacity
The lack of dedicated research management capacity was highlighted as a critical barrier. Participants stressed the importance of investing in skilled research managers, robust administrative support structures, and training programmes to streamline project management and grant administration.
Agenda-Setting and Research Priorities
Researchers in the Global South face significant challenges in setting research agendas, often shaped by the priorities of Global North funders. This creates dependency and limits the focus on locally relevant issues, with calls for empowering local researchers to take the lead in defining research goals that address specific regional needs.
Decolonising Research Policies
There were strong calls to address inherited European research frameworks that are often misaligned with African contexts. Decolonising these policies was seen as essential to creating a research environment that reflects local histories and priorities.
Funding Models and Sustainability
Short-term funding cycles hinder the ability to address long-term challenges effectively. Participants advocated for longer-term funding models to ensure sustainable and impactful research outcomes.
Systemic and Structural Barriers
Bureaucratic inefficiencies in funding disbursement, financial transparency, and management remain significant challenges. Limited infrastructure for managing intellectual property further constrains equitable collaboration. Language barriers, time zone differences, and financial bureaucracy also create logistical hurdles.
Capacity and Collaboration Skills
Participants emphasised the need for improved training programmes in communication and collaboration skills to strengthen research partnerships. Early-career researchers and PhD students require greater support to actively participate and lead in collaborative efforts.
South-South Collaborations
Regional partnerships, such as those between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, were highlighted as critical to fostering locally driven research. These collaborations can help reduce dependency on Northern funders and create stronger networks for sustainable research initiatives.
Integrating Social Sciences
The underrepresentation of social sciences in collaborative research was noted as a missed opportunity. Participants advocated for policy shifts that recognise the value of social sciences in addressing complex societal challenges and fostering interdisciplinary approaches.
South Africa Workshop
Unequal Partnerships and Power Dynamics
Imbalances in funding allocation and decision-making, particularly in Northern-led funding models, perpetuate inequities in collaborative research. Southern partners often have little influence over research priorities or budgetary decisions. Participants called for partnerships that prioritise mutual capacity strengthening, co-created agendas, and equitable resource distribution to address these disparities.
Strategic Alignment and Agenda Co-Creation
Aligning institutional priorities with global and regional agendas is crucial to ensuring relevance and impact. Co-developing research priorities with funders and partners allows for more context-sensitive and mutually beneficial collaborations.
Administrative and Financial Barriers
Participants noted significant delays caused by cumbersome due diligence processes, complex grant applications, currency exchange rate fluctuations, and insufficient support for indirect costs. These challenges hinder the ability to achieve meaningful outcomes. Flexible funding models, simplified policies, and harmonised institutional guidelines were recommended to address these issues.
Capacity Limitations in Research Institutions
Limited capacity in research offices and institutions, including insufficient mentorship and leadership development opportunities, impedes effective grant management and project implementation. Postdoctoral fellows often lack the readiness to assume leadership roles. Strengthening institutional capacity through tailored training and embedding leadership initiatives within grants was proposed as a solution.
South-South Collaborations
Opportunities for South-South partnerships were highlighted as a means to address shared regional priorities and reduce dependency on Northern funders. These collaborations enable capacity sharing among Southern institutions and empower researchers to align research agendas with local contexts.
Cultural and Communication Barriers
Language differences and reliance on informal agreements often lead to misunderstandings and exacerbate existing power dynamics in collaborations. Formalised institutional agreements and enhanced cross-cultural communication were proposed as strategies to mitigate these issues and foster accountability.
Technological Advancements and AI
AI and hybrid engagement models present opportunities to address capacity gaps and streamline research processes. However, participants stressed the need for robust ethical frameworks and governance mechanisms to ensure responsible use of these technologies, particularly in administrative and research functions.
Malaysia Workshop
Sustainability and Financial Barriers
Participants expressed significant concern about short-term funding cycles, currency exchange rate fluctuations, and unfair overhead policies, which complicate budget planning and undermine the continuity of research projects. Proposals included contingency allowances, multicurrency bank accounts, and revising funding models to prioritise continuity and sustainable impact over time.
Institutional and Policy Challenges
Inflexible institutional and funder policies, often outdated and misaligned with modern research needs, exacerbate inefficiencies in international collaborations. Participants called for more adaptable frameworks to support diverse research needs across regions and generations.
Capacity Disparities Across Institutions
Uneven institutional capacity affects the ability of partners to contribute equitably to collaborative projects. Challenges such as inadequate mentorship, leadership gaps, and human resource constraints were highlighted as barriers. Dedicated training programmes, resource-sharing networks, and mentorship initiatives were seen as crucial for addressing these disparities.
Trust and Data Sharing
Trust was identified as a cornerstone of effective research partnerships, requiring consistent transparency in decision-making processes and regular dialogue among researchers, administrators, and funders. Robust ethical guidelines for data sharing and intellectual property protection were also seen as essential for fostering fairness and inclusivity.
Barriers in Academic Publishing
Researchers face significant hurdles in academic publishing, which is exacerbated by the dominance of English-language journals. These barriers disproportionately affect researchers from non-English-speaking backgrounds, limiting the global visibility of their work.
Cultural and Institutional Differences
Cultural and regulatory differences within institutions and across countries were identified as both challenges and opportunities for collaboration. Participants stressed the need for mutual understanding and strategies to navigate diverse institutional cultures and regulatory environments effectively.
Emerging Role of Artificial Intelligence
AI's growing presence in research was noted as a transformative trend. While it offers opportunities to enhance research processes, ethical concerns and disruptions to traditional methodologies require further attention and clear guidelines.
London Workshop
Disparities in Research Ecosystems
English remains the dominant language in academic publishing, creating barriers for non-English-speaking researchers. This inequity is evident both across and within countries. Participants suggested funders allocate dedicated budgets for translation and encourage leveraging networks to support translation efforts.
Strengthening Research Capacity
Calls for long-term, adequately funded capacity-building initiatives were strongly emphasised. Specific suggestions included embedding research managers into project budgets to support local research offices and integrating capacity-building efforts more effectively into funding frameworks.
Access to Resources
Practical examples of successful resource sharing were discussed, such as granting affiliate status to international partners to access libraries and development programmes. Participants recommended expanding funding opportunities to include secondments, short reciprocal visits, and other initiatives that foster direct knowledge exchange.
Avoiding the Imposition of Global North Standards
Participants underscored the need for funders and higher education institutions to adopt flexible and adaptive approaches that respect local contexts. The rigid imposition of “one-size-fits-all” standards was seen as counterproductive to building equitable partnerships.
Financial and Risk Management
Simplifying due diligence processes was identified as a priority. Suggestions included funders and partners collaboratively creating due diligence documents and recognizing alternative ways of verifying legitimate expenditure in cases where traditional receipts are unavailable.
The Role of Networks
Networks were acknowledged for their ability to gather large-scale data, catalyse collaboration, and identify shared challenges among funders and institutions. Participants stressed the importance of making guidance on equitable partnerships widely accessible while valuing diverse contributions beyond traditional metrics like academic publishing.
Recurring Themes Across Workshops
Several common themes emerged from the regional workshops, which will form the basis of the panels during the London conference.
Addressing Power Imbalances
- Northern-led funding models often fail to align with local priorities, creating disparities in decision-making, funding allocation, and agenda-setting. These imbalances exacerbate inequities in international collaborations by limiting the agency of Southern partners.
- Emphasis on co-creation and alignment with local needs ensures that research funded through ODA delivers relevant and impactful outcomes.
Sustainability of Funding
- Short-term funding cycles and financial unpredictability hinder the ability to achieve long-term impact.
- Issues such as currency exchange fluctuations and inequitable funding allocation disproportionately affect researchers in the Global South. Ensuring equitable access to resources and creating funding mechanisms that support locally led research initiatives in the Global South emerged as a critical priority.
Institutional Capacity and Support
- Disparities in institutional capacity, including limited leadership opportunities and insufficient mentorship for early-career researchers, hinder equitable collaboration.
- Participants highlighted the importance of training, mentorship, and investments in research management infrastructure.
South-South Collaborations
- Regional partnerships within the Global South are seen as a way to reduce reliance on Northern funders and build locally driven networks.
- Strengthening these collaborations can address shared challenges and promote regional research priorities.
Trust and Communication
- Building trust requires clear communication, transparency, and equitable power dynamics, particularly in partnerships with significant resource and capacity imbalances.
- Strong relationships between researchers, administrators, and funders are foundational to successful collaborations, with structured dialogues and partnership agreements fostering mutual understanding.
Maximising Research Outputs
- Academic publishing remains a key metric of success, but participants called for broader recognition of societal impact and local relevance.
- The dominance of English in academic publishing limits inclusivity. Translation support and recognition of local-language outputs were recommended.
- Concerns about data ownership and the unequal distribution of labour in collaborative projects were raised. Clear guidelines on intellectual property and authorship were suggested.
The Role of AI and Technology
- AI is recognised as a valuable tool for addressing capacity gaps, streamlining administrative processes, and improving research efficiency.
- Ethical considerations, such as equitable access to AI tools and data-sharing platforms, are critical to fostering inclusive technological advancement.
- Addressing technological disparities between partners requires targeted capacity-building programmes and investments in digital infrastructure.