Within initial activities being planned and getting under way, we’re very pleased to share with you an overview of what we’re aiming to achieve with this project, how and by when. The diagram below highlights the key phases in the project timeline and how they fit together.
The initial phase involves developing a database of University of Bristol (UoB) projects that are Africa-facing, that is, projects that collaborate with Africa-based researchers. Alongside this we’ll be working up an approach by which we can review progress in our Africa-facing collaborations against the principles of the Africa Charter, co-developed by the Perivoli Africa Research Centre in collaboration with the Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair at UNISA and the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at UCT – starting with looking back at the CONNECTED and TESF networks. We will connect with other UoB projects to invite them to contribute to our review methods and to help us draft the first iteration of a toolkit that aims to support UoB researchers in equitable and transformative partnership working with Africa-based research partners. This will culminate in our first hybrid workshop for researchers in UoB and our Africa-based research partners, which will output an initial content structure for the toolkit.
The next phase involves fleshing out the content of the toolkit and other training and information resources that researchers tell us are needed, and we plan to present the next iteration of the draft toolkit in our second hybrid workshop in October. This will be accompanied by a virtual event with funders to explore the potential for refining the resources for more general audiences. Following the researcher workshop and funder meeting, we will refine the researcher toolkit and launch the resources. We hope these resources will contribute to the ongoing learning processes of creating equitable and transformative research partnerships with Africa, and be further improved beyond the life of this project.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions – or if you would like to get involved, please contact Nina or Eyob:
nina.ockendon-powell@bristol.ac.uk
eyob.b.gebremariam@bristol.ac.uk