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18 Preference ranking of different land types with a focus group of wealthy men, Soanierana-Ivongo District, Madagascar FOCUS Research for development A transdisciplinary approach requires that phenomena under investigation be regarded from a perspective that goes beyond specific disciplines and is based on systematic cooperation with those concerned. Hans Hurni and Urs Wiesmann, NCCR North-South (2004)
FOCUS: Research for development What are the key characteristics of research for development (R4D)? When is research relevant for development in the North-South context? Is the R4D approach compatible with a scientific career? The concept of R4D is accepted in the development community. In the university environment, however, the evaluation system needs to be revised in order to attach academic value to R4D. At first sight, the niche of the North-South Centre within the research portfolio of the ETH Zurich appears to be geographically determined, as the terms North and South suggest. However, these words are simply meant as a proxy for describing countries or regions with different economic conditions. Content-wise, the approach of the North-South Centre can best be defined as “Research for development” (R4D). The R4D concept has received broad acceptance in the development community over the last few years. For example, the British Department for International Development (DFID) maintains a research portal (www.research4development.info) with 25 000 project and document records, including more than 4000 peer-reviewed articles. Amongst others, Samih Sawiris (Egyptian entrepreneur), Anton Stadler (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation), and Urs Wiesmann (NCCR North-South) – representing the private sector, development cooperation and science – discussed the interface of research and development and the necessary conditions for implementing results. We hope that the following chapters will further contribute to a constructive debate on this issue. In this year’s “Focus” section, colleagues of the research community discuss the R4D concept and its characteristics from different perspectives. They position R4D in the context of academic research and the university environment. They emphasise the interface with development and the limited role of research agents. All contributions highlight the complementarity of researchers and other stakeholders, including their different knowledge systems. They are also explicit on the appropriate time horizon for R4D. While it takes time to establish mutually trustful cross-cultural research partnerships and to generate relevant research findings, at some point the researchers have to withdraw and let other stakeholders carry on with the implementation of the results. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the implementation of research results needs an enabling environment to make the “4D” happen, to engender development. This can only be achieved by functioning institutions and under conditions of good governance. The North-South Centre strives for introducing the concept of R4D in the academic debate at the ETH Zurich and in the wider scientific community. For this purpose, we organised a North-South Forum on the topic of how to transfer research findings into policy and practice in May 2009. Researchers visiting the project partners, Madagascar Research for development – The North-South Centre approach R4D is characterised as being demand-driven by the Southern partners, of direct relevance for development, and solution-oriented. The research design calls for envisioning the potential impact pathways, looking beyond the immediate research results or outputs such as publications. R4D integrates various players along the knowledge generation chain from basic to applied research, and to implementing agencies and institutions. It is thus transdisciplinary in nature. The ETH Zurich contribution is usually close to the basic research end of this chain and involves strategic partners who connect this contribution to the implementation side. 19 FOCUS Research for development
Page 1 and 2: NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE Research for Dev
Page 3 and 4: Editorial The year 2009 marked a mi
Page 5 and 6: Table of contents Profile . . . . .
Page 7 and 8: Moving in a dynamic environment Bey
Page 9 and 10: caused by bacteria in East African
Page 11 and 12: topics, which cut across the four t
Page 13 and 14: In the area of Networking and commu
Page 15 and 16: The core of the North-South Centre
Page 17 and 18: The North-South Centre at a glance
Page 19: The North-South Centre at a glance
Page 23 and 24: e direct in the sense that you have
Page 25 and 26: Bassirou Bonfoh: I agree with you.
Page 27 and 28: means sacrificing certain career pe
Page 29 and 30: makers. R4D allows for explaining t
Page 31 and 32: academic community and by explicitl
Page 33 and 34: The success story In some quarters,
Page 35 and 36: Research collaboration The North-So
Page 37 and 38: Livestock systems research in suppo
Page 39 and 40: New policy mechanisms to mitigate w
Page 41 and 42: Reversing soil degradation by tropi
Page 43 and 44: Improving small ruminant productivi
Page 45 and 46: Zinc fluxes from the soil into the
Page 47 and 48: The partnership between UNEP and th
Page 49 and 50: top-down approach using globally av
Page 51 and 52: Urban Laboratory - Addis Ababa Acto
Page 53 and 54: Assessing sustainable urban develop
Page 55 and 56: Nutrient dynamics in conservation a
Page 57 and 58: Research projects related to develo
Page 59 and 60: Project leader(s) Project title Pro
Page 65 and 66: Capacity development Individual cap
Page 67 and 68: Research Fellow Partnership Program
Page 69 and 70: Understanding yam (Dioscorea spp.)
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Analysis and initial exploitation o
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Mycorrhizas and maize yields in dif
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The role of cooperativeness in adop
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Governance, collective action and d
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The importance of forest fragments
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Phosphate nutrition of crops in lix
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Whole genome profiling of Theileria
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Farmers’ responses to climate cha
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Improving grazing systems with yak-
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Preparing a joint project at the In
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Colloquium “Selected aspects of s
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Master of Advanced Studies in Susta
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Teaching activities related to deve
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Title of course unit Lecturer(s) Ty
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Supervision of doctoral dissertatio
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Supervisor(s) Candidate Title of No
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Networking and communication Doing
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Conferences, lectures and workshops
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Environmentally forced migration an
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Networking The North-South Centre i
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As peers we interact mainly with th
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Germany. We did not only contribute
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Publications Refereed publications
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Koh, L.P., 2009: Calling Indonesia
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Frame Conditions for the Sustainabl
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Andrade de Sa, S., Palmer, C., Enge
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Clément, C., 2009: The Maca projec
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Contzen, S., 2009: Views of the rur
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components and indigenous arbuscula
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Financial statements Administrative
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Impressum Publisher North-South Cen
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ETH Zurich North-South Centre HCW,
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