OUR IMPACTProfessor Ingrid Palmary is a 2003 Commonwealth Scholar from South Africa who undertook aPhD in Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is now an Associate Professor at theUniversity of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Following a recent evaluation survey, Kathryn Scurfieldmet her in November 2013 to discuss her current work, the effect of her Commonwealth Scholarshipon her career, and her wider development impact.KS: What was your PhD research about?IP: In 1998, South Africa passed the RefugeesAct which was a move away from apartheidmobility control towards a more human rightsbasedlegislative framework. I was very interested inwomen who had been engaged in or in some wayaffected by armed conflict in Africa, and how theyspoke about and understood their role in politi<strong>cs</strong>. Atthat time, a lot of attention was focused on genderbasedpersecution claims in the asylum system, asit was a new area. My research was therefore tryingto understand women’s engagement with politicalchange, violence, and conflict across the Africancontinent.KS: Tell us more about your current job as anAssociate Professor.IP: Our centre [the African Center for Migrationand Society] is interdisciplinary, based in the socialsciences. Although I have a psychology background,there are others who are from political science,anthropology, and even drama. For the last six years,we’ve had a series of projects that have focusedon the area of gender violence and displacement.We offer Master’s and PhD programmes, and weconduct research. I have an administrative role incoordinating the teaching, and I also do quite a lotof supervision of students.As a result of my PhD work, a few students joinedand, together, we continue to conduct research onwomen’s engagement with armed conflict. At thetime, cracks in the asylum system started to show,and so we began research in that area as well. We’vealso conducted research looking at the intersectionsof domestic and political violence, and how theyshape one another in times of conflict. Anotherarea of research we’ve focused on is post-conflictreconstruction and reconciliation. We have abouteight to nine different areas of research on the goat any one time.KS: In your response to our recent evaluationsurvey, you stated that you strongly felt that youuse specific skills and knowledge gained duringyour award in your current work. Would you beable to expand on this?IP: The PhD is probably the only time in your life thatyou get three years to really focus on your research,and so it enabled me to continue to draw on workI was doing back then. It was a really big boost tomy academic career. The main skills I gained werearound writing. I already had a Master’s in researchmethods, so I knew how to be a researcher, but Ireally needed to improve my writing skills. I had verystrong supervision and the intensity of the feedbackthat was given during that phase was really helpful.KS: You also stated that you were able tointroduce new practices or innovations inthe workplace. Can you outline any specificexamples?IP: The teaching programme was very weak whenthe first group of us [at the centre] came together.So I designed two out of the three courses we ranin the beginning. I was able to structure the degreeprogramme in ways that I thought would be effectiveand according to how I think the programme shouldrun. Our director designed the introductory courseand then I designed two others, which were a healthand psychosocial consequences of migration courseand a methodology course.KS: Can you tell us about any links that you wereable to establish in the UK, particularly onesthat led to joint collaboration on work you’veconducted?IP: I chose Manchester Metropolitan Universitybecause there was a group of well-knownresearchers in my field whose work I had used alot in my own research. It was a very warm andsupportive environment and I continue to workwith my supervisor, Erica Burman. Our centre hasnominated her as an honorary researcher, so wecontinue to have a very close collaboration. In 2010,we co-edited a book called Gender and Migration,which in some ways brought together all the peopleworking in gender and migration that I’d met in theUK. I also keep in contact with some of the otherstudents that I met. I’ve even co-authored a journalarticle with one of them, and will be submittingsomething for a special <strong>issue</strong> that she’s doing in ajournal. The people on that course came from allover the world, so I wasn’t just establishing UK links,but also international ones.KS: What have been your achievements in havingan impact on development?IP: Our research centre is involved in a lot ofapplied and policy-relevant research. For example,the Department of Health <strong>issue</strong>d a memo assertingthat no person should be asked for identificationwhen accessing antiretroviral medication [for HIV/AIDS treatment] in South Africa. It was a reallyprogressive move, because it recognised the publichealth benefits of not implementing an immigrationpolicy that was potentially denying people access.Our centre did research regarding that <strong>issue</strong>related to implementation methods and makingrecommendations. That came alongside a wholerange of policy dialogues with key governmentofficials. In the same way, we continue to engagewith the Department of Home Affairs on the researchwe conducted on gender-based persecution in theasylum system. I’ve also done a lot of work fordonors because of my history in the NGO sector. Atthe time I finished my PhD and moved to Universityof Witwatersrand, Atlantic Philanthropies wanted tomove into South Africa to provide funding for themigrant rights sector, and so I did consultancy workfor them. I feel that being able to influence that wasreally important, because it’s had a huge impact onthe sector. I’ve also done work for UNICEF and Savethe Children, advising them around migrant childrenprogramming. And of course there’s the academicwork that I’m involved in.14 Commonwealth Scholarships News
An evaluation breakout session at the CSC WelcomeProgramme 2013 for new Commonwealth Scholars andFellows. Participants were asked to consider what theyexpect they will be able to do differently on their returnhome as a result of their award, and what methods theCSC should use to track and report on this impact. Readmore about the event on page 16-17.I think the Commonwealth Scholarship allowspeople to have an experience that wouldotherwise have been impossible.KS: You mentioned that you are able toparticipate in a lot of government and NGOforums that help shape policy. Could youexplain this a bit more?IP: Trafficking legislation has just been passed,though it was introduced in 2010, and there wasa lot of debate around whether sex work shouldbe decriminalised in South Africa. So I’ve madeformal policy submission surrounding that. Also,when we see an opportunity such as a new policydevelopment, for example, we try to hold a seriesof consultative workshops where we invite peopleto debate the <strong>issue</strong>s. I’ve also done some work forLawyers for Human Rights, which has been usedin litigation. I’m currently doing work on LGBT[lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] claims thathave been brought to the South African asylumsystem, and Lawyers for Human Rights are usingthat both in resettlement claims and in broaderlitigation.KS: Can you give an example of a specific policythat you’ve been able to establish?IP: One of the key things that we were very vocalabout was the conflation of trafficking and sexwork, particularly around the World Cup in SouthAfrica. I made submissions to the policy processwhich eventually did manage to disconnect variousaspects of sex work from trafficking in a much moresensible way. I also worked with the InternationalOrganisation for Migration (IOM) on their trainingprogrammes and reviewing curricula. It was notonly policy in the formal sense, but also softerpolicy; being able to shape how they trainedgovernment officials in implementing policy, andalso changes to the actual policy stance.KS: What are your thoughts about yourCommonwealth Scholarship?IP: I think the Commonwealth Scholarship allowspeople to have an experience that would otherwisehave been impossible. The academic training isreally important, but more than that I think theopportunity to study outside your own environmentenables you to broaden your horizons. It allows youto experience new things and meet new people. TheCommonwealth Scholarship is one of the most wellknownand is very generous in regard to studyingabroad. And at a personal level, I would have nevermet many of the people I continue to work with ifit hadn’t been for the Commonwealth Scholarship.January 201415
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