Institutional Priorities and Obstacles

Research Priorities

Respondents were given a free text box to share information about their institutional research priorities. Priorities relating to health were the most common, being highlighted by twenty respondents.

Within the broad category of health, a wide range of health-related priorities were identified including:

  • cancer
  • infectious diseases
  • global health
  • child health
  • health systems
  • zoonotic diseases
  • mental health
  • medical education

Other priority areas identified by more than one respondent were:

  • food security
  • the environment
  • urban development
  • violence prevention
  • climate change
  • education
  • family and parenting
  • gender-based violence
  • capacity strengthening
  • sustainability
  • housing
  • peacebuilding
  • policy

What are your or your department/organisation’s current research priorities?

"Health Research mainly on medical education, infectious diseases and mental health" - HEI Respondent from Somalia

"Reduction of post-harvest losses; food security related; touching on dissemination of findings." - Government Respondent from Kenya

"Malaria control and elimination. Data evidence and synthesis, training and capacity building, partnership, leadership and resource mobilization" - NGO Respondent from Tanzania

Obstacles

We wanted to know about the kinds of obstacles preventing our partners from addressing their current priorities. Several common themes emerged. The predominant obstacle was lack of funding, which was mentioned by thirty respondents.

Lack of expertise was also an issue, although there were a variety of contexts mentioned by respondents, including lack of their own expertise, lack of expertise at their chosen collaborating institution, and lack of expertise within their institution’s senior management.

Insufficient time, difficulty identifying appropriate partners, and challenges posed by COVID-19 were also identified as issues.

Lack of appropriate infrastructure, poor leadership, collaborating institutions with rigid processes, shifting funder priorities, state interference, regional insecurity and unequal agenda-setting power were each identified by one respondent.

What obstacles prevent you from addressing your current research priorities?

"Getting access to funding and identifying research partners whose objectives align with ours. Lack of expertise and mentors.“ - NGO respondent from Kenya

“Funding is the main challenge and high competing priorities from both the donors/funders and the government for some research activities and public demand.” - NGO respondent from Tanzania

“Time, funding and researchers.” - HEI respondent from the Philippines

Summary

The responses suggest that there are commonalities in the challenges faced by our overseas partners to pursue their research agendas, although the scale of the challenges vary considerably. The funding opportunities available to many researchers in the Global South are significantly constrained compared to their peers in Global North institutions, lack of expertise may be more common in emerging research ecosystems, and difficulty developing international networks may be more pronounced for teams with less access to resource.