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UK Context
The development studies sector in the UK is among the world’s
most vibrant and has been growing in recent years. There are a number
of recent developments that are relevant to note for this initiative:
- Since the change of government in 1997, DFID has
been made a Ministry represented in Cabinet and has undertaken
a range of reforms.
- Department for International Development, UK,
(DFID) Research: DFID has reformed its policy division and
set up a new Central Research team. The team has a budget of £75
million per annum. Although based on the DFID Research Policy
Report*, the contours of the programme are still being developed.
Emphasis is shifting towards research with policy relevance and
all tendered research is now untied.
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC):
The ESRC seems to be giving increasing emphasis to development
issues (www.esrc.ac.uk).
There is an emphasis on multi-disciplinarity and on cross cutting
work.
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
(HEFCE): HEFCE is undertaking a review of the Research Assessment
Exercise (RAE) – the mechanism used to assess the performance
of research staff in higher education in the UK. The HEFCE review
has been completed (Roberts Report, 2003) and the Development
Studies Association (DSA) has called for a development studies
sub-panel to be established in the next research assessment exercise.
In the last round development studies had been under Geography
which was seen as sub-optimal.
- UK Development Studies Research Guide: The
DSA is developing a new guide to research capacity in the UK and
Ireland (this currently includes 86 institutions). See www.devstud.org.uk/researchguide/institutes.htm
- There have been significant developments in the way research
is communicated in the UK – with the initiation of the Eldis
(www.eldis.org)
and id21 (www.id21.org)
research reporting services.
These changes are likely to mean that more research funding will
be going into the development studies sector and that the emphasis
will be on bridging research and policy.
* Surr, M., A. Barnett, A. Duncan, and M. Speight (2002) 'Research
for Poverty Reduction: DFID Research Policy Paper', Development
Committee Meeting, 24 October 2002
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