Category: Blog

“We are using politically correct language … to evade addressing the real issues why progress on core commitments has been so weak since [the] Paris Declaration nine years ago”, remarked a delegate from a small African island nation at a … Continue reading →

The geographer David Harvey has elaborated the concept accumulation through dispossession to explain how capital began to be accumulated in the late 20th and early 21st century.  He draws attention to the activities in 14th-17th Century England, which removed people … Continue reading →

“We listen to public, and they have a say in setting the research agenda. After all, universities undertake research with public funds; they must be accountable to the public”. Such were the sentiments expressed during three dialogues on ‘strengthening community … Continue reading →

A Canadian Government Environmental study of the effects of tailing ponds, a by-product of Canadian Tar Sands oil production shows that an un-Godly mixture of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals are leaching into the ground water and finding their way to … Continue reading →

Thomas Piketty, a French economist has just published what many scholars are calling the definitive account of the historic evolution of inequality in advanced economics.   For those of us used to an economics profession that has either been a … Continue reading →

Engage 2020 has been created to provide practical advice to the European Scientific Research Agenda (Horizon 2020). They note the following, During the last decades participatory approaches gained particular relevance in the field of science and technology policy making. Technocracy … Continue reading →

East Asia hosted two very interesting conferences during the past four weeks. The first was held in Beijing in October entitled “International Conference on Learning Cities”, co-hosted by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg. The second, last week, was held … Continue reading →

Paulo Wangoola is the founding Nabyama or President of the Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity, a higher education research institute for the revitalization and promotion of mother-tongue Afrikan scholarship. Based near the source of the River Nile in Busoga Kingdom of Uganda, … Continue reading →

Localizing Research Partnerships A recent comparative study carried out by UK’s Development Studies Association focuses on the comparative value-addition of development studies carried out in partnership with NGOs and community-based organisations (CBOs). Entitled ‘Cracking Collaboration’, it analyses the factors that … Continue reading →

September 21 is the International Day of Peace.  Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO in her message says that we should join together “to make education a force for peace”. What does this mean for those of us working on … Continue reading →