Indo- Canadian Research Collaboration Roundtable

On 15 October, PRIA India in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), convened a roundtable bringing together researchers, research funders, academic institutions & civil society organisations to explore possibilities for renewed India–Canada collaboration in the social sciences.

The conversation came at an important moment in bilateral relations, with renewed commitments to strengthening ties between the two countries.

A key focus of the discussion was the potential for interdisciplinary & transdisciplinary research, particularly at the intersection of social & natural sciences, climate change, technological development & artificial intelligence.

Some questions that emerged were particularly important.

How can participatory research & Indigenous knowledge systems contribute to understanding the impacts of climate change, including on health, livelihoods & vulnerable communities? How can social sciences help bring community voices into policy & practice? And what would it take for research institutions & funding systems to recognise diverse knowledge systems & support more equitable research partnerships?

The discussion also highlighted that communities are not simply sources of data or recipients of research interventions. They hold knowledge, develop solutions & continually adapt to changing social & ecological realities. Research partnerships must create the conditions for these forms of knowledge to shape research questions, methodologies & outcomes.

The DECODE Knowledge Project, which examines co-construction, decolonisation & transformation through experiences of Indigenous & land-based communities across countries, offered one entry point into these questions. Other experiences shared during the roundtable highlighted the importance of sustained community engagement, ethical knowledge-sharing, intergenerational learning & collaboration between universities, civil society organisations & local governance institutions.

An equally important question concerned the institutional conditions needed to make such research possible.

Participatory & interdisciplinary research often requires longer timeframes, flexible funding & approaches to evaluating impact that go beyond conventional academic outputs. Renewing collaboration must therefore involve not only identifying shared research priorities, but also considering the methodologies, values & funding arrangements that can support meaningful & lasting outcomes.

One of the most valuable aspects of the conversation was the emphasis on mutual learning. The opportunity is not to transfer models from Canada to Asia, or from Asia to Canada, but to build partnerships in which experiences from both contexts inform new approaches to research, knowledge creation & public policy.

To read more please read the roundtable report.