Knowledge, Policy and Power Group

DSA conference, IDS, Sussex, UK

Speakers:

David Grimshaw, Practical Action
Margareth Nzuki, Economic and Social Research Forum Tanzania
+ 1 DFID representative (tbc)

Link to Knowledge, Technology & Science team at IDS

The Politics of Policy Making: Thinking Cross-Sectorally

Joint Seminar series with DSA/EADI Multi-dimensional Poverty Working Group

ODI, London/IDS, Sussex

Full details to be confirmed

We propose to organize a seminar series on the specific challenges of bridging policy and research in different policy areas and in Northern and Southern contexts. The objective would be to bring together a research and practitioner to present at each session, and for a discussant from the DSA working group to highlight similarities and differences in this policy area in the North and South. Presenters would be asked to consider a set of common questions to ensure a high level of cohesion across the meeting series. This would in turn provide strong groundwork for a concluding one-day workshop where the emphasis would be on assessing in what ways a focus on the specificity of challenges involved in bridging policy and research in different policy areas advances our theoretical understanding of the research/policy/practice interface.

Knowledge, Policy and Power in EU Development Policy Making

EADI General Conference

The important role that knowledge and knowledge markets play in international development, as well as the potentially significant returns to research, is increasingly recognized. Similarly, there is growing attention across Europe, particularly so at EC DG Development, to the linkages between knowledge, policy processes and practice. This is reflected not only in initiatives such as the European Development Report but also in the work of the DG Development's Forward Looking and Policy Coherence department.

This is a call for papers related to Knowledge, Policy and Power in EU

Although there is considerable interest in policy making process research in international development there is surprisingly little work covering development policy making in the EC, or indeed multi-lateral development policy making processes. Further, although there is a growing literature on the relationship between knowledge, 'evidence', research and policy processes, there has been little systematic discussion about whether and if so how these different variables vary across different policy arenas. Does for example the high level of technical expertise required to engage in trade and fiscal policy debates provide different sorts of dynamics for policy narratives, agents and context than policies on citizenship rights? Are there different hierarchies of knowledge (quantitative, qualitative, participatory/experiential) in different policy areas? In what ways might policy influencing strategies need to be tailored differently to engage in value-charged policy debates about issues such as sexual and reproductive health policy compared to infrastructure development? Do some policy issues lend themselves to greater civil society participation and engagement? If so what lessons might we distill in order to strengthen civic engagement in other policy areas?

We want to engage by exploring the dynamics of the policy making process in general, but at the same time focus on the relative importance of various types of 'evidence' or knowledge in that process. In sum, our approach is not just about researching policy processes per se, but ensuring there is more of a dialogue between various knowledge generators (including researchers) on the one hand, and policy makers and policy outcomes on the other. In this regard, we would particularly welcome contributions from researchers investigating the role that new EU member states are playing in shaping EU development policy.