Professor Hampus Eriksson

Senior Scientist, WorldFish and Professor at University of Wollongong’s Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security

Hampus Eriksson is a systems ecologist with 20 years experience from transdisciplinary collaborations in the academic, fisheries and international development sectors in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. He holds a joint appointment as a Professor at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at the University of Wollongong and as a Senior Scientist leading the WorldFish research program in Solomon Islands. In his WorldFish role he is also leading work in the CGIAR Initiative on Aquatic Foods, coordinating a growing program on island food systems. His research portfolio includes island food system assessment, and how to design and evaluate research for development initiatives in these systems. This is an applied research agenda that include both theory and practice to nurture legitimate partnerships. Hampus is regularly sought by international organisations and research agencies for advice and leadership on incorporating such principles in partnership models and research design.

Abstract

Constructing Effective, High-Quality Research Partnerships

Partnerships are viewed as a central part of the global food system transformation agenda. In recent years there has been a growing focus on research-for-development partnership models. The CGIAR framework for “Quality of Research for Development” is helpful in organising ways to think about how research can be impactful. It organises four elements of research: Relevance, Scientific Credibility, Legitimacy, and Effectiveness. Among research leaders, legitimacy and effectiveness have been found difficult to operationalize and this hinders adoption. In addition, a global assessment of agricultural research found that only about 2% of published agricultural and agronomic research has original and high-quality data for small-scale producers. Prioritisation of technical innovations, academic definitions of research excellence, unequal research collaborations, and funding constraints appear inhibiting to research application. My presentation emphasises research culture and how the perfect research-for-development strategy is of little use without research behaviours and attitudes to support it. I argue that legitimacy is a precursor to effectiveness. A shift in research approaches from research-for-development to research-in-development is one way to consider power over priorities and how research programming engages in partnerships.