From sharing crucial knowledge on resilience in humanitarian crises, to re-imagining solutions for sanitation and food security for ‘off grid’ communities, IDS researchers are collaborating with global partners to deliver evidence and inform responses to the world’s most pressing development challenges.
IDS has been awarded funding for more than nine new research projects from the recently announced UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Collective Programme.
The UKRI GCRF Collective Programme is an investment of £147 million designed to enhance the overall impact across six focus areas: global health; education; sustainable cities; food systems; conflict; and resilience. Much of the research it supports is urgent and vital to emergency and disaster response in developing countries.
The projects bring together a wide range of researchers and experts from across the UK and developing countries to generate innovative solutions to intractable development issues, and contribute to enabling healthier and safer lives, sustainable development and prosperity for all.
The global challenges being addressed by IDS projects that form part of the GCRF Collective Programme include sustainable cities, education, food systems and resilience to environmental shocks and change. Examples include:
- Reimagining Infrastructure: how is marginalised people’s food and nutrition security shaped by a continuum of urban infrastructure assemblages
- Towards Brown Gold?: Reimagining off-grid sanitation in rapidly urbanising areas in Asia and Africa
- Higher education pedagogies for peacebuilding: developing hubs in The Balkans, Latin America and The Horn of Africa
- Islands of innovation in protracted crises: a new approach to building equitable resilience from below
- Supporting transformative adaptation and building equitable resilience to drought for sustainable development
Professor Andrew Thompson, UKRI’s International Champion, said:
“The pandemic has irrefutably demonstrated that we are part of a global community and must work together to tackle global crises. This exciting programme brings together diverse expertise from across the globe, ensuring that the voices of those most impacted are empowered to drive sustainable solutions for those most in need.”