AuthorAID researcher Jonalyn Mateo researching seaweed.

Global Platforms for Equitable Knowledge Ecosystems (GPEKE)

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Country

Ethiopia

Uganda

Cambodia

All countries

Theme

Supporting Southern research and higher education institutions

Equitable knowledge ecosystems

Project dates

April 2019

December 2023

The challenge

Important voices are currently excluded from contributing to addressing development problems at individual, organisational and systemic levels. Achieving equity within research and knowledge systems is important to ensure that all research voices can participate in tackling the most pressing challenges and that nobody is left behind.

The Global Platforms for Equitable Knowledge Ecosystems (GPEKE) project seeks to build stronger and more equitable research systems both between North and South, and in three focus countries: Uganda, Ethiopia and Cambodia in partnership with Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology, and Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Our approach

In order to support the production and communication of quality, credible and relevant research by a more diverse range of individuals and institutions, the project focuses on three key aspects of equity in research and knowledge systems:

Gender equity – ensuring that opportunities to produce and communicate research are available to a significantly larger number of women researchers, leading to greater equity within institutions (predominantly in Uganda and Ethiopia)
Equity in research skills development – providing opportunities to acquire the skills and knowledge to produce and communicate research are available to researchers, at a broader range of institutions, leading to greater equity between institutions
Equity in research publishing – helping ensure that Southern journals and research publishing platforms are visible, credible and good quality, ensuring that good research is valued and recognized based on its rigour and relevance, wherever it is published, leading to greater equity between South and North.

GPEKE provides global support via INASP’s online research capacity platforms alongside more in-depth work to strengthen capacity and equity within national research systems:

Providing online learning and mentoring to researchers, journal editors and other research professionals across the globe through INASP’s AuthorAID and Moodle platforms:

Supporting INASP’s AuthorAID network of 23,000 researchers from 175 countries to build the confidence, knowledge and skills needed by southern researchers and organizations so that their research can be published and communicated. This includes the development and delivery of online courses, tutorials and other materials in research writing, proposal writing and policy engagement, a mentoring platform to connect senior/experienced researchers to early career Southern researchers, discussion forums and journal clubs which provide peer-to-peer advice and support. It also includes a “Voice of Early-Career Researchers” study to deepen insight of the issues facing early-career researchers in low- and middle-income countries.
Supporting Southern journal editors in developing strong and reputable journals, delivering online courses on journal publishing and editorial processes, and facilitating the ongoing use and development of the Journal Publishing Practices and Standards (JPPS) assessment framework.

Supporting research institutions and individuals in Uganda and Ethiopia to address key aspects of research capacity, so that research produced in these countries can respond more effectively to national needs and priorities.

Dedicated support to national journal editors and publishing systems, and national early-career researchers.
Supporting our partners in Uganda and Ethiopia, with the establishment of a Gender Equity in Research Alliance in Uganda and a Gender Forum in Ethiopia to strengthen capacity for addressing gender equity issues within the two countries.

Identifying pathways to strengthening equity and capacity in the Cambodian research and knowledge system.

Developing a new collaboration with Royal University of Phnom Penh.

The GPEKE programme of work was developed in response to partner priorities, identified through consultation and dialogue. It also aligns with Sida’s research cooperation strategy, and builds on INASP’s learning from the Strengthening Research and Knowledge Systems and Strong and Equitable Research and Knowledge Systems in the Global South programmes.