Refugee research agendas: the influence of donors and North-South partnerships

Abstract

This paper examines how refugee studies and forced migration research agendas have been shaped by donor policies, and in particular by donors' support for North-South research partnerships. The first part of this paper considers the nature of donors' influence on forced migration research agendas, and contextualises donor support for forced migration research within broader trends in the financing of developmentrelated research, including increased assistance for multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder research, and the primacy of ‘policy-relevant’ research. The second section focuses on the implications of donors' tendency to support forced migration research through North-South partnerships. In this section, I explore researchers' motivations for entering into such partnerships, and discuss the obstacles they may entail for Southern researchers trying to articulate and advance their own agendas. At their best, North-South research partnerships are a source of mutual learning and capacity building that stimulate academic debates while successfully contributing to efforts to protect and assist the displaced. However, I contend that donors and researchers alike are well-advised to be frank about the limitations of this approach and use it only judiciously, as North-South partnerships are not necessarily the most productive way to advance research agendas grounded in the concerns and perspectives of Southern actor.