Making research relevant to policy-makers, development actors, and local communities: NCCR North-South report on effectiveness of research for development

Bridging the gap between research and policy is of growing importance in international development. The National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South has rich experience in collaborating beyond academic boundaries to make their research relevant to various societal actors. This publication is the first to provide an overview of the effectiveness of NCCR North-South researchers’ efforts to interact with policy, practice, and local communities with a view to effecting a change in practices. A systematic assessment of researchers’ interactions with non-academic partners is presented, based on principles of monitoring and evaluation. On this basis, tools for collective learning and widespread adaptation are proposed. The report shows with what types of societal actors NCCR North-South researchers collaborate and analyses examples of how researchers conduct dialogue beyond academic boundaries, leading to specific outcomes. It also explains the frame conditions considered decisive for successful and sustainable policy dialogue and concludes with recommendations about how the NCCR North-South can increase the effectiveness of its research for development. The publication is a valuable source of inspiration for those interested in better understanding how to generate the multiple benefits of making science relevant to society.

Research for sustainable development: Foundations, experiences, and perspectives

Research for Sustainable Development is based on the experiences of a decade of inter- and transdisciplinary research in partnership in nine regions of the world. It presents 29 articles in which interdisciplinary teams reflect on the foundations of sustainability-oriented research, propose and illustrate concrete concepts, tools, and approaches to overcome the challenges of such research, and show how research practice related to specific issues of sustainable development has led to new thematic and methodological insights. The book seeks to stimulate the advancement of research towards more relevant, scientifically sound, and concrete contributions to realising the vision of sustainable development.

Assessing dynamics of forced livestock movements, livelihoods and future development options for pastoralists/agro-pastoralists in Ruvuma and Lindi Regions, in the Southern Tanzania

The study that aimed at understanding the dynamics of forced livestock movements and pastoral livelihood and development options was conducted in Lindi and Ruvuma regions, using both formal and informal approaches. Data were collected from 60 randomly selected Agro-pastoralists/Pastoralists and native farmers using a structured questionnaire. Four villages were involved; two in Lindi region (Matandu and Mkwajuni) and the other two in Ruvuma region (Gumbiro and Muhuwesi). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of SPSS to generate means and frequencies. The results indicate that a large number of animals moved into the study area following the eviction order of the government in Ihefu wetlands in 2006/2007. Lindi region was earmarked by the government to receive all the evicted pastoralists. However, by 2008 only 30% of the total cattle that were expected to move into the region had been received. Deaths of many animals on transit, selling of the animals to pay for transportation and other costs while on transit and many pastoralists settling in Coastal and Ruvuma regions before reaching their destinations were reported to be the reasons for the discrepancy observed. To mitigate anticipated conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, Participatory Land Use Management (PLUM) plans were developed in all the study villages in order to demarcate village land area into different uses, including grazing, cropping, settlement and forests. Land units for grazing were supposed to be provided with all necessary livestock infrastructures (dips, charcoal dams, livestock markets and stock routes). However, the land use plans were not able to prevent the anticipated conflicts because most of the livestock infrastructures were lacking, the land use boundaries were not clearly demarcated and there was limited enforcement of village by-laws, since most had not been enacted by the respective district councils. Similarly, the areas allocated for grazing were inadequate for the number of livestock available and thus the carrying capacity exceeded. Thus, land resource-based conflicts between farmers and pastoralists were emerging in the study areas for the reason that most of the important components in the PLUM plans were not in place. Nevertheless, the arrival of pastoralists in the study areas had positive effects on food security and growth of social interactions between pastoralists and farmers including marriages between them. Environmental degradations due to the arrival of livestock were also not evident. Thus, there is a need for the government to purposely set aside enough grazing land with all necessary infrastructures in place for the agro-pastoral/pastoral communities in the country.

The new bern PET cyclotron, its research beam line, and the development of an innovative beam monitor detector

The new Bern cyclotron laboratory aims at industrial radioisotope production for PET diagnostics and multidisciplinary research by means of a specifically conceived beam transfer line, terminated in a separate bunker. In this framework, an innovative beam monitor detector based on doped silica and optical fibres has been designed, constructed, and tested. Scintillation light produced by Ce and Sb doped silica fibres moving across the beam is measured, giving information on beam position, shape, and intensity. The doped fibres are coupled to commercial optical fibres, allowing the read-out of the signal far away from the radiation source. This general-purpose device can be easily adapted for any accelerator used in medical applications and is suitable either for low currents used in hadrontherapy or for currents up to a few μA for radioisotope production, as well as for both pulsed and continuous beams.

Dynamics of governance and control in inter-organizational software development

In recent years, development of information systems (IS) has rapidly changed towards increasing division of labor between firms. Two trends are emerging. First, client companies increasingly outsource software development to external service providers. Second, the formerly oligopolistic enterprise application software industry has started to disintegrate into focal partnership networks – so called platform ecosystems. Despite the increasing prominence of IS outsourcing and platform ecosystems, many of these inter-organizational partnerships fail to achieve expected benefits. Ineffective governance and control frequently plays a pivotal role in producing these failures. While designing effective governance and control mechanisms is always challenging, inter-organizational software development projects are often business-critical and exhibit additional dynamics and uncertainty. As a consequence governance and control have to be adapted over time. The three research projects included in this book provide a better understanding of how and why governance and control can be effectively adapted over time. The implications for successful management of inter-organizational software development projects are highly relevant for theory and practice.