Institutional Learning in North-South Research Partnerships

This article examines recent experiences in North-South research partnerships, at a time when the relevance of traditional dichotomies between ?industrialized? and ?developing? countries, or between ?North? and ?South?, is waning. Scientific collaborations between northern and southern researchers are at the crossroads of two organizational fields: academia and international development cooperation. This raises specific institutional learning challenges. The results of our study show that North-South research partnerships are not immune to the typically unequal, biased donor-recipient relations that have plagued international development cooperation for decades. Despite recent improvements, entrenched behaviour and enduring practices still affect the quality and effectiveness of research partnerships. Funding arrangements and ensuing power relations influence the ability to combine capacity-building aspirations with the drive for academic excellence. Mounting pressure to publish research outcomes fast in disciplinary journals edited in the North combined with harsh competition for funding seriously limit the time and space to establish equitable partnership frameworks and support institutional capacities. This calls for addressing funding, knowledge and power issues in development research partnerships, which involve a growing diversity of actors and modalities.