NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

makers. R4D allows for explaining that we are doing research
for external users and not only for our own researchers’
environment.
What would you like the readers of this interview to keep
in mind?
Bassirou Bonfoh: If we want to emphasise the impact of
R4D, we need other funding mechanisms to support this
specific research – different from most of the funding mechanisms
that exist today.
Barbara Becker: There are two key messages. The first builds
on what Isabel said earlier, that those colleagues at the ETH
Zurich or among our readers who have not had anything
to do with R4D or problems of developing countries might
get the idea that their research, on ICT for example, is
also relevant when put into the development context. The
second key message is that we have to develop new approaches
to the award system for judging the quality of
science – approaches that are more appropriate for assessing
and capturing the quality of R4D.
Urs Wiesmann: I fully subscribe to that. I would be happy
if we were able to show with this interview that R4D is
not applied research in a purely demand- or consultancydriven
way, but that it is facing very large scientific challenges.
These challenges call for innovation in terms of methodology,
in terms of approaches, and in terms of generating
outputs and outcomes. The second message is that in
science we should stop thinking that globalised knowledge
is automatically better than contextualised knowledge. The
two have to go together and supplement each other. Only
in this way can science make a meaningful contribution to
society at large, to the economy, and to the environment.
Isabel Guenther: In addition to everything said before,
I would like to highlight that working in research in a
development context is very rewarding. I do not think it is a
trade-off, nor a low-tech area nor a consultancy service for
development agencies and governments – it is a field with
very interesting and relevant scientific questions.
Fresh camel milk samples are waiting for pH measurements,
Isiolo, Kenya
Interview with the village head, Guruwahi, India
27
FOCUS
Research for development