This project aims to improve transparency in the distribution of research funding in the world, with a focus on global inequalities. Through an analysis of funding flows, the project will identify inequalities and opportunities for more appropriate and fairer allocation, highlighting patterns that perpetuate the exclusion of Global South institutions from international science.
As part of a push to "decolonize" and "localize" knowledge production and to empower research institutions in the Global South, there is a need for new data and tools to change the dynamics of research funding, and to enhance the visibility of Southern Science Granting Councils (SGCs) on the global stage. ODA (Overseas Development Aid) and non-ODA research funding needs to be mobilized in order to better address critical national, regional and global development issues in a more coordinated way.
For this purpose, this project funded by the Canadian funding agency IDRC led by the Latin American Council for Social Science (CLACSO) will develop conceptual models and empirical data collection on research funding flows in the Global South.
The project is expected to lead to the following outcomes:
- Research funding in the Global South is made "visible", enhancing the influence and position of granting councils on the global stage, and enabling them to become effective advocates at the national, regional and international levels
- Funders from around the world, particularly in the Global South, make informed decisions on agenda-setting and partnership development based on new evidence and data on funding flows
The Latin American Social Science Countil (CLACSO) will lead the qualitative part with engagement with funding-related stakeholders. CWTS will lead the empirical analysis of funding flows from global funders to organisations and territories in the Global South by developing data models and analytical landscapes of global flows using funding acknowledgements data and grant data.
Through an analysis of funding flows, the consortium will identify inequalities and opportunities for more appropriate allocation mechanisms that support researchers and relevant research agendas in Southern contexts.