We are pleased to report that CR&DALL (the host of PASCAL at the University of Glasgow) has through its core members, Mia Perry and Bonnie Slade, within the School of Education, been successful in an ESRC-funded Global Challenges Research Fund network bids.

Congratulations to them all and their partners in Africa. More detail of this network is shown below.

The CSPE (Communities of Science and Practice Engage) Network: Mitigating the implementation gap in environmental initiatives through community engagement and public pedagogies. PI: Mia Perry, Co-Is: Bonnie Slade and Dan Haydon (MVLS)

It is estimated that 70% of the population of Uganda, Botswana, and Nigeria directly depend on the biodiversity of their ecosystems for their livelihoods, health and well-being. These ecosystems are being damaged at alarming rates in conjunction with a deterioration of social, cultural, and economic prosperity. While research, innovation, and policy addressing these environmental and social realities is carried out nationally and internationally, these occur largely without community involvement or qualitative input and mostly without successful implementation (Adelle, 2016; Oluka, 2016; Rwakakamba, 2009; Wingqvist & Nilsson, 2013). The CSPE Network brings together environmental and social scientists in community and public pedagogies with the following key aims:

1. To mitigate the gap between expertise in environmental science, community engagement and public pedagogies, as well as the social, cultural, and economic realities of land/water dependent communities in Uganda, Botswana, and Nigeria.
2. To build sustainable and productive partnerships between social scientists (community engagement and public pedagogy) environmental scientists (agricultural and ecological sciences) and non-academic Community-Based Organisations (community development and sustainability).

The Network currently has 17 members across 4 countries. 

Another network within the same scheme also led from the School of Education has also been funded. This is led by Barbara Read as PI with Michele Schweisfurth as one of the Co-Is. Both are core members of the Robert Own Centre for Educational Change, and the details are shown below. So further congratulations to them.

Examining Gender in Higher Education (EGHE): exploring gendered patterns of  participation and success in STEM and beyond. A UK-African Countries Network. PI: Barbara Read, Co-Is: Michele Schweisfurth , Elizabeth Tanner (School of Engineering)

The Examining Gender in Higher Education (EGHE) network draws together academics and activists to share and build knowledge and expertise on key areas of concern in gender and higher education (HE) comparatively across a range of African countries as well as the UK; and to build the foundations for sustained research that will address key issues of pressing concern in the field. One key area of concern has already been identified: participation and success of women students in STEM subjects. This is a crucial focus area in relation to the goals of gender equality and social justice, and directly supports key priorities of network member countries in terms of economic and infrastructural development.

Scoping work will be undertaken in this focus area and also more broadly on issues related to gender and higher education in member countries as part of the EGHE network’s activities, in order to produce policy briefings and to identify and develop further key areas for future collaboration (including a joint research bid).

The network involves a collaborative partnership between academic colleagues with interdisciplinary expertise based in Rwanda, Uganda, and The Gambia; and at the University of Glasgow, UK, where the administration of the network will be undertaken. Finally the network will benefit from partnership with a prominent pan-African NGO working on issues relating to gender and education, with a key identified focus on STEM: the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE).

Other Initial Network Members: