Boosting social sciences and their contribution to better lives across the Indo-Pacific region

 

As part of an agenda of decolonization and localization of knowledge for development, there is a critical need for science granting councils to efficiently allocate resources towards their own national policy imperatives. Granting councils aim to do that by nurturing capacity within their own national research communities, ensuring researchers can readily contribute when called upon by policymakers. Councils must foster more effective regional collaborations, recognizing that impending crises and pervasive challenges — such as migration, climate change, pandemics and economic crises — are inherently regional in nature, particularly within Asia, where economies and policies are intricately interconnected.

To achieve this, the councils must understand the current landscape of both national and regional research systems and establish mechanisms to encourage collaborative efforts. While Asia has historically emphasized economic growth through technology-focused research and development, there is a pressing need for regional research to address a broader spectrum of issues, particularly in the social sciences, to effectively tackle development challenges. Additionally, for solutions to truly benefit a wide cross-section of society across the region, including historically marginalized groups, particularly women, there is an urgent call to promote greater inclusivity within national and regional research systems.

This project will strengthen connections with and between existing granting councils and will nurture the emergence of new ones in regions where national research systems, especially in the social sciences, are less developed. It will foster collaborative research endeavours centred on development priorities, with a strong emphasis on the participation of women, underrepresented groups and researchers from lower-income countries within the region. Moreover, the project will facilitate research assessments to gauge the state of social science within the region. In sum, the project aims to achieve the following outcomes: enhanced comprehension of social science research priorities, capacity and infrastructure; augmented social science research capacity throughout the Indo-Pacific region; and strengthened and more collaborative social science granting councils.