Catalyzing Ecosystem Change for Greater Equity in Research Partnerships
Concept Systems is a proud supporter of Grassroots Health, Education, and Development Initiative, and we are excited to share their current GCM research. Funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Grassroots is the lead agency for a global research project:
Catalyzing Ecosystem Change for Greater Equity in Research Partnerships (ERP): Building on Lessons Learned from Grantees through Group Concept Mapping (GCM)
“ERP is a Global South-led research project that aims to generate new insights into how equity is understood, enacted, and experienced in global partnerships, particularly by researchers in the Global South. In doing so, we aim to lay the foundation for global research partnerships and collaborations that are structurally just, procedurally inclusive, and substantively impactful.
ERP will use Group Concept Mapping to investigate questions such as:
· What does equity in research partnerships look like in practice?
· What structural and institutional barriers undermine equitable collaboration?
· Which context-sensitive strategies are both meaningful and feasible to advance equity?
· How do funding structures, authorship practices, and decision-making processes shape partnership dynamics?
By addressing these questions, the project will develop an open-access, empirically grounded, Global South-led Equity Metrics and Monitoring Toolkit to help researchers, practitioners, universities, organizations, donors, funders, and grantees design, assess, and strengthen equitable research partnerships. Rather than relying on aspirational principles alone, these resources will provide practical benchmarks for evaluating equity across areas, including power-sharing, authorship, funding flows, transparency, data and IP ownership, and decision-making.”
– Grassroots
Visit their website or contact erp@ghedi.org to learn more about their work and how to get involved. We hope their work will inspire you as much as it has inspired us!
