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Report from INORMS 2023

Ian Carter was the recipient of the 2023 SRAI Speaker Travel Scholarship. As part of the scholarship, recipients are asked to write an article about their presentation at the meeting and their international knowledge exchange. Learn more about the Speaker Travel Scholarship here. 

I was lucky enough to be able to attend INORMS 2023 in Durban, South Africa, hosted by SARIMA, SRAI’s sister society.  This was the ninth INORMS Congress and attracted over 550 people from more than 50 countries.

It is very difficult to summarise a whole conference, but there were a few strands.   One prominent strand running throughout the conference was of equity and equitable partnerships: what do these terms mean in practice, and what should we all be doing to address them?

Whilst relationships between the Global North and the Global South was an initial frame of reference, it quickly became clear that there are also South-South and North-North imbalances to be addressed.  Some of this may be uncomfortable for some of us to hear, and has already been articulated in the 2022 Cape Town Statement agreed at the World Conference on Research Integrity.

Examples of imbalances identified were:

• Funders from outside a country supporting activity that does not align with national priorities, and not having engaged with the relevant government bodies.
• Countries who do not permit foreign funds to be sub-contracted / sub-awarded, which means their institutions cannot easily act as lead partners.
• Global health organisations being dominated by the North, especially the US; both in terms of their location and their leadership; and the resulting power imbalances leading to Southern priorities not being addressed.
• In a similar vein at project level, a lack of equity in their leadership, the choice of topic, the split of responsibilities and resources, and the order of authors on a publication.

There was discussion of capacity development, building and strengthening.  These phrases tended to elide capacity and capability, both of which need to be addressed.  It was suggested that international funders need to support the environment and ecosystem at sector and country levels over an extended period, not through a series of short-term projects at institutional level.

A second common topic was about the societal value of research and where this fits into system, institutional and individual drivers.  There was a mixed international picture, but with strong messages that there needs to be better alignment and change needed on the part of academia and researchers.  For example, in one domain it was suggested that ‘what engages professors’ (citations for career purposes) does not necessarily advance global health in practice.  Coupled with this, ‘less than 10% of global investments in health research is spent in developing countries, where more than 90% of preventable mortality occurs’.

We heard that there can be, and have been, adverse reactions to innovation, whether in technology or practice.  We were provided with a quote from Machiavelli, of all people, about the challenges of innovation.  The terminology of this space has evolved, from technology transfer to knowledge transfer to knowledge exchange; and we now might speak of innovation and engagement, as one or both words will be meaningful to all subject areas and researchers, as well as to beneficiaries.  Wherever we sit, we should be using stories and short messages, repeated over a considerable period if we are to have influence and make a difference.

A final topic to note was about us, research and innovation managers and administrators (RIMAs).  Research and innovation management means different things in different continents, for example in terms of what it encompasses, said to be broader in Africa than in some other locations.  We were told that we can all be leaders, regardless of position, and should make use of ‘nudging’ to exert influence.  Expertise leads to leadership, which leads to influence.  At a practical level and with reference to the first strand, it is beneficial for RIMAs to have knowledge of the local environment, government, and so on of their partners, to best support the relationship.

To end by giving a flavour of the conference overall, here are the four keynote presentations:

• Professor Cheryl de la Rey, Vice-Chancellor, University of Canterbury, New Zealand: Leadership in research and innovation management in the higher education environment.
• Professor Catherine Kyobutungi, The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Kenya: Equitable partnerships in research and innovation for sustainable global development.
• Professor Ernest Aryeetey, African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), Ghana: Africa’s research and innovation/higher education landscape, and its role in contributing to the goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063 as well as the global sustainable development goals.
• Dr Phil Clare, CEO Queen Mary Innovation Ltd, United Kingdom: What are Universities for?  Knowledge Exchange at the Heart of our Mission.

For my part, I presented Thoughts on International Research Partnerships: How should we go about creating and supporting them? and was supported by the SRAI’s 2023 Speaker Travel Scholarship. The session was reported by Research Professional, and I am in the process of writing it up for publication.

Thanks to SARIMA for a great conference, and we’re now looking forward to INORMS 2025 in Madrid, hosted by EARMA. 

Authored by Ian Carter