Drussa Higher Education Policy Symposium - 2015

The University of Mauritius is a member of the five-year DRUSSA (Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa) programme led by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and funded by UK Department for International Development (DFID). It groups 22 African Universities. 

As part of this programme, the University of Mauritius organised a Symposium on the 27th November 2015, with the aim of bringing together senior academics, policy makers and other stakeholders to promote a Science-Policy dialogue. The Symposium, driven by discussions on available examples of good research uptake practice already taking place in Mauritius, helped to stimulate both the supply of and demand for development focused research and the wider adoption of research uptake practices within the higher education sector. Additionally, the interaction helped members of the academic community to better understand the policy directions and questions that the ministries are focusing on, enabling them to consider potential developmental outcomes of their own research and, where appropriate, establish research agenda that can also support national policy agendas. It also contributed to a better knowledge and understanding among the policy community of the quality, relevance and potential of research undertaken at universities. 

DRUSSA - Developing a stakeholder engagement and science communication plan Handbook

The goal of the DRUSSA programme is strengthened university Research Uptake capacity for individuals and universities so as to better meet the demand for better utilisation of research findings.
In September 2013, the DRUSSA team at the University of Stellenbosch’s Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) presented a 4-day workshop during which two research project teams from participating universities were equipped with key skills to produce a research uptake case study with a particular emphasis on developing stakeholder engagement and science communication plans. Click link for the HandBook

The plan set out the process and actions to engage with key stakeholders such as the community where the research was being undertaken, interested public and policy makers and funders. It also set out the processes through which the research project team would communicate the their research findings to these stakeholders.

Over the period September 2013 to September 2014 the case study teams interacted closely with the CREST team to write up an account of their experience of developing and refining these plans and on how they have proceeded to implement them.
The first section of this document reviews theoretical and practical frameworks and approaches for
stakeholder identification, analysis to establish ‘fit for purpose’ for the context in which the research was taking place, and analysis of the engagement and communication plan development that was presented at the conclusion of the workshop in September 2013. This section therefore comprises a section on the practicalities and “how-to’s” of the process of developing a stakeholder engagement and science communication plan.

The following two sections then describe the experience, learning, practical difficulties and successes
encountered by two case-study teams.
The first case study provides an analysis and overview of a complicated (at times) stakeholder engagement planning process, and its communication plan. The project aimed at quantifying and uncovering the movement of sediments and agrochemicals found under various types of mulches in coastal, hilly, food production areas in Mauritius.

Transforming Research into Policy - DRUSSA INITIATIVES

Transforming Research into Policy

Research Uptake intitiatives in Rodrigues

Research Uptake (RU) does not refer simply to the one-way process of communicating research findings to potential end-users. •It involves effective communication much further upstream – right from understanding end-user needs in the initial stages of project design, and in some cases even involving them in the research design, project implementation and adoption of research results. It describes the entire process of doing research that has outcomes that have impact on the lives of people.

An Example of a Relevant Initiative - Development Research Uptake in SubSaharan African Universities (DRUSSA).

DRUSSA Project is based on 3 premises :

•Skills needed to implement research findings are different to the skills required to do the research, so the researcher may not be the best person for this task. It is better addressed institutionally, through the development of a Research Uptake Management scheme in the institution.
•Research uptake can take a lot of time and money, hence often is not part of the research project itself, and should be tackled at institutional level through a separate office/unit with its own staff and budget.
•Researchers need to be incentivised to continue with the uptake process after the research part is completed.


Click for the presentation here.