Seminar: The Politics of Valorization of Scientific Work in Social and Development-Oriented Fields: Between Social Relevance and Instrumentalisation?

Background
As social scientists – and especially those active in the field of international development – we are increasingly experiencing pressure to work together closely with societal partners, including private sector organizations. While most social scientists would like to conduct research that has societal relevance and impact, they also realize that the pressure results in several dilemmas: how to balance the pressure to  promote open access of data and publications with pressure from some of the partners not to, how to balance academic freedom with the pressure from some partners to refrain from asking critical questions… This seminar addresses these dilemmas, as well as the issue of social impact assessment of research: how and for whom?

Confirmed guest speakers include:
Jean Bossuyt (European Centre for Development Policy Management)
Irene Guijt (Oxfam UK Head of Research)
Henk Molenaar (Nationale Wetenschapsagenda – National Scientific Agenda)

This seminar is jointly organized by the National Research School for Resource Studies for Development (CERES), the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL), the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam, and the Institute of Development Policy and Management (IOB) in Antwerp.

Venue: Royal Tropical Institute (Amsterdam), Waagzaal

Registration: please register by sending an email to ceres@uu.nl