Transboundary research partnerships between high-income and low- and middle-income countries are characterised by disparities in resources and capacity, as well as structural inequality between North and South. Over the past decade, this topic has gained prominence, as evidenced by the numerous papers published and new guidelines, playbooks, and codes of conduct released. During his sabbatical in Oxford and Bristol, Dr Christoph Lüthi interviewed selected academic staff from universities and research centres in the Global North and South about their experiences with research collaborations. What are the main features of equitable collaborations? How can we progress from tokenistic inclusion to transformative research collaborations that adopt a more reflective approach to global imbalances in knowledge production? His presentation will present some initial findings and introduce a number of recently developed tools and guidelines and formulate some recommendations.

Dr. Christoph Lüthi is a senior scientist and former director of the Sandec (Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development) research department at Eawag/ETH. He is also a committee member of the Swiss Alliance for Global Research Partnerships, hosted by the Swiss National Science Foundation. His interest in equitable North-South research partnerships is grounded in almost three decades of water and sanitation research in Africa and Asia.

The event will be followed by a drinks reception at the Reuben College Bar.