A conference organised by the International Famine Centre, UCC, in association with the National Committee for Development Education - 24th March 2000.

Summary of the Recommendations of the Conference

There should continue to be a yearly meeting of those involved in the development studies/development education arena in Ireland.

An online database should be set up - possibly to be co-ordinated by the NCDE? - which would allow individuals and organisations to enter their research, policy, or activist interests by theme and subject. This site could then be visited by others searching for collaborators in the same area and would assist the formation of links.

Similarly, cataloguing Irish-based publications of all kinds - from academic books to campaigning leaflets - in one place would be of great assistance. Information exchange, many participants felt, was as important as collaborative information production.

There is a role for a new funding scheme - possibly through the NCDE? - which explicitly has as its goal fostering new collaborations between research and policy formation/public awareness building, campaigning. Could this emerge as a subgoal of the existing, underused research grant mechanism under the NCDE?

Successful examples of collaboration between research and activism should continue to be highlighted to demonstrate how collaboration can be achieved and obstacles overcome.

In particular, Irish organisations should be proactive in encouraging research topics which interest them for postgraduate students at Irish Universities. In return, those organisations can then partner with the students, providing access to materials, resources and key individuals, and ensuring that the research is 'usuable'.

The large Irish NGOs should take an active role in fostering research/awareness building linkages. Moreover, they are in a key position to combat the rising private sector dominance of Irish research agendas by direct funding of research on topics related to development, equity and justice. This might particularly be done by funding lectureships in aspects of development studies at Irish Universities.