International research partnerships

International research partnerships are an interesting challenge for transdisciplinary research. They need a lot of attention. This is especially true if the cooperation involves developing countries. This step introduces important guiding principles and questions.

The Swiss Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries, in short KFPE, is part of the Swiss Academies of Sciences. It developed 11 principles and seven key questions in order to ensure that the process in a research partnership with developing countries is fair and guarantees equality of all involved partners.

In this video, Prof. Dr. Jakob Zinsstag discusses these principles and questions with two experts: Dr. Jon-Andri Lys, head of KFPE, and Professor Gueladio Cissé, a former director of the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques in Côte d’Ivoire and current head of the Environment and Health research unit at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel.

Please watch the discussion and then try to answer the following questions: What are the most important principles for establishing a well-functioning research partnership? Explain why you consider them important using the comments section of this step. We look forward to reading your thoughts!

If you want to explore the topic further we invite you to visit the site of the Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries, KFPE and also to investigate the 11 principles and 7 questions.

Educator: Prof. Dr. Jakob Zinsstag