Disability Inclusive Sustainable Global Development Networking awards Cohort Coordinator

The proposed work will bring the portfolio of AHRC-funded networks working on disability inclusive sustainable global development together to share experiences, reflect on challenges and foster further collaboration. A learning agenda will be developed to guide the process. Through cooperation and subsequent co-constructed knowledge, the resulting network of networks will be stronger than all its parts. The approach selected will be guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and will be fully and effectively inclusive. Accessibility has been considered at all stages of the proposed work, with reasonable accommodation included in the budget. A participatory approach to the research will be undertaken to ensure the most marginalised people and groups are engaged and the scope of participation amongst other participants is increased. A blended approach to learning will be undertaken, with activities taking place online and face to face. All the activities will be designed to forefront the voice of people with disabilities, and document learning from the experiences of the partners involved with a view to developing future research capabilities. There will be several outputs that will result from this work. These will include a series of five learning papers on various research policy considerations. The exact focus will be informed by a participatory consultation with the network partners, but are expected to include ethics; safeguarding/risk; environmental sustainability; inclusive/participatory ways of working (particularly with regards to Equality Diversity and Inclusion); and equitable partnerships. A major output from the work will be a special edition of The IDS Bulletin which will focus on disability inclusive development and networking. A mixture of online, in person, and hybrid meetings will be held to decide the papers that will be included, and who will work on them. The participatory process will be facilitated to encourage a diversity of authors working on each paper from across the networks. To further develop the capability of Early Career Researchers (ERCs), two in person workshops will be held to develop their skills and knowledge. The workshops will be based on what is identified as being needed the most by the ERCs themselves as well as their more senior colleagues. In addition, a process of looking forward will be undertaken to document expected challenges and opportunities in a future research agendas paper. Towards the end of the network funding, a deep dive into the collective impacts will be undertaken and a paper drafted that details the various types of impact of the cohort of networks have had. The outputs will be produced in a mixture of styles and formats relevant to both policy and research based audiences. These will include academic papers, learning events and policy orientated briefs. In addition to the actual published outputs, the meetings and workshops will provide important opportunities for the network members to interact with each other and exchange ideas. These interactions will provide touchpoints for network members to identify commonalities between projects within the cohort and to consider future collaborations. The proposed work will combine the Principal Investigator's individual expertise in disability inclusive development and research capability enhancement, with institutional knowledge from IDS with regards to learning from networks and measuring collective impact. The planned events and subsequent research outputs will provide the AHRC (and other funders as appropriate) with evidence informed lessons that have been learned from the cohort of projects, as well as detailing future emerging arts and humanities research agendas. Through the inclusive and participatory design, this work will help to shape and develop future planned funding calls and cross-UKRI collaborations relating to disability inclusive sustainable development.