Developing Research Capacity for Inclusive Urban Governance: a Sheffield-Witwatersrand PhD training partnership
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Urban Studies and Planning
Abstract
The proposed partnership will develop an international cohort of researchers in South Africa and the UK with the skills and capacities to conduct high-quality research on governance and social inclusion in rapidly-changing urban environments.
Since Apartheid, the South African state has made major investments in housing and urban infrastructure, and yet faces ongoing protest over housing and urban service delivery, and the persistence of 'informal' housing and employment. These conditions, which are echoed in other international contexts, indicate the pressing need for critical research that examines the gaps between urban policy goals, everyday state practices, and the life-worlds of intended policy recipients.
This exchange programme draws together a team of researchers (from School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, and Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield) who are undertaking internationally-leading work on 'actually existing' governance practices in the local state, and the impacts of urban policy on the lives of poor urban citizens, to build research capacity in this challenge area. It does so through collaboration which draws on the complementary strengths of their respective institutions: Sheffield's leadership of the ESRC's White Rose Doctoral Training Centre and interdisciplinary research within Sheffield Institute for International Development and its new Urban Institute, and the Witwatersrand's expertise in co-produced research in urban planning.
It uses this partnership to deliver high-quality doctoral training structured around key stages of PhD progression, from research design to write-up and dissemination. Delivery of bespoke 'training packages' will be concentrated in short, intensive exchange visits, supported by on-line communication and follow-up activities, a structure that facilitates participation of part-time, and mid-career PhD students. Sequencing these exchanges throughout the PhD process will develop researchers' skills base, and also develop a strong cohort identity and intellectual coherence among the Sheffield and Wits students working together over the course of the programme.
Beyond directly enhancing the research capacities of the participants themselves, the exchange programme will have two major benefits. The first is cross-institutional learning about doctoral training. Staff exchange visits within the core team will be used to collaboratively develop high-quality training materials, and embed best practice within doctoral programme development in each institution. The timing of this exchange is ideal, coinciding with a push to formalise doctoral training within Wits, and a significant review of Sheffield's provision in preparation for a DTP bid (March 2016). Members of the core team lead Sheffield's Faculty of Social Sciences Doctoral Programme, and PhD training in the Planning school in Wits, and so are uniquely placed to ensure that pedagogical learning over the course of the exchange programme is reflected in lasting institution-level change.
The second is the development of a sustained academic research agenda, emerging from the cohort identity of the researchers themselves, and collective publication and knowledge-exchange activities they will undertake over the course of the programme. The core project teams in both institutions are committed to taking this forward beyond the period of Newton funding through collective bids for further PhD studentships and joint research projects.
Since Apartheid, the South African state has made major investments in housing and urban infrastructure, and yet faces ongoing protest over housing and urban service delivery, and the persistence of 'informal' housing and employment. These conditions, which are echoed in other international contexts, indicate the pressing need for critical research that examines the gaps between urban policy goals, everyday state practices, and the life-worlds of intended policy recipients.
This exchange programme draws together a team of researchers (from School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, and Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield) who are undertaking internationally-leading work on 'actually existing' governance practices in the local state, and the impacts of urban policy on the lives of poor urban citizens, to build research capacity in this challenge area. It does so through collaboration which draws on the complementary strengths of their respective institutions: Sheffield's leadership of the ESRC's White Rose Doctoral Training Centre and interdisciplinary research within Sheffield Institute for International Development and its new Urban Institute, and the Witwatersrand's expertise in co-produced research in urban planning.
It uses this partnership to deliver high-quality doctoral training structured around key stages of PhD progression, from research design to write-up and dissemination. Delivery of bespoke 'training packages' will be concentrated in short, intensive exchange visits, supported by on-line communication and follow-up activities, a structure that facilitates participation of part-time, and mid-career PhD students. Sequencing these exchanges throughout the PhD process will develop researchers' skills base, and also develop a strong cohort identity and intellectual coherence among the Sheffield and Wits students working together over the course of the programme.
Beyond directly enhancing the research capacities of the participants themselves, the exchange programme will have two major benefits. The first is cross-institutional learning about doctoral training. Staff exchange visits within the core team will be used to collaboratively develop high-quality training materials, and embed best practice within doctoral programme development in each institution. The timing of this exchange is ideal, coinciding with a push to formalise doctoral training within Wits, and a significant review of Sheffield's provision in preparation for a DTP bid (March 2016). Members of the core team lead Sheffield's Faculty of Social Sciences Doctoral Programme, and PhD training in the Planning school in Wits, and so are uniquely placed to ensure that pedagogical learning over the course of the exchange programme is reflected in lasting institution-level change.
The second is the development of a sustained academic research agenda, emerging from the cohort identity of the researchers themselves, and collective publication and knowledge-exchange activities they will undertake over the course of the programme. The core project teams in both institutions are committed to taking this forward beyond the period of Newton funding through collective bids for further PhD studentships and joint research projects.
Planned Impact
Research Impacts : the exchange delivers a collective contribution to knowledge that 'scales up' the impact of high-quality academic outputs (PhDs, publications) of students' individual projects, offering opportunities for joint development of research ideas and work with non-academic partners.
Beneficiaries, and potential impacts. Within Johannesburg, the Wits team has well-established links with City of Johannesburg as a governmental partner, and with civil society groups such as South African National Traders and Retailers' Alliance. Working with the PhD exchange network will provide a space for these and other partners to critically reflect on their own organisations' role in shaping the city. Sheffield Institute for International Development will provide links to users of the academic research beyond South Africa (including DFID, Oxfam, and the International Land Coalition) which will inform policy debate on sustainable and inclusive urban change within the international development community.
How will these impacts be realised? All PhDs will produce working papers and policy briefings based around their research, and these will be hosted on a project website: visibility of the website will be maximised through the Sheffield and Wits' involvement with key international organisations, such as UN-Habitat. Named partner organisations - both within Johannesburg and internationally - will be engaged in the project from the outset through direct contributions to the training packages. This will facilitate strong participation buy-in to two end-of-project workshops: a Wits-based Policy Workshop that will address city agencies' potential to promote greater inclusion in Johannesburg's governance, and a complementary UK-based Policy that will using the PhD findings to sensitise international development agencies to the challenges their own urban agendas may face.
Doctoral Training and Institutional Capacity Impacts: the exchange programme also allows mutual development of research training and institutional change within the two partner Universities.
Who are the beneficiaries, and what will the potential impacts be? The exchange's training packages are new doctoral training materials of direct benefit to the students and departments concerned, but more widely will be to use this experience to rethink doctoral training provision in both institutions. Within Wits, the programme will drive forwards the consolidation of a formal PhD programme within the School of Architecture and Planning, a lasting change benefiting students and building institutional capacity. For Sheffield, experience gained from Wits on co-producing research in an international context will directly enhance existing training capacity. For both, the experience of delivering the exchange programme will also catalyse broader institutional change around facilitating participation distance-learners and international students, strengthening cross-institutional partnership working, and developing peer-to-peer support around thematic research clusters. These changes can be embedded within Sheffield as it revises its doctoral training provision (which will occur from 2016 if it receives ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership funding), and future joint work on MRes development with Wits is anticipated.
How will these impacts be realised? Members of the core team are well placed to drive institutional change: Todes is PhD Coordinator for School of Architecture and Planning at Wits, and as Faculty Director of Doctoral Programmes, Williams will be able to use learning from the exchange programme to inform training development in Sheffield throughout this period. The core team will also communicate learning from the exchanges to a wider academic community, through internal mechanisms such as Sheffield's annual Faculty Learning and Teaching Conference, and externally by writing for Journal of Planning Education and Research to inform wider debate on doctoral provision.
Beneficiaries, and potential impacts. Within Johannesburg, the Wits team has well-established links with City of Johannesburg as a governmental partner, and with civil society groups such as South African National Traders and Retailers' Alliance. Working with the PhD exchange network will provide a space for these and other partners to critically reflect on their own organisations' role in shaping the city. Sheffield Institute for International Development will provide links to users of the academic research beyond South Africa (including DFID, Oxfam, and the International Land Coalition) which will inform policy debate on sustainable and inclusive urban change within the international development community.
How will these impacts be realised? All PhDs will produce working papers and policy briefings based around their research, and these will be hosted on a project website: visibility of the website will be maximised through the Sheffield and Wits' involvement with key international organisations, such as UN-Habitat. Named partner organisations - both within Johannesburg and internationally - will be engaged in the project from the outset through direct contributions to the training packages. This will facilitate strong participation buy-in to two end-of-project workshops: a Wits-based Policy Workshop that will address city agencies' potential to promote greater inclusion in Johannesburg's governance, and a complementary UK-based Policy that will using the PhD findings to sensitise international development agencies to the challenges their own urban agendas may face.
Doctoral Training and Institutional Capacity Impacts: the exchange programme also allows mutual development of research training and institutional change within the two partner Universities.
Who are the beneficiaries, and what will the potential impacts be? The exchange's training packages are new doctoral training materials of direct benefit to the students and departments concerned, but more widely will be to use this experience to rethink doctoral training provision in both institutions. Within Wits, the programme will drive forwards the consolidation of a formal PhD programme within the School of Architecture and Planning, a lasting change benefiting students and building institutional capacity. For Sheffield, experience gained from Wits on co-producing research in an international context will directly enhance existing training capacity. For both, the experience of delivering the exchange programme will also catalyse broader institutional change around facilitating participation distance-learners and international students, strengthening cross-institutional partnership working, and developing peer-to-peer support around thematic research clusters. These changes can be embedded within Sheffield as it revises its doctoral training provision (which will occur from 2016 if it receives ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership funding), and future joint work on MRes development with Wits is anticipated.
How will these impacts be realised? Members of the core team are well placed to drive institutional change: Todes is PhD Coordinator for School of Architecture and Planning at Wits, and as Faculty Director of Doctoral Programmes, Williams will be able to use learning from the exchange programme to inform training development in Sheffield throughout this period. The core team will also communicate learning from the exchanges to a wider academic community, through internal mechanisms such as Sheffield's annual Faculty Learning and Teaching Conference, and externally by writing for Journal of Planning Education and Research to inform wider debate on doctoral provision.
Publications
Williams G
(2021)
(Im)mobility at the margins: low-income households' experiences of peripheral resettlement in India and South Africa
in Housing Studies
| Description | The grant has highlighted some of the key challenges doctoral students face with the design and conduct of research topics in the field of governance and social inclusion: through the international exchange programme, it has shown how these are experienced differently within different national and institutional academic cultures. As these challenges have been identified, the exchange programme has developed events, activities and resources that support students through them: these are being embe |
| Exploitation Route | The exchange's training packages are new doctoral training materials of direct benefit to the students and departments concerned, but more widely we are using this experience to rethink doctoral training provision in both institutions. Within Wits, the programme will drive forwards the consolidation of a formal PhD programme within the School of Architecture and Planning, a lasting change benefiting students and building institutional capacity. Within Sheffield, these changes are being embedded |
| Sectors | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.urbantransformations.ox.ac.uk/blog/2018/developing-research-capacity-for-inclusive-urban-governance/ |
| Description | Commonwealth Scholarship Commission |
| Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ZACN-2017-467 |
| Organisation | Government of the UK |
| Department | Commonwealth Scholarship Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 11/2019 |
| Description | Wits-Sheffield PhD Training Partnership |
| Organisation | University of the Witwatersrand |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have undertaken a series of six collaborative PhD training exchanges, with staff and students from Urban Studies and Planning (University of Sheffield) and School of Planning and Architecture (University of the Witwatersrand). I have led the partnership for the University of Sheffield. The partnership has collaboratively developed a series of PhD training workshops across the two Departments, critical reflection on PhD pedagogy, and the development of the PhD curriculum in both Departments. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Partners in the University of the Witwatersrand have been involved in the same activities above. |
| Impact | he partnership has collaboratively developed a series of PhD training workshops across the two Departments, critical reflection on PhD pedagogy, and the development of the PhD curriculum in both Departments. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | PhD Exchange Visit 1 (Sheffield) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Held in April 2016, this was the first of a series of six research training exchange visits between University of the Witwatersrand and University of Sheffield. It brought together a core group of around a dozen PhD students from both institutions for all activities, with some open workshop sessions drawing in a far wider range of PhD students from Sheffield (and its White Rose Doctoral Training Centre partner institutions of Leeds and York). As well as providing hands-on training on research presentation, methodology and publication, it provided an opportunity for the students involved to compare PhD training cultures between the two Universities, and identify core focus areas for future training visits. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | PhD Exchange Visit 2 (Witwatersrand) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Held in November-December 2016, this was the second exchange visit of the programme. The theme of the workshop was 'The Politics of Research', and looked at the complexities of politically engaged research, and researchers aiming to work within public institutions to produce organisational change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | PhD Exchange Visit 3 (Sheffield) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Held in Sheffield in May-June 2017, this was the third exchange visit of the programme. The theme of the workshop was 'Analysing Qualitative Research', and contained an intensive fortnight of activities that achieved the following: a symposium presenting and debating experienced researchers' craft and practices of qualitative analysis; the design and delivery of a bespoke 3-day workshop allowing PhD students to practice their analytical skills within a scenario based around real data on urban governance challenges from live and ongoing research projects; and a PhD writing workshop that brought these skills back to students' own doctoral topics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | PhD Exchange Visit 4 (Witwatersrand) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Held in Johannesburg in Nov-December 2017, this was the fourth exchange visit of the programme. The theme of the workshop was 'The Politics and Practicalities of Writing', and contained an intensive fortnight of activities that delivered the following: a public lecture and workshop experienced researchers on the process of writing for different audiences, an inner-city Johannesburg field trip, a workshop on the practicalities for writing within the confines of a PhD, a PhD colloquium where researchers highlighted the challenge of bringing different voices within their writing, and a PhD writing workshop that brought these skills back to a specific writing task within students' own doctoral topics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | PhD Exchange Visit 5 (University of Sheffield) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This final exchange visit involved two activities. First, around six of the Wits-based PhD students who had participated within the exchange programme to reflect on the experience of the exchange visits, the learning they had gained from this and suggestions for future development of PhD training. Second, over two days, these outcomes and other learning from the programme were shared with academic staff responsible for PhD development in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits, for development of their PhD training. Finally, in addition, the learning from this visit was important in curriculum development undertaken as part of a significant review of the PhD School in Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield in early 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |