A few tips on getting the most from your conferences
In-person events like conferences, convenings, and meetups are back in full swing, and one really positive change that we’ve witnessed in the last couple of years is a bigger focus on holding development conferences and events in the Global South.
Quantitative social scientists are holding relevant events in the places where our work will (hopefully) be adopted
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We’re thrilled to see events like ESA India (in India), ESA Africa (in South Africa), BREAD (in Nairobi), CEGA’s Africa Evidence Summit and WGAPE (in Nairobi), where quantitative social scientists are holding relevant events in the places where the research is often conducted, and where the “policy-implications” of our work will (hopefully) be adopted.
Bringing big development events closer to Global South researchers is definitely a great step towards alleviating accessibility barriers that result in their underrepresentation.
Nevertheless, those events will likely still be dominated by Global North researchers, unless there is an intentional and proactive effort by the organizers and attendees to do more.
This move to the Global South has the potential to offer a much wider array of opportunities to make development research in itself more inspired by and more relevant to its context.
If you’re either considering hosting an event in the Global South, or attending one, here are a few suggestions on how to make the most out of it:
