Partnerships have been at the heart of what the R2HC does since the very beginning. In the early days of the programme, we focused on bringing together humanitarian practitioners with academics. The expectation was that these new research-practice partnerships would design studies to address critical operational knowledge gaps. We held networking events aimed at facilitating these relationships, including a 2016 event in Jordan centred on research needed to support the Syria crisis.  

Another thing we did to support partnerships was to provide ‘seed fund’ grants to shortlisted applicants specifically for the purpose of strengthening the relationships within research consortia, and offered a partnership support package which drew on Elrha’s 2012 Guide to Constructing Effective Partnerships. 

Whilst partners from the Global South were often included in our grantee research partnerships from the outset, we recognised that teams from the Global North were awarded the most grants. Our Partnerships Review, published in 2019, discussed opportunities and challenges to fair, equitable and effective partnership-working in academic-humanitarian research collaborations. Some grantee teams themselves had also explored issues affecting their partnerships: The Humanitarian Health Ethics Research Group created a tool addressing perceived tokenism in research partnerships, while the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics had the courage to draw lessons from a ‘mostly failed’ research study. At our 2019 Research Forum, a series of grantees reflected on ‘what works in South-North research partnerships’ in a series of fast paced lightning talks. Following an internal review of barriers faced by Global South-led applicants, from 2019 we introduced a requirement for teams to include an in-country research partner, and in 2022 we adapted our application review and assessment processes, significantly increasing the numbers of grants led by Low- and Middle-Income Country organisations. 

Reflecting on our experiences, we built on our four key partnership principles – equity, mutual benefit, transparent communications, and shared values – and further developed resources our grantees and others can draw on. We recognise, however, there is much more we must do to ensure these values are truly embedded. In 2024, we hope to develop and implement a Partnership Health Checklist and create regular feedback opportunities with all partners in the research teams we fund. We also know that language is a barrier and see exciting opportunities opening up through AI technology to translate resources and create more meaningful dialogue. Across Elrha we have made a commitment to ‘shifting the power’ and put this as a vital pillar of our new strategy and 2040 vision.