Revising the KFPE-Guide for transboundary research partnerships

The KFPE Guide is intended for:

• Researchers considering or planning to engage in fair and equal partnership towards a common goal
• Partnership arrangements striving for innovative research and a a fruitful learning culture, both based on mutual trust and responsibility
• Funding agencies designing programmes for effective intercultural research collaboration
• Policymakers aiming at establishing an enabling environment for effective research collaborations
• Development organisations encouraging contextualisation of scientific knowledge through facilitation and brokering
• International organisations dealing with knowledge-based solutions to global challenges.

A first guide for research partnerships was developed by the KFPE in 1998. To develop the guide, researchers from Switzerland and LMICs discussed challenges related to such collaborations and approaches to dealing with them. Together they formulated 11 principles for equitable research collaborations.

In 2012, this first KFPE Guide was updated based on current trends and experiences. In addition to the 11 principles, 7 fundamental questions have been compiled to point to factors that enable or hinder research partnerships. The 7 questions are meant to help users to better understand and implement the 11 principles. They examine various aspects of research partnerships and also intend to stimulate reflection and debate.