HELICOPTER SCIENCE WORKSHOP SERIES: Engaging respectfully in international development research collaborations.

IF WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO “HELICOPTER SCIENCE,” THEN WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO INSTEAD? In this talk, Elizabeth Hoffecker, will share a set of practices that she and her colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) D-Lab have developed for engaging in respectful, mutually-enriching, long-term collaborations with scholars and practitioner-researchers from around the world.

Drawing on over 10 years of experience conducting international development research at MIT involving projects and collaborators from over 10 countries on six continents, Elizabeth will share strategies to preempt and, if needed, to address some of the common pitfalls and challenges encountered in forming and sustaining respectful, long-term international research partnerships. Helicopter research (also referred to as ‘parachute science’) is when researchers from higher-income or more privileged settings carry out research in resource-poor settings with limited to no involvement of local communities or researchers.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023 @ 1:00 – 3:00 PM

REITZ UNION ROOM G-330