Reflections on an African/ European research and journalism-led teaching collaboration on equitable and just digital societies

This proposal is for a joint tandem talk to be provided by three members of the CIVIS micro programme, Equitable and Just digital society: developing interdisciplinary skills and knowledge. The talk will focus on the experiences of delivering research and journalism-led teaching as part of a new CIVIS micro-programme, focussed on empowering students to develop critical knowledge and practical skills to become interactional experts in research for an equitable and just digital society. The micro-programme was co-taught for the first time in the 2024/5 academic year by leading experts from various European and one African University (Wits University). The micro-programme included workshops on power and justice in the digital age from an international perspective. These examined how digital technologies are being used in the exercise of state and private power internationally, the relationships between digital surveillance and social inequalities, and the role of public agency, including journalistic agency, in ensuring accountability. They also focussed on strategies for students to become interactional experts on issues relating to surveillance, data privacy and social justice journalism, and looked at ways in which research projects can be designed to maximise potential for knowledge exchange and impact. The workshops also provided a research team being hosted by the University of Glasgow, on public oversight of digital surveillance for intelligence purposes in southern Africa, with an opportunity to integrate research findings into the teaching. Researchers from Angola and Zimbabwe presented on challenges relating to public oversight of digital surveillance in both countries. The workshops provided opportunities for the researchers and students to think together about how to shape more just and equitable digital societies in countries still weighed down by authoritarian legacies, while facing new forms of digital inequality and authoritarianism. This presentation will reflect on the experiences of this European/ African collaboration in the micro-programme.

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Dr. Mageni Mboma Zawadi-  Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara (Tanzania)
Dr. Ryan Mary, University of Glasgow, Glasgow (Scotland) 
Learning, unlearning and relearning

Equitable partnership is critical for funders and partners seeking fairer ways of working, with its importance reflected in the high volume of guidance produced by various stakeholders. Most of this guidance tends to be framed around principles of best practice while omitting day-to-day practical elements as well as the trickier question of whose practice is best. Practical barriers to equitable international partnership manifest in many ways, from financial processes, funder regulations, and legal differences to differences in institutional capacity that range from research support to infrastructure. While some barriers are structural and are not within the power of institutions to change, there are many opportunities for institutions to enhance equity in international collaboration and therefore mitigate against some of the structural issues. Through enhanced understanding of the practical barriers to equitable partnership and working collaboratively to identify contextually relevant solutions, institutions can ensure their partnerships are more equitable and resilient. 

This presentation will draw on two decades of learning, unlearning and relearning between the University of Glasgow in Scotland and Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania. The session will highlight how these institutions have worked together to address the messy practicalities of equitable partnership, leading to enhanced connectivity. Attendees will gain insights into how to operationalize equity, particularly in Global South-Global North collaborations and hear about the mutual benefits for institutions that navigate challenges of equitable partnership together.