Pains and gains of international research collaboration
with academia: Perspectives from an extramural
research institute
Kristina Roesel1,2 and Delia Grace1
1International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya
2Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Tropentag 2018
Ghent, Belgium
18 September 2018

1. The extramural research institute
2. The project and its (academic) partners
3. The gains
4. The pains
Who is ILRI?
Outline

1. The extramural research institute
CGIAR global partnership for
a food secure future
• Poverty alleviation through
agricultural research
• 15 research centres
• International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI)
• Mission: better lives through
livestock!www.ilri.org

ILRI Offices
Main campuses: Nairobi,
Kenya and Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Offices in 14 other countries
ILRI offices

The project and its (academic) partners
Safe Food Fair Food project (2008-2016,
2.4m Euro): risk-based approaches to
improving food safety and market access
in informal markets in sub Saharan Africa
• Capacity development on risk
assessment
(“food safety champions”)
• Proof-of-concept
participatory risk assessment
• Pilot testing interventions
© Flickr/ILRI

The project and its (academic) partners

Who is ILRI?
3. The gains
1 intern
1/2 MSc
1 MSc
1 MSc, 4 PhD
1 MSc, 1 MPhil
1 BSc, 1 MSc, 2 PhD
3 MSc, 2 PhD 1 MSc
1 BSc
8 MSc
3 MSc, 1 postdoc
4 MSc
4 MSc, 1 PhD
1 MSc
1 intern2 BSc, 30 MSc, 9 PhD, 1 postdoc, 2 interns

3. The gains
• R4D wants impact, not just
generate university alumni
• 42/43 graduated
• Follow up summer 2018
• 3 passed away
• 1 outdated address
• 22 did not respond
Male Female Total
HICs 2 (3) 2 (4) 4 (7)
LMICs 10 (20) 6 (15) 16 (35)
12 (23) 8 (19) 20 (42)
Number of responsive survey participants (Number of invited survey participants)

What are they doing now?
- Research into use
• Addis Ababa University
• Freie Universitaet Berlin/ILRI
• Government of Burkina Faso
• Government of Côte d’Ivoire (lab)
• Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research
Organization (KALRO)
• Kenyatta University
• Kyeema Foundation
• Makerere University and CDL
• Nairobi Technical Training Institute
• Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority
• United Nations (WHO)
• University of South Africa
• Université Peleforo Gon Coulibaly
• Wollega University
Unemployed
5%
Student
10%
Employed part-
time*
10%
Employed full-
time*
70%
Self-employed*
5%
*Academia > government > private sector
> 38% (80%) still work on food safety issues!

What are they doing now?
- Research into use
• Continued research in livestock value chains, traditional markets and food safety
(incl. intervention testing);
• Routine lab testing for animal diseases, milk, water quality, animal feeds, human
food products;
• Developing international food safety emergency programs;
• Capacity development: epidemiology, veterinary public health, One Health,
zoonotic diseases, AMR and food safety; food processing and preservation;
• Vice president for Community Engagement and University Industry Partnership of
Wollega University: engaging communities to solve their problems by themselves
and creating market chain for their products and disseminating new technologies
to the community and thereby they can improve their life.

3. The gains - continued
Partnership health check

3. The gains - continued
• Common interest and motivation to shared
success
• Common understanding of project aims and
objectives
• Linking with other projects and the CGIAR
Research Programs
• Respectful and very supportive team members
• Many outputs (very productive!)
• Complementary (win-win)

4. The pains
• Distribution of roles and responsibilities a bit unbalanced
(transparency of agendas; student supervision)
• Commitments and expected (international) standards not
always met by local academia (study design, lab SOPs)
• Mutual respect and equity
(e.g. non-CGIAR partners felt that they collect data but don’t get to use/analyse it;
non-CGIAR partners feel that they cannot conceptualize but have to deliver data)
• Sometimes challenging to create an atmosphere of respect
(responsiveness to emails and calls, meet agreed deadlines)

Asante sana – Thank you!

Kristina Roesel (DVM, PhD)
Project coordinator “Safe Food, Fair Food”
Jointly appointed scientist
ILRI and Freie Universität Berlin
k.roesel@cgiar.org
https://safefoodfairfood.wordpress.com/
Better lives through livestock
www.ilri.org

This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
better lives through livestock
ilri.org
ILRI thanks all donors and organizations who globally supported its work through their contributions
to the CGIAR system