Contributing to the discussion on the decolonization of health research

In the context of academic research, the pursuit of knowledge is often hindered by significant challenges, especially for individuals from the Majority World. Disparities are evident in access to resources, participation in conferences, publication of articles, and international recognition.

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of this issue in knowledge production characterized by power asymmetries between the Majority and the Minority World). This post seeks to summarize the experience lived in a seminar that took place in November 2023, during which MetaDocencia, in collaboration with the QUEST Center for Responsible Research, created a space for discussion where experts in the field of Health Sciences addressed global inequalities in research, highlighting the urgent need for a transformation in the way we conceive and conduct health research.

From the Program Evaluation team, Christiane Wetzel, its director, and Sarah Wendt contacted us to co-organize the November edition focused on decolonization in health research. On the 7th of that month, the seminar Addressing Global Power Asymmetries in/through Responsible Research was held. The session was led by Laura Ación (co-executive director of MetaDocencia), where Muneera A. Rasheed (Pakistan), Karina Formoso (Argentina), and Paloma Rojas-Saunero (Bolivia) participated as panelists.

The recording of this session can be found here, with subtitles in English and Spanish.

A necessary conversation

Decolonization involves recognizing, questioning, and highlighting the historical and geopolitical power patterns that have shaped how we think and do things in various areas. Therefore, it is possible to reflect and rethink conceptions, processes, and collaborations in the field of scientific production in an area as fundamental as health.

Throughout the session, Laura Acion presented triggering questions to explore inequality in global scientific production and the need to overcome traditional notions of equity to recognize regional diversities and realities globally. They were discussed by the panelists, and attendees were able to participate by asking their own questions or commenting on their opinions using the chat and a shared document, with the assistance of three MetaDocencia facilitators: Mariela Rajngewerc, Jesica Formoso, and Sabrina López. The conclusions of the discussion were reflected in that same document.

Due to the repercussions of the seminar, MetaDocencia was invited to be part of the Summer school to be held in March 2024 in Berlin!

Summer School: “Decolonizing global health”

Charité is one of Germany’s most important medical universities, whose history dates back to the 18th century. More recently, in 2013, the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) was founded to strengthen the application of knowledge gained through research.

The BIH has a center dedicated to developing and implementing biomedical research strategies ethically and responsibly: the QUEST Center for Responsible Research. As part of its activities, it has a monthly online seminar where participants discuss topics such as image manipulation in publications and computational analysis of reproducible code, among others.

Together with the BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, we are organizing an in-person summer school (with some streaming events) that will take place from March 25th to 28th, 2024.

During these four days, various presentations, reflection activities, and workshops will take place. In addition, there will be scheduled spaces where attendees will be able to participate in the creation and development of projects that are expected to transcend the school and become collaborations in favor of the decolonization of health research globally.

If you are interested in the topic and want to learn more, you can visit these links:

QUEST Seminar on Responsible Research

• QUEST Seminar website
• Video of the Seminar with subtitles available in English and Spanish
• Presentation
• Shared document

Summer School

• Summer School website

The development of this document was possible thanks to the support of the Berlin Institute of Health QUEST Center and the Grant awarded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. https://zenodo.org/records/7386373.

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This is the quote that we recommend you use to reference it: Sabrina López, Jesica Formoso, Laura Ación. (2024). Contributing to the discussion on the decolonization of health research. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10854790