U8: International development research
projects for students
U8 runs research projects where no academic experience in international development is needed. The student teams are compromised universities around the globe – only a few english student will be on your project. All the participants in Oxford meet up once a week to discuss their projects.
How do I sign-up?
Go here http://www.oxfordhub.org/u8/, and put your email address down. U8 Oxford will inform about the next stage.
How do the projects work?
Research projects must deal with some issue of international development, and contain on the team students from at least two different countries. They may be published in U8’s yearly publication (which was presented to Dfid last year). The project will be given an academic supervsior, found by U8, to help guide the project.
The projects can vary in depth and quality from an extended undergraduate essay to a master’s thesis, though the ones being launched now will tend towards the former. If you want to set up a different project, then email us – anyone can set up their own project. It depends upon the team that you decide to work with, and how much you can offer.
PREVIOUS PROJECT TOPICS
- Sino-African relations: How are Chinese relations with nations in Africa and the Middle East affecting those nations?
- How can sustainable peace be brought to Somalia?
- What are the necessary components of a successful post-2012 framework that will stabilise atmospheric concentrations of CO2
- How will we meet the energy needs of the growing population of the world?
- Evaluate Brazil’s HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment policies since 1992.
- How can the cost of drugs for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria be sustainably lowered for developing nations?
- With what success could Brazil’s Bolsa Escola scheme be adapted and imitated elsewhere? (It might work well to choose up to three countries)
- Analyse the failings of the reconstruction operations in Malaysia in the aftermath of the 2005 Tsunami.
How do they work? What would I have to do?
You will be an equal member with equal responsibilities. Participants should spend 5 hours per week researching and blogging on U8 internet forums, where they can discuss their project with their international student collegues. A project leader will set the possible range of research, and coordinate the researchers. U8 provides an academic supervisor
How long?
The last round of projects will began on February 4th. After a two week period in which participants choose their project, the project teams began work on Monday 18th, and continued for the following 8 weeks.
Which international students?
U8 has 32 member universities, ranging from Bouremouth to Addi Abbas (Ethiopia). Click here http://www.portalaid.eu and go to ‘universities’ to find out which ones.
What happens in Oxford?
U8 thinks that in Oxford we can provide something that is otherwise hard to find. There are plenty of speaker groups, but we try to provide an informal environment where everyone can really engage with the speaker and engage in the issues. That means discussion groups.
All the Oxford participants will work on different projects. But that means that they can bring something unique to each weekly meeting. Every week one participant will present their project – the ideas, the problems and the progress – to the group. Then the group will respond and we will slide into a discussion.
Doesn’t this sound a bit boring?
No! I happen to know that Oxford I.D types are surprisingly good fun. We’ll go to Jamals or Ginos for socials, like last year.
Contact us at u8oxford@gmail.com
To see the international website, where it all happens, go to http://www.u8development.com/
Procedure for participants and project leaders:
How participants will view and then choose their projects
Between Monday 4th and Monday 11th of February, each project will put a thread under U8 Forum >> U8 Research Projects >> Ideas For Research Projects. Each BPR thread will begin ‘BPR’. This thread will have a drafted project proposal. This means that we have eased back the deadline a little. Sorry about that.
As a participant, you should look at all the BPR project proposals, and look for the one that you’d like to join as a member of the project team: ask questions to the project leader on the thread; see if it covers what you want, if its what you thought it was and whether you like the way the project is going to be approached.
Between the 11th and the 18th, participants will be able to view and then choose their projects. To choose your project, you must request to join. To request to join, email u8bannerpr@googlemail.com. You will be emailed back to confirm, and then you’re in! This is just a procedural formality. The only normal situation in which we will refuse your request is if the project already has too many members. Once you’ve joined a project, the project leader will tell you what comes next.
If there are any problems, contact u8bannerpr@googlemail.com
Become a project leader
What is the role of a project leader?
A project leader
1. Coordinates the activities of the team. This may involve making final decisions on layout and structure of the project; mediating disagreements over content and is responsible for keeping the project on schedule
2. Acts for the main point of contact between the team and i) the project’s academic supervisor, provided by U8, and ii) the Research Coordinators
3. Takes a leading role in designing the project proposal. In the BPR, the broad subject matter for the project has already been chosen, but the project proposal requires a list of questions that shall be considered in the research project. To get more details, go to hht://www.u8development.com and go to ‘research projects’ under ‘Act’. Also, feel free to contact a project coordinator at ruthestherkelly@gmail.com
How do I sign up?
Anyone who wishes to be a project leader should email ruthestherkelly@gmail.com, with a preferred topic from the list under ‘Project titles’. She will confirm your appointment as project leader. She and Espen (the Research Coordinators) will offer guidance so that you can write your project proposal.
Deadlines
By Monday 11th, participants will start to join your project. By then, you need to:
a. Write and submit a project proposal to the Research Coordinators. If you need more time, then fair enough – we haven’t given you long. Submit a first draft project proposal by 11th, and continue to work on over the next week. But the first draft still needs a bit of work – look at b)i.
b. Welcome prospective participants to your project. By looking at the ‘Participants’ section, you can see that between the 11th and the 18th participants will view the BPR projects and each will choose which one they will join. If you can, do the below before that deadline, so that participants can start looking at things this week.
i. Setup a thread in the Research Project section, entitled “BPR, *project title*”
ii. Post the first draft of your project proposal on the thread. This is means that the first draft must be presentable and must make clear what the project will be about, even vaguely
iii. Attend to your thread. Participants will want to ask you questions about the project. You’ll need to just pop online to answer any questions once every one or two days.
This seems like an awful job
The instructions are very procedure-heavy, full of lots of deadlines and requirements, and don’t really make being a project leader sound like fun. Its worth emphasizing that all of this is to try and make everyone’s roles clear, and to ensure some quality control, but the organisers have made mistakes too, and we’re not expecting perfect performance.
But even if it were as bad as it can look, it still does have its benefits: you’ll be at the heart of the project – at the helm – at the heart of the team and you’ll get the chance to play leader. And you’ll make the BPR organisers very relieved people.
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