The needs of informal workers matter in digital innovation

LSE’s Laura Mann and Kate Meagher discuss a recent workshop held at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre from 26 to 30 September 2016, which addressed the challenges of digital inclusion for workers at the bottom of the pyramid

How to tell an impact story? the building blocks you need

At a loss for how to demonstrate impact? Laura Meagher and David Edwards outline a dynamic understanding of impact evaluation comprised of ‘building blocks’. These building blocks are five types of impacts; five broad categories of stakeholders; and eight causal factors, along with a set of over-arching reflective questions

Introduction: globalization, African workers and the terms of inclusion

This introductory article explores the transformative potential of global connections for African workers. It challenges recent claims that African workers have become functionally irrelevant to the global economy by examining the shift of global demand for African workers from formal to increasingly informalised labour arrangements, mediated by social enterprises, labour brokers and graduate entrepreneurs. Focusing on global employment connections initiated from above and from below, we consider why global labour linkages have tended to increase rather than reduce problems of vulnerable and unstable working conditions within African countries, and consider the economic and political conditions needed for African workers to capture the gains of inclusion in the global economy

Introduction: globalization, African workers and the terms of inclusion

This introductory article explores the transformative potential of global connections for African workers. It challenges recent claims that African workers have become functionally irrelevant to the global economy by examining the shift of global demand for African workers from formal to increasingly informalised labour arrangements, mediated by social enterprises, labour brokers and graduate entrepreneurs. Focusing on global employment connections initiated from above and from below, we consider why global labour linkages have tended to increase rather than reduce problems of vulnerable and unstable working conditions within African countries, and consider the economic and political conditions needed for African workers to capture the gains of inclusion in the global economy

Interdisciplinary Research Journeys

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Interdisciplinarity' has become a rallying cry among funders and leaders of research. Yet, while the creative potential of interdisciplinary research is great, it poses many challenges. If you don't have disciplinary boundaries, how do you decide what to include or leave out? And what are the parameters for evaluating the research? This book provides a practical guide for researchers and research managers who are seeking to develop interdisciplinary research strategies at a personal, institutional and multi-institutional level. The book draws on examples from across the social and natural sciences but also offers valuable lessons for other combinations of more proximate disciplines. At a time when interdisciplinary research is increasingly centre stage in the research agenda, this book offers a crucial practical guide for researchers, research funders and managers from all backgrounds and contexts

Interdisciplinary Research Journeys

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Interdisciplinarity' has become a rallying cry among funders and leaders of research. Yet, while the creative potential of interdisciplinary research is great, it poses many challenges. If you don't have disciplinary boundaries, how do you decide what to include or leave out? And what are the parameters for evaluating the research? This book provides a practical guide for researchers and research managers who are seeking to develop interdisciplinary research strategies at a personal, institutional and multi-institutional level. The book draws on examples from across the social and natural sciences but also offers valuable lessons for other combinations of more proximate disciplines. At a time when interdisciplinary research is increasingly centre stage in the research agenda, this book offers a crucial practical guide for researchers, research funders and managers from all backgrounds and contexts

Slightly dirty maths: The richly textured mechanisms of impact

This empirical study explored how research can generate impacts by investigating different sorts of impacts from one academic field - mathematics - and the diverse mechanisms generating them. The multi-method study triangulated across: 1,2) content analysis of impact case studies and environment descriptions submitted to the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment; 3,4) a survey and focus group of heads of mathematics departments; 5) semi-structured interviews. Mathematics has had a full range of impact types, particularly conceptual impacts, although more tangible instrumental impacts were prioritised for REF. Multiple mechanisms were utilised, but seldom appeared in REF case studies. Long-term relationship-building and interdisciplinarity are particularly important. Departmental culture and certain knowledge intermediaries can play pro-active roles. In sharp contrast to simplistic linear narratives, we suggest that appreciation of diverse impact types, multiple, often informal, mechanisms and dynamic environments will enhance the likelihood of meaningful impacts being generated