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** Deadline: November 14, 2007

Date: December 14 and 17, 2007 (Bangalore, India). The workshop begins at noon on December 14th, pauses to allow participants to attend the ICTD2007 Conference, and resumes on the 17th.

Context
Over the years, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have been seen to play an increasingly substantive role in the lives of people living in developing Asia. On the one hand, this can occur through providing people with the means to access relevant information, to strengthen social networks and build social capital, or to empower themselves to actively participate in the knowledge-based economy; on the other hand, ICTs can be used to engage in exclusionary or criminal practices, or contribute to a range of unintended economic, political, and social phenomena. Either way, as countries throughout the region differentially experience and shape the global transitions to informational societies, the demand for methodologically sound and scientifically based research findings in the field of “Information and Communication Technologies and Development” (ICTD) has never been greater.

Workshop Description
The International Development Research Centre’s Pan Asia Networking (PAN) program is proud to support this workshop on strengthening ICTD research methodologies. Recognizing that ICTD research is a relatively young area of inquiry, the workshop targets specific challenges and realities of designing and conducting research in this field. As part of IDRC-PAN’s response to the growing urgency to understand the complex relationships between ICTs and societies, the workshop will convene researchers across different disciplines (e.g. computer science, political science, development studies, economics, sociology, anthropology, electrical engineering, and information sciences) to discuss and collaborate on ICTD research proposals. As a follow-up to an IDRC-funded inception workshop that was held in April 2007 in Manila, this workshop continues to build on discussions about the current state of ICTD research, challenges that face researchers from various disciplines, and how these challenges may be mitigated. The dates of this workshop ‘sandwich’ the ICTD 2007 conference, as considerable overlap exists between their objectives.

During the workshop we expect to bring principal investigators (to whom this call is directed), who are interested in honing their research skills and engaging in cross-disciplinary dialogue, as well as senior researchers (listed below) in the field who have extensive experience in conducting ICTD research. The workshop will be structured as a collaborative and interactive experience, bringing together researchers from around the region to compare notes, exchange ideas, forge research partnerships, and deepen professional and institutional networks. The workshop is emphatically not a place for presentation of completed research papers. In a broader announcement at a later date, IDRC-PAN expects to release a request for proposals (RFP) for rigorous research proposals examining ICTD issues in Asia.

Tentative Program
A tentative schedule of the activities is as follows:

Date	Activities
December 14	Ice-breaking activities Presentation of broad research ideas by principal investigators – including elements of interdisciplinarity Break out sessions to explore potential collaboration among different principal investigators
December 15-16	Attend ICTD2007
December 17	Brief reflection on and discussion about the ICTD2007 conference Drafts of research proposals are initiated Meetings between principal investigators and mentors to refine proposals Additional networking opportunities

Selection Criteria

All workshop applicants must be:

1. Based at an Asian institution;
   
2. Able to clearly articulate a social science research proposal within the ICTD domain, including both a theory/contextual question and proposed methodological approach to that question (Note: these ideas should focus on theory and practice, instead of policy influence);
   
3. Interested in research mentorship by a senior researcher in the field;
   
4. Ready to work collaboratively with other researchers with common interest and complementary areas of expertise; and
   
5. Prepared to document the research methodologies utilized as well as the lessons and findings that emerge through this activity.

Application Materials and Deadline

All prospective workshop participants are to submit the following:

1. 500-word statement outlining a research topic that is of personal interest, together with an anticipated methodology
   
2. List of broader research interests (thematic, disciplinary and geographic)
   
3. CV (including a list of prior publications)

Funding
Applicants who are selected to participate at the workshop will be provided airfare, accommodation, per diems, and registration to both the workshop and the ICTD2007 conference.

** Deadline: applicants must provide these items by November 14th. Selected applicants will be informed by November 19, 2007). Submissions should be sent to IDRC.ICTDRM@gmail.com.

Senior Researchers
The senior researchers who have confirmed participation at the workshop include:

• Peng Hwa Ang
• Jonathan Donner
• Anita Gurumurthy
• Richard Heeks
• Heather Hudson
• Beth Kolko
• Richard Ling
• Rahul Tongia
• Kentaro Toyama
• Jonathan Traxler
• Jack Qiu

For questions, please send an email to IDRC.ICTDRM@gmail.com

2007-11-06

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