Safeguarding Knowledge Production
Formed in 2023, the Safeguarding Knowledge Production in the Arab region Working Group (SKPP) is concerned with how researchers work in difficult conditions shaped by political instability, conflict and restrictions on academic freedom. Composed of six researchers representing different disciplines and countries, the SKPP Working Group seeks to diagnose the contexts of knowledge production in the region by focusing on the three themes of gender and sexuality, pandemic preparedness and response, and environmental risks and climate change.
Some of the questions the working group address are: How do these conditions affect the research process in all its stages, from planning to data collection to analysis to publication and dissemination? Where and how does silencing happen around critical challenges facing the region ? And what can we as organizations and individuals do to safeguard knowledge and develop safe spaces and practices that enhance the creation of critical knowledge and nurture environments that are conducive to learning, exchange and dialogue? How can we protect researchers and research participants who collaborate together in the process of knowledge production?
Outputs
The working group members published their papers in an Arabic publication titled, Safeguarding Knowledge: Studies on Academic Freedom in the Arab Region. Read the introduction in English here.