Papers by Steven Sebbale
The nexus of gender and development has become a recurring theme in international development pra... more The nexus of gender and development has become a recurring theme in international development practice and theory. Increasingly, gender matters are taking centre-stage in the global development discourse as issues relating to gender justice are redefining contemporary development debates. Various development leitmotifs are currently being shaped by narratives about how gender is recasting traditional growth patterns in the developing world. Over the last twenty years, specific policy reforms in many developing countries have highlighted issues of gender-mainstreaming and gender-inclusive growth as a yardstick for development. Gender has become a compound term with a plethora of meanings (Cornwall, 2007). Terms like the "Gender dividend" are becoming more mainstreamed in contemporary development literature. The structural changes in the global political economy are continuously readjusting to recognize the value-add or contribution of gender to the economy. Whereas the broader definition of gender encapsulates the various norms, cultures and other forms of social behavior, this research problematizes the role of gender in international research collaboration. While several studies (including Publication 1) have found that gender is a significant predictor of a researcher"s participation in IRC, this study set out: To establish how the features of a research team determine the likelihood of a researcher being male and female; To characterize the role of gender in shaping research teams involved in internationally collaborative research. Using Feature Analysis to model the influence of research features on the gender of the research, a binary logistic regression was undertaken with a gradient boosting model to increase precision. In addition, text-mining analysis, machine learning and natural language processing were also used to examine the role of gender in research teams of research projects registered at Uganda National Council of Science and Technology. The results indicate that the researcher's role is the most influential factor (38.1%), followed by the gender of the lead researcher (23.5%), estimated budget (7.7%), nationality (Ugandan) (7.1%), and age (5.3%). These factors strongly influence the gender composition of research teams, suggesting that the assigned role, gender itself, financial resources, nationality, and age play significant roles in determining the gender of the lead researcher. Other factors such as professional experience, project duration, field of research, and qualifications also have some influence, although to a lesser extent. These findings emphasize the importance of considering these factors when promoting gender diversity and equality in research projects. The research concludes that in order to make IRC teams more gender inclusive, a critical appraisal of other factors needs to be undertaken. Gender-inclusive policies should make further considerations on how research teams are constructed (or led) and the intersectionality that informs those choices. This broader outlook will make IRC more inclusive.
Aligning International Collaborative Research to Global and National Objectives: An analysis of Research Objectives in Uganda using Text Analysis and Natural Language Processing , 2023
Like many developing countries, Uganda's engagement in international research collaboration has b... more Like many developing countries, Uganda's engagement in international research collaboration has been on the increase. Evidence from this and other types of research is intended to shape policy and development outcomes for sustainable development. Uganda's development roadmap is reflected in its National Vision 2040 with its constituent five-year National Development Plans. These Plans are designed and aligned to other global development roadmaps, like the Sustainable Development Goals. Unfortunately, no research has been to track the alignment of IRC to these national and global development objectives. As a result, research is undertaken within a structural vacuum and the evidence it generates hardly influences policy. This research paper investigates the alignment of research projects conducted in Uganda between 2015 and 2020 with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), The National Development Plan III objectives, and NRM government Manifesto programs. By analyzing a comprehensive collection of research projects, the study aims to uncover hidden patterns, relationships, and insights, ultimately shedding light on research trends and providing guidance to policymakers and the research community.
Asian Economic Policy Review, 2015
International research collaboration has become important in recent years. This paper analyzes wh... more International research collaboration has become important in recent years. This paper analyzes what gains drive the expansion of international research collaboration and what costs prevent it, with a special focus on the incidence of international co-inventions (ICIs) in Asia and major Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. The major findings are as follows. ICIs become more prevalent in those technology sectors where scientific literature becomes important as prior art, inventor team size increases, and the relative inventor resources of the own country in the world declines. Thus, ICIs allow a country to exploit more efficiently the world stock of new knowledge and to realize the gains from combining diverse sources of knowledge and skills. Moreover, the results of estimating a gravity model centered on the USA and Great Britain suggest that language differences measured by Test of English as a Foreign Language scores matter significantly. The results also suggest that exporting from these two countries are significantly and positively associated with ICIs.
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT: REFLECTIONS OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE FOR NASCENT SYSTEMS, 2021
The nexus of gender and development has become a recurring theme in international development. I... more The nexus of gender and development has become a recurring theme in international development. Increasingly, gender matters are taking centre-stage in the global development discourse. Issues relating to gender justice are redefining contemporary development debates. Various development leitmotifs are currently being shaped by narratives about how gender is recasting traditional growth patterns in the developing world. Over the last twenty years, specific policy reforms in many developing countries have highlighted issues of gender-mainstreaming and gender-inclusive growth as a yardstick for development. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG5) and other regional and global development frameworks have heavily underlined the role and contribution of gender to development. In a sense, the gender movement has brought the issues of budgeting, sustainability, growth, equity and justice to shape conventional policy making processes at the national and international levels. Gender has become a compound term with a plethora of meanings. Terms like the “Gender dividend” are becoming more mainstreamed in contemporary development literature. Infact the structural changes in the global political economy are continuously readjusting to recognize the value-add or contribution of gender to the economy. Whereas the broader definition of gender encapsulates the various norms, cultures and other forms of social behavior, this essay will limit the scope of gender to women and related female groupings. With many countries coming alive to the fact that women have a critical role in development, women in science still remain on the fringes of development theory owing to structural, legal and regulatory landscapes, slow-changing cultural imperatives and other intrinsic economic realities that subsist in most developing countries. This essay analyses the potential contribution to development of a peculiar and often unrepresented group - women in science. By drawing on recent studies undertaken in this new emerging area, the paper identifies the potential contribution of women in science especially in the developing world and makes several recommendations.
Thesis Chapters by Steven Sebbale
International Research Collaboration (IRC) has been on the rise globally. However, a comprehensiv... more International Research Collaboration (IRC) has been on the rise globally. However, a comprehensive analysis of the drivers of IRC in many developing countries remains lacking. This study applies a binary logistic model to examine the determinants of IRC in Uganda while a beta regression was used for the propensity to collaborate. Using retrospective data from the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology, results indicate that IRC in Uganda is determined by gender, region where the researcher attained their highest qualification, research sponsor, research Field, Research type, and research budget. The study shows that developing countries must build robust research systems to be "effective partners" in IRC. More gender-inclusive research policies are critical and IRC should be framed around national priorities and intentionally pursued within university research systems.
Uploads
Papers by Steven Sebbale
Thesis Chapters by Steven Sebbale