Dear Colleagues,
 
The University of Glasgow is proud to be a truly international institution, with international research partnerships at the very heart of our commitment to being a world-changing university.
 
Our Glasgow Centre for International Development has more than 800 members from across all four of our Colleges and includes researchers at every career stage, reflecting our long-standing commitment at every level of our institution to meeting the global challenges confronting us all.  For more than two decades, our international development research community has worked in equitable partnership with colleagues across six continents.
 
The unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic have only served to confirm the need to work across borders to address the great challenges of our time.  Whether Covid-19, climate change, food security or many other issues, the challenges we face over the coming years will not respect national boundaries and neither can our response.
 
In recent years, our University has been proud to play a leading role in promoting positive global change as part of the UK’s international development research ecosystem, which has been enabled through Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funding.  We know that the recently announced cuts to this funding will be a source of deep worry and dismay across the University, threatening to stall the progress of vital initiatives all over the world and risking undermining the UK’s international reputation and credibility. The Vice Principal for Research is in contact with relevant PIs and CoIs and will update them accordingly as more information becomes available.
 
We would like to take this opportunity to reassure all colleagues working in this space that the University and partners across the sector are constructively working with government and funders to emphasise the importance of this work and to advocate for the necessary commitments to protect the partnerships and progress we have made thus far.  The Russell Group has recently written to the Prime Minister, and the University will continue to use all available channels to make the case to reverse these cuts.
 
We are very clear that we must continue to value and support the work of our researchers here in Glasgow and in our many partner institutions across the Global South with whom we have developed such vital relationships and with whom we have achieved so much positive change.  That is our message to you today and will continue to be our University’s message to funders and government. 
 
We will ensure to keep colleagues informed of any further developments.
 
Kind regards,

 

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Professor Chris Pearce, Vice Principal for Research

Rachel Sandison, Vice Principal, External Relations

First published: 23 March 2021

<< 15 March 2021