Dr John Kirkland OBE

John spent two periods in senior administrative roles at NIESR, from 1994-99 and 2018-20.  His other career roles have included those of Deputy Secretary-General at the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and Director of Research Services at Brunel University.  He has undertaken consultancy work for agencies on all five continents and been a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Pretoria and the West of England.

Research Interests

John’s main interests involve the development of research capacity and partnerships in low and middle incomes countries, and access to international development opportunities for lower socioeconomic groups in the UK.

Additional Information

John Chairs or sits on Steering / Advisory Boards for research programmes funded by DFID / FCDO, UKRI, IDRC (Canada), World Health Organisation and African Academy of Sciences.  He is also Chair of the UK based charity School Club of Zambia, which promotes entrepreneurship in schools.

Publications

“The Contribution of International Donors to African Research Management.” Chapter in the Emerald Handbook of Research Management and Administration Around the World. Emerald publications, (forthcoming, May 2023)

“Four Approaches to Supporting Equitable Research Partnerships.” ESSENCE / UKCDR Good Practice Document. With Gary Aslanyan, Alice Chadwick El-Ali, Maggy Heinz et al. UK Collaborative for Development Research, September 2022.

“Research Capacity Strengthening: Lessons from UK Funder Initiatives in Low and Middle Income Countries.” With Alice Chadwick El-Ali, Andrea Padilla, Adrian Boucher, Maggy Heinz and Yaso Kunaratnam. UK Collaborative on Development Research. 2022.

“Building Back Better: A Blueprint for Africa-UK Partnership.” Association of Research Managers and Administrators, 2021.

“Towards a Common Research Management Profession in Global Goals: Co-creating Africa-UK Research Management Solutions.” Association of Research Managers and Administrators, 2021