• Mobility window| research internship at partner universityDuring the first module, within the framework of the course “Research Methods II”, IOB students can apply for a research internship  to work on an ongoing research project at partner universities (in DRC, Nicaragua, Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda).

• Dissertation mobilityDuring Module IV – the dissertation module - students can also apply to do field work for their dissertation with one of the partner universities or to other countries of the global South.  Travel grants are available for both the mobility window programme and the field work mobility.

Staff Mobility is organized in both directions (from IOB to partners and partners to IOB), and stimulated as part of ICP Connect. 

• contributions in educationMobility of academic staff leads to contributions in education (guest lecturers, co-teaching modules, involvement in benchmark or curriculum development, …) and/ or research and outreach activities at both IOB and the partner universities.

• Microcredentials: Partner staff are invited to enroll for micro credentials organised at IOB ( free for IOB partners) and receive a UAntwerp micro credential certificate.

Programme  partners have participated in the IOB dissertation benchmark exercise. Their insights on the quality of our dissertations as well as the grading process was useful to adapt possible cultural biases in our grading process as well as give feedback on the development relevance of our graduates’ dissertations. Partner staff has been involved in various other reflection and feedback meetings and exercises to improve IOB programmes.

• An innovative field methodological course on research and co-creation of knowledge in/for development was co-designed and implemented in Nicaragua. This course offers students the opportunity to interact with a community of development practitioners, researchers, community members to experiment with and critically reflect on methodologies for co-creation of knowledge ( see video)

• An online course on research methods for development: “Emancipatory Horizons: Theories and Research Methods for Rethinking ‘Development” was co-organized by Nitlapan-UCA and IOB UA. Two versions were implemented, first in 2021 and in 2022 (shorter version). This course was inspired by the IOB LIPR Module but received important adaptations in terms of content (e.g. more contextualized course content, specific attention to decolonial approaches, more focus on supporting the research work implemented by the students)

In addition to the current 1-year GLOB Master in Antwerp, a parallel digital/blended 2-year GLOB Master will be co-designed and piloted. The digital/blended version will follow the same structure as the current Master. The digital/blended pilot will be co-designed and co-implemented by a network built around the CoPs under the coordination of the extended GLOB Task Force. The digital/blended pilot will build on the current course structure yet will be more explicitly embedded in the political/social/ecological histories and ongoing struggles of the territories in which our partners are situated. The pilots are key learning processes towards a longer-term self-financed networked digital/blended GLOB Master and will give us the necessary and evidence-based input on feasibility, academic content, target audience, governance structure and longer-term financial sustainability. The digital/blended GLOB Master also opens pathways to decrease the IOB carbon footprint of our teaching programs.

The programme will consolidate two CoPs (on PE and PAR) around shared research and societal outreach activities. The CoPs will inform the design and implementation of the GLOB Master and its digital/blended version. 

•  PE is an interdisciplinary field of critical studies that examines how and why economic structures and power relations drive social and environmental/climate change in an increasingly interconnected world. It offers tools and concepts to engage with the social-ecological challenges humankind is facing, which are central to the GLOB master. 

• PAR embodies the methodological challenges of the program, in a continuous effort to develop tools that allow to engage with different actors and knowledges embedded in uneven power structures, and to bridge education, research and action for transformative change. The PAR CoP draws on the multiple methodological experiences of the long-term partnership in Central America, on the pilot course on co-creation of knowledge and research methods implemented in Nicaragua during the previous VLIR ICP IF, and now integrates the ample