Engaged research in SEA DREAM: Shaping research with the people it concerns

Scientific research often follows a familiar cycle: A project wraps up, papers are published, datasets are archived, and final reports sit on servers. Yet the communities whose lives the research was meant to improve rarely see the findings and targeted demographics were treated as subjects, not partners in developing the research questions and implementation. The science may be sound, but the impact remains truncated. 

Engaged research seeks to fill the breach.

For SEA-DREAM, engaged research is carefully examined through the lens of our four objectives: generating impactful research, nurturing research leadership and talent, fostering regional collaboration, and strengthening research ecosystems.  

While approaches inevitably differ per proposal, depending on the research question(s), methodology, populations, and settings, what remains constant, however, is the principle:

Research must be shaped with the people it concerns, not delivered to them.