INCORE and the IDRC embarked upon a joint project to map out and explore the most vexing questions and issues surrounding the evaluation of research in and on violently divided societies so that we might think more clearly about how to engage in research that optimizes both its social scientific validity and its socially constructive utility within violently divided societies (“VDS”). Specific objectives of the project were:
To outline the challenges of evaluating research in divided societies from both developed and developing world objectives;
To assemble experts from the Global North and South to identify preliminary frameworks that could be adapted for the evaluation of research in VDSs; To form a core group of academics and practitioners who are interested in advancing the theory and practice of evaluating research in VDSs, and to contribute to the knowledge base of evidence based approaches to research evaluation in divided societies through the production and dissemination of an edited volume authored by social science researchers and evaluation professionals. One of the novel aspects of the project is that it is bringing together three cultural communities that have tended to work in isolation from each other: evaluators; researchers; practitioners and funders.