[Radix] A Wall between Social and Natural Science Climate Risk Studies

[Ben Wisner]

Sad and depressing story from South Africa, Dewald, and I am afraid one 
that could be repeated again and again.  At least in the area of school 
safety I have never yet had an academic engineer decline from helping 
out with knowledge, but I know in all sorts of areas (a) there is a lot 
of corporate sponsorship of university based research and that (b) 
universities take very large "overhead" bites out of all research 
grants.  This has become big business.

What's the situation in the people's universities -- so designated by 
the ANC -- such as University of the Western Cape?

I, too, need a coffee!

Cheers, BEN

Dewald van Niekerk wrote:
> Well said Ben and I can't agree with you more.
>
> I ran into my own example this week. Just to illustrate how "we" (read academic institutions) are missing the plot. I am a biofuels enthusiast and stared to make some of my own biodiesel about a year ago (probably my guilty conscience to offset some of my CO2s while travelling?). In any case, this sparked an interest of how the production of non-food based biofuels can contribute to this whole climate change hype and also (and even more importantly) provide opportunities for local communities to act as production agents. I then contacted our "Associate Chair in Biofuels and Alternative Energy" here at my university in order to discuss the possibilities of linking their "science" research to community based capacity  building and local economic development. I was greeted with a not too friendly reply in which the person stated that their reseach is confidential and paid for by "outside companies" (read oil companies) and that the person would be most glad to talk to me under engineering consultancy fees (sic). This now comes from a fellow academic colleague within THE SAME university. Needless to say I responded accordingly.
>
> This begs the question: are we now forsaking the contribution of local communities in lure of "intellectual property" and "parents"? What is the academic and research community coming to if we cannot realise that solving these complex problems we sit with is not the domain of only hard core lab "science". 
>
> I think I now need coffee!
> Dewald  
>
> Kind regards,
>  
> Dr. Dewald van Niekerk
> Director: African Centre for Disaster Studies
> North West University
> Potchefstroom Campus
> Research Focus Area 7.2: Sustainable Development
> Private Bag X6001
> Potchefstroom
> North West Province
> 2520
> South Africa
> Tel: +27 (0)18 299 1634
> Fax: +27 (0)18 293 5266
> E mail: Dewald.VanNiekerk at nwu.ac.za
> Web site: http://acds.co.za
>  
> **************************************
> "Human beings, who are almost unique in
> having the ability to learn from the experience
> of others, are also remarkable for their
> apparent disinclination to do so."
>   Douglas Adams
> **************************************
>  
>   
>