New members of the Consultative Research Committee for Development Research
27-04-22
The Consultative Research Committee for Development Research (Forskningsfagligt Udvalg – FFU – in Danish) advises the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark on Danida support to development research. Danida Fellowship Centre is pleased to welcome the six new members, who joined the Committee in 2022.
By Ida Arendal
The Danish Minister for Development appoints the Consultative Research Committee for Development Research (FFU) is for a two-year period at a time. The members for 2022-2024 are:
- Professor Christian Lund, University of Copenhagen (new member ) – Chairperson
- Professor Lotte Meinert, Aarhus University (new member) – Deputy Chairperson
- Prof. Erik Skov Madsen, University of Southern Denmark (member since 2017)
- Prof. Christine Noe, University of Dar es Salaam (member since 2021)
- Professor John Christensen, Sustainable Development Center, Yonsei University South Korea (new member)
- Senior researcher Helene Maria Kyed, Danish Institute for International Studies (new member )
- Professor Anja Kaarina Nygren, University of Helsinki (new member)
- Prof. Ola Westengen, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (new member)
- Head of Department Tove Degnbol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (member since 2021)
Another strong committee
In 2021, six of the eight members of FFU (the Consultative Research Committee for Development Research said farewell to the Committee after up to ten years of service. The Committee’s now former chairperson, Flemming Konradsen, joined the committee in 2012 and served as chairperson from 2015 until 2021.
In August 2021, Tove Degnbol replaced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ representative on the committee, Nanna Hvidt, when Nanna retired and Tove took over her position as Head of Department at the Office for Evaluation, Quality and Learning, the office responsible for the Danida funded research support.
Tove Degnbol is happy that the Ministry has succeeded in having another strong team serve on the “new” FFU Committee.
”We have been privileged to have had very competent members in FFU in the past, and FFU as an institution enjoys a lot of respect in the Danish research community. With the new FFU, we are again fortunate to have a very strong team. The team represents all relevant thematic aspects of the ongoing and the expected future calls for proposals. Three are international members, and the Danish members come from universities and institutions across the country. We are also pleased that the new FFU has an equal gender balance.”
Christian Lund from the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen takes over as chairperson after Flemming Konradsen. Christian Lund looks forward to working with the new Committee to further the goals of the Strategy for Danish Development Aid, “The World We Share”.
“We have a very exciting task ahead of us. Research has an important role to play in any society, not only as a way to improve our capacity to find solutions to problems, but it is also a more fundamental acknowledgement of the importance of being able to question received wisdom in a qualified way.”
The Committee is composed of eight researchers as well as a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. It is responsible for assessing research funding proposals, advising the Ministry on matters regarding the award of the competitive funds for development research projects and for the quality assurance of the research projects.
Danida Fellowship Centre administers the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s support to research collaboration projects in developing and growth countries including the application rounds and the monitoring of project implementation.
Read more about the calls and opportunities for Danida’s competitive research grants and explore the more than 400 collaborative research project that Danida has funded since 2008.
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