Science for Development. 60 years of research, policy advice and training for development policy and cooperation

The German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS, formerly the German Development Institute, DIE) was founded in March 1964 with the mandate to train practitioners and post-graduates for working in the new field of development policy and assist German development cooperation through research and policy advice. To celebrate our institute’s 60th anniversary, IDOS was organising a panel discussion on 14 March.

The event was a joint event with the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development (AwZ) of the German Bundestag. Together with high-ranking representatives of the Bundestag, the executive, academia, private sector and civil society, we took a look into the future: What role will independent research and policy advice play in a time characterised by climate change, polarisation and autocratisation worldwide? How can science-based policy advice contribute to shaping public and political opinion despite fake news and a polarising media landscape? And how must science itself, and as part of it the field of development research, reform itself in order to live transregional and reciprocal knowledge cooperation as instruments of transformative change for a sustainable future?

Following the welcome address by Dr Christoph Hoffmann, acting Chairman of the AwZ, and Prof Dr Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Director of IDOS, Federal Minister Svenja Schulze, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), gave a keynote speech. This was be followed by a discussion on the contribution of development research to shaping German development policy:

• Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development
• Prof Dr Ursula Schröder, Director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg
• Volkmar Klein, Member of the German Bundestag, CDU/CSU
• Ottmar von Holtz, Member of the German Bundestag, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen
• Dr Sebastian Haug, Researcher in the Research Programme Inter- and Transnational Cooperation, IDOS
• Dr Julia Leininger, Head of the Research Programme Transformation of Political (Dis)Order, IDOS