Terrific assessment of the state of social research in #Myanmar by @GDNint, @IDRC_Myanmar (pdf here: http://www.gdn.int/sites/default/files/u115/Doing%20Research%20Mayanmar%20Country%20Report.pdf). Some key takeaways (thread ):

1. Academics in #Myanmar public universities are burdened with administrative duties, no time for research/writing (welcome to our world...)

2. Women make up 75 percent of social researchers in #Myanmar (due to social norms, low salaries, 2nd job in household, rank-and-file types of duties, but education opportunities nonetheless)

3. No formal peer review culture in #Myanmar (quantity of outputs prevails, opinions supersede research evidence, criticism seldom tolerated... academia is a reflection of the whole society)

4. Limited dialogue between academia and policy circles (there is no dearth of research inputs that could influence evidence-based policymaking in #Myanmar, but the top-down nature of the policymaking process makes academia a marginal player).

5. Overlapping/duplicated research because each public institution in #Myanmar has its own agenda, network, budget and data (I myself flagged in a past report that the #hluttaws have three research departments, one for each house...)

6. Decentralization of research (projects, publication) is thus the norm, with too few incentives for collaboration (within #Myanmar), and this has weaken the institutionalization of research and the formulation of a national research policy. END