This final lecture will address the political economy of knowledge production and decolonising the research process. Drivers and sources of knowledge production will be critically discussed including how various institutions influence research priorities. The ‘knowledge for who and knowledge for what’ question will be used to explore the role of these institutions in shaping research and knowledge production. Students will be asked to think about how they situate their own research within the broader knowledge production system We will also explore how to decolonise research. The use of research assistants and other research partners will be used as an example of the political economy issues within the research process. These topics will focus not just on formal political economy research but will also allow students tools for informal political economy insights into their own research processes.

By the end of the lecture the students will be able to:

1. Recognise political economy issues related to knowledge production and the research process
2. Identify research methods that help to decolonise the research process