The Cocoon programme experiments with a new way of working

14 december 2009

Water, energy and other natural resources are scarce. How can we prevent the outbreak of violent conflicts around the world - particularly when these resources are becoming even more limited due to climate change? This is one of the key questions of the new Cocoon programme. Professor of Human Geography Ton Dietz (University of Amsterdam) is chairman of the steering committee and enthusiastic about this programme which turns the ordinary NWO working method upside down. Dietz: 'Cocoon confronts the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO) with new partners and new ways of working.'

Contrary to its name, Cocoon does not stand for research that remains safely locked into a small cocoon. Quite the opposite, explains Ton Dietz. The abbreviation stands for 'Conflict and Cooperation over Natural Resources in Developing Countries' and the programme is very broad indeed. 'We would like to do much more than award a grant to a mere five research projects in the first round. The research proposals that we cannot finance will be offered to other funding bodies to make sure that none of the ideas are lost. We already know that there is plenty of excellent and policy relevant research to be done on this theme.' To date we have received some 45 pre-proposals after our call a few months ago. The quality of these proposals is impressive, emphasizes Dietz. Approximately ten of these will be worked out in full detail to become actual research proposals. Five of these ten projects will receive a grant in the first round. 'It is not sure yet, whether the second round will also be an open round. This depends on the spread of the future research projects across the three themes of water, land and trade. We are spending just over half the money that is available to us now.'

International recognition
There have always been conflicts of interest about natural resources, explains Dietz. 'We must learn from tense situations when these tensions did not lead to violent conflict. However, we must also learn from situations in which violent conflict did occur and investigate if at one point this violence could have been prevented.' In order to ensure that research groups from around the world will submit proposals three meetings were held in other parts of the world - Africa, Latin-America and Asia - in addition to the meeting in The Netherlands. 'These are the areas that matter. This is what makes this programme very special. We are building a global network of knowledge. In addition, we are bringing together potential knowledge financiers. Thanks to this network we have excellent access to all kinds of relevant parties. We are gaining international recognition with the major funding bodies.'

Double excellence
What makes Cocoon such a special and apparently inspiring programme? 'Well, first of all, this is a programme in which the NWO and DGIS, the Directorate General of International Cooperation of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, work very closely together. We hardly see this in the other NWO programmes. However, this does not mean that only policy relevance is important in Cocoon. On the contrary, we require double excellence - both academic excellence as well as applied excellence. The applied quality that we require also has a double nature. Not only must this research feed the dialogue about the theme of conflicts and resources, but it must also develop the knowledge capacity in those countries where the research is being conducted. This means that something substantial has to remain in place after the research project has ended.'

International programme committee
Another new feature is that the teams submitting proposals must consist of four different parties, two of which are academic and two non-academic. What's more, the team has to consist of two parties from 'the North' and two parties from 'the South'. It is rather revolutionary that the research teams do not have to consist of any Dutch main parties or non-academic parties. Dietz: 'There are no Dutch people in it and there are knowledge professionals from outside the academy in it - including from 'the South'. It did take a lot of effort to accomplish this. I do have the utmost respect and admiration for the NWO employees supporting our programme. It would not be possible without their quality and dedication.'

New partners
Dietz considers Cocoon to be a pioneer within NWO. ‘We are making the conversion to real transdisciplinary research. The research world will have new partners. For example, the military. I was at the Cocoon meeting in Hanoi, where a former general told me about the think-tank in Bangladesh which he participates in. Prominent members of the military are already thinking about the potential violence as a consequence of climate change. We have to relate to this 'excellently relevant'. In the Netherlands we could be a little more experimental with this. I feel very fortunate that Cocoon allows us to do so.'

More information: http://www.nwo.nl/cocoon