Somaliland is attracting an increasing number and diversity of research projects, offering interesting opportunities for researchers to participate in interesting and potentially valuable projects designed to better understand Somaliland, it’s people and its context. A significant number of young Somali scholars are also pursuing PhDs and other research degrees which call for a similar understanding of research methodologies. This workshop will provide an introduction, over four days, to the different approaches and methods used to collect data in academic and policy-focused research projects. It will cover both qualitative and quantitative methods, and will consider research ethics and the ontologies and epistemologies related to different ways of understanding the research process.
This workshop is being supported by the Development Planning Unit (DPU) of UCL (University College London), UK.
It will be take by Dr Mohamud Hashi Hussein and Dr Michael Walls.
Dr Mohamud Hashi Hussein is an economist with over 20 years of experience in industry, the public sector and research in the UK, and more recently in Somaliland. He has an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities for research in the Somali Horn of Africa, as well as in a wide range of thematic areas employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. His research skills and expertise include the quantitative analysis of business responses to regulation and market incentives, and qualitative analysis of behavioural drivers for the uptake of new technologies. Most recent work includes extensive research on the political economy of regulatory policies, including regulatory capture by industry interests.
Dr Michael Walls is a Senior Lecturer at UCL’s Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) and, and for the past fourteen years, his research has focused on the political economy of the Somali Horn of Africa, including the evolving political settlement in Somaliland. He was Chief Observer for the international observation mission to Somaliland’s 2017 presidential election, and has also been a member of the coordination team for missions in 2005, 2010 and 2012 as well as the 2016 Voter Registration process. Michael was Principal Investigator for the ESRC-funded research project ‘Political Settlement in Somaliland: a gendered perspective’, and is currently part of the research team looking at Complex Land Markets in Somaliland and Uganda.
