Doha, Qatar –27 June 2026
The Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies (CHS), in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, held a closed workshop titled “Sudan's Research and Knowledge Ecosystem amid Conflict" as part of the project “Enabling Research Ecosystems in Fragile MENA States: A Nexus-Informed Approach." Implemented over a twelve-month period across Sudan and Yemen, the project aims to generate timely and policy-relevant knowledge on the resilience, functioning, and practical relevance of research ecosystems in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. It seeks to better understand how locally grounded research can contribute to humanitarian response, recovery, and peacebuilding efforts.
The workshop brought together Sudanese researchers, academics, and experts based in Qatar to examine the state of Sudan's research and knowledge ecosystem in the context of the ongoing conflict. Participants reflected on the institutional and structural challenges affecting higher education, research capacity, and the production, circulation, and use of knowledge.
Discussions focused on the current condition of Sudan's research ecosystem, the challenges surrounding crisis-relevant knowledge production, and the relationship between research, policy, and practice. Participants also examined opportunities for partnership and support, as well as the role of Sudanese researchers and scholars, both within Sudan and across the diaspora, in shaping a research agenda that responds to local realities and post-conflict priorities. Key takeaways include the need to rethink Sudan's research and knowledge ecosystem as a critical component of recovery and reconstruction efforts. Participants emphasized the importance of strengthening coordination among Sudanese academic and research institutions, developing more effective mechanisms to connect locally grounded knowledge with humanitarian, development, and policy processes, investing in national research capacities, and mobilizing the expertise of Sudanese researchers and academics both inside Sudan and abroad.
The workshop forms part of a broader program of research and consultation activities being undertaken by the project in Sudan and Yemen. Its findings and reflections will contribute to a broader workshop planned in Khartoum in July 2026, bringing together a wider range of academic and research stakeholders to further explore priorities for strengthening Sudan's research ecosystem and supporting recovery and peacebuilding efforts.