Research methods

The relationship between food consumption and physical activity is an important one, particularly for researchers looking into food consumption patterns in relation to nutritional balance. Here, Flagship Project 1 Research Associate Astha Upadhyay from TIGR2ESS collaborator PRADAN shares her recent experience using activity monitors in the community she researches in Chakai, Bihar.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for researchers. Those who usually work in the field have been particularly affected. Here, TIGR2ESS intern Ellie Brain shares her experience of carrying out research remotely. She outlines key principles used for evaluating development initiatives from afar, considering the caveats based on personal experience, but also remote research’s power to highlight research’s pre-existing limitations and what can be done to change them.

Following the TIGR2ESS General Assembly in Hyderabad, Charlotte Milbank, a University of Cambridge PhD student, and Shuvajit Chakraborty, executive of TIGR2ESS collaborator PRADAN , travelled to Flagship Project 1 field sites in south Bihar. Here, Charlotte recounts their insights from a week with the Santhal Pargana and Pahariya tribal groups.

TIGR2ESS Flagship Project 1 (START) and collaborator PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action) recently ran a research workshop to begin one of the less glamourous, but nevertheless vital, steps in any research project: establishing a data management protocol. In a project working with vast and complex data, often in multiple languages, achieving this is no mean feat. Here, Dr Shreya Sinha, a postdoc working on Flagship Project 1 (FP1), and Dr Nivedita Narain, Integrator (Research & Advocacy), PRADAN, summarise a very successful week of co-creation.

Two TIGR2ESS Flagship Programmes recently joined forces to deliver an intensive hands-on training workshop for 50 early career researchers working on a range of plant and crop science projects.