Parachute science --- Historically, scientific advances have played an important role in conceptualizing and making the colonial project a reality, with extractive scientific practices for centuries, for instance in the case of zoology, botany, geology, paleontology and archaeology, where collected specimens were brought back to imperial capitals to be studied or displayed there. But this kind of asymmetrical approaches still exist today, e.g. with the so called parachute science, where researchers from the Global North carry out field research in a third country, usually in the Global South and then return to their own country without involving researchers from the host country. It is indeed a question of power imbalances, for instance an unequal access to funding can be a key barrier that leads to some issues such as prioritizing certain agendas over others, neglecting the needs of low- and middle-income countries, the misrepresentation in research contributions and authorship, ethics dumping. Science diplomacy can be a very interesting tool to promote and foster meaningful collaborations, more fair and equal research practices based on mutual benefits. See a recent article on parachute science in marine research :

https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2821%2900062-2

Source author: Aura Fossati aura.fossati@gmail.com