The Importance of Research

in Developing Countries
This paper prepared by Dr. Denis Taylor is an abridged version of the talk
given by him upon the request of the Association. Dr. Taylor is Chief
UNESCO Advisor at the University College, Nairobi, Kenya. He is a leading
scientist in the electronics field. He was among the British scientists who
developed radar during the second World War. He has also headed the Plessey
group of companies for a long time. Dr. Taylor was invited by the Haile
Selassie I University in December 1966 to give a series of lectures thereby
fostering closer co-operation between East African universities.

1. INTRODUCTION and only when the undergraduate courses are

operating well and a supply of well-trained gradua-
The question is often asked - "ls research in a tes is beginning to result is the second stage - the
developing country worth while?" The question is setting up of research facilities for the training of
sometimes posed the other way, should not a research scientists tackled.
developing country concentrate on other tasks,
and leave research to the more developed countries? Now, we can come back to the question -
The question, whichever way it is phrased is one "ls research important in the developing countries?"
of considerable importance when considered in the I think it is, but it must be kept in proportion.
context of the build up of a university - particularly Clearly, it would be unreasonable for all graduates
in connection with technical education. Thus, to tackle a research course after obtaining a first
engineers are necessary in a developing country to degree in science or engineering. This would be
design, build and maintain civil engineering works, too heavy a financial burden on the exchequer,
electrical power stations and many other purposes. and so this privilege must be reserved for the
The word "engineer" here is used in a collective relatively small minority who may be undertaking
sense, for there are, in fact, many different categor- some research occupation in their later life.
ies of workers required for an engineering project.
These are:- 2. TRAINING IN RESEARCH METHOD.
(i) the professional engineers themselves;
(ii) the technicians; and I must say more about this later in my lecture,
(iii) the artisans. but for the present I would like to discuss another
but related matter, namely that some training in
Obviously it is unsatisfactory to provide educational research method is desirable, to say the very least,
facilities for one class at the expense of one of the for all science and engineering students whatever
other classes. All the categories are important. their future occupations. The standard method of
One type of personnel cannot work without the dealing with this matter in many universities has
others, although it should be realised that many been to introduce project work into the under-
more technicians are required than professional graduate courses. Every student at the University
engineers, and many more artisans are required who comes under my direction, apart from carrying
than technicians. Clearly therefore the educational out a number of set exercises to obtain proper
system needs to be geared to these requirements. training in the use of scientific equipment approp-
riate to his courses and the various measuring
Trade schools are often up-graded to technical techniques employed, has a project to do. This is
colleges and in some cases technical colleges are a major piece of work, taking of the order of
up-graded into universities. This can be a very 50-70 hours. Each student has a different problem,
good thing, but it is no use penalising the training which he (or she) has to carry out on an indivi-
of technicians to get trained engineers, or to reduce dual basis. It may involve theoretical study, design
the supply of trained artisans to supply more work, constructional and experimental work,
trained technicians, unless the training facilities measurements and the drawing of some conclusions.
for the lower grade of person is already more It is, in fact, a small piece of research. Each
than sufficient. What all this amounts to is that student has to write up a detailed report on his
"first things must come first!". It is the same in project. He also has to make an oral presentation
research. When UNESCO helps to build up a of his work before the other students and his
technical university, it concentrates first on building supervisors and stand up to their questions. He
up the laboratories and the undergraduate teaching, has to gain a pass in his project in order to

33
graduate*, and he is awarded marks according to hopes eventually become experts in one field or
the quality of his work, his report, his oral presen- other.
tation and the way he stands up to questions.
Well, this covers applied science, but what
I consider that projects as we operate them about more fundamental work in science. Can a
are a real success. They help to develop the developing country really afford to indulge in
student's initiative, his knowledge, and his ability fundamental research, and if it can, what in any
to express himself both in writing and in speech. case, are the rewards of pursuing this course?
The first argument which is always used here is
3. POST-GRADUATE RESEARCH. that teaching and research are complementary;
working on the one helps the other. Research
Returning now to research in the univers1t1es and advanced study in the more fundamental
at the post-graduate level, obviously the immediate parts of the subject are, in any case, very appro-
needs in a developing country are for engineers priate to the work of the universities, and help
to design public works schemes, to operate the the lecturing staff to inculcate in their students
various development schemes and to help the the proper spirit of inquisitiveness, of systematic
various manufacturing concerns in the country to enquiry and the desire to understand. However,
get going. In the early days much of the highly it is much more than that! Good results in funda-
technical equipment required will be designed and mental research brings world recognition and this
manufactured in one of the more developed can be very important to a developing country
countries, and so engineers tend to be required, wanting to encourage financial investments. If
initially at least, to man, operate and maintain country 'X' can make fundamental discoveries,
technical equipment which may have been designed it must obviously have good potential manpower.
elsewhere. I consider this the right point of view it wilJ be argued, to make its investment succeed.
to adopt at this stage.
Apart from this, discoveries in fundamental
However, one thing that it is very apparent science have a habit of becoming of importance
to all is that developing countries must concern in applied science and industry at not too late a
themselves first and foremost with their natural stage, as recent events have shown us on many
resources. This does not, however, mean selling occasions.
these natural resources abroad as raw products.
No, to get the maximum benefit, the raw products A point of special interest is that results in
must be turned, if possible, into manufactured fundamental science are just as likely to be un-
products and then exported. I believe this is one covered in one place as another. No one location,
of the main reasons why developing countries or one person, or one nation has the monopoly.
should encourage a proportion of their better One can go further, and say that no one sex. It
graduates to have training in research method. is interesting that occasionally a really outstanding
However, it is equally important that a proper woman scientist comes forward, and in some of
proportion of these young men do get interested these cases it may be noted that even her possibili-
in projects which will be helpful to the country's ty of scientific education has resulted from an
further development. accident. There are not so many people of really
outstanding ability that we can afford to neglect
To explore this matter further it is worth them. It is therefore a worrying thought that
considering how scientific and technical advances when education has to be on a selective basis because
are made in applied science. In many instances it of the relative poorness of the country, that we
seems to be a matter of a man with a problem may, in fact, be turning down someone who could
which needs to be solved, coming into contact develop into a genius. There seems to be no way
with a technical specialist with the required know- out of this dilemma, but to work hard for the
ledge which may be used to solve this problem. day when at least some education is available for
Many problems have remained unsolved for a all!
long time because this necessary contact between
the man with a problem and the man with the 4. THE LAGOS CONFERENCE.
knowledge of the technique for solving this problem
failed to meet. It is appropriate at this stage to mention the
work of UNESCO and E.C.A. in surveying the
If this is admitted, how then are we to avoid African scientific scene and arranging meetings to
these delays and make sure that development encourage Governments to expand scientific train-
advances as quickly as possible. It is possible to ing and research on the African continent. These
encourage visits from as many international experts efforts culminated in the Lagos Conference** held
as possible, but this means dividing the rewards! on July 28th to August 6th, 1964.
Whilst I think this method should not be neglected,
something should be done about the other method This conference was very successful and
as well, by choosing a few people each year, who recommended establishing a network of national
are given some research training, and who one and international scientific institutions of the

* This is apart from passing the normal written examination papers on all the general subjects appropriate to his degree.
** See "Fmal Report of the ·Lagos Conference" published jointly by UNESCO and ECA.

34
highest possible standard for training and research 5. THE 'PUGWASH' CONFERENCE.
in natural resources in Africa. 1t is useful to
recollect that natural resourCl:S cover a very wide The subject of tonight's lecture also received
field and amongst the subjects which received consideration at the recent Pugwash Conference
some attention at Lagos were cartography, hydro- held in Addis Ababa, December 29th 1965 to
logy, energy resources, arid zone research, sa' annah January 3rd 1966. They gave special attention to
zone research, humid tropical zone research, the organisation of imt1tullons and research in
geophysics and siesmology, mining and economic developing countries. They pointed out that the
~lcveloping countries are at widely differing stages
geo!ogy, volcanology, soil science, irrigation and
in the advancement of science and vary in the
drainage, occ::mography and marine biology, plant
pests, forestry, taxonomy and ecology, flora and availability of scientific manpower and equipment,
fa~na, including wild life management, veterinary the degree to which science is organised and the
Sl/C and quality of the supporting educational
science, range manageml:nl. limnology, tropical
and sub-tropical medicine and parasitology cancer syskm. I~ was therefore agreed that ready-made
research, building materials and documentation plans which would suit all countries cannot be
provided.
There was considernble discussion about the
actual numbers of research workers in the African However, the conference did come out with a
continent, and what the aim should be over the number of suggestions. They considered t11at
next few years. It was finally agreed that the aim research ~as important in developing countries,
and that m the planning and co-ordination of
should be to expand the number of scientists so
scicntillc research in developing countries some
that a target of 200 scientists per million of
type of advisory body at the highest level of
population for Africa as a whole should be reached.
~overn.m~nt should be providt.!d. They were energetic
It was also agreed to establish national man-
111 pomtmg out that the organisation of research
power registers to assist in attaining this objective.
should be designed to liberate the creative cnercics
Amongst the other important matters discussed of !ICicmi~ts and provide them with what they n~ed
were:- for effective work. They considered that a rigid
(i) UNESCO and OAU to enter into formal bureaucratic org~n.i~ation which does not sufficiently
co-operative and collaborative arrange- devolve respons1b1hty on working scientists leads
mL-nts in connection with attaining these to grav~ frustrations and should be avoided. They
objectives; als.o pointed out the important advantages to be
ga1n~d . b~ ~he development of a team spirit, a
(ii) U I\ I 5CO to undertake studies in the mult1-d1sc1pllnary approach, the efficient use of
sc.ientiflc manpower needed in Africa and equipment and the proper evaluation of research.
the budgetary resources that research My own experience is very much in support of
calls for, together with aiding countries, these conclusions. and l would also emphasise
at their request. in the organisation and another matter which was discussed. This is that
planning of scientific research and the in th~ early stages of development, efforts should
establishment of the new national institutes be directed to the solution of urgent national
referred to above; problems, and they should be selected after a
(iii) UNESCO, ECA and the UN Agencies realistic appraisal of the resources available for
and other professional bodies along side the the execution of the work.
m.ember states_ outside Africa to co-operate
with the Afncan continent throuah the The 'Pugwash' Conference covered a great
provision of financial and technical a~sistan­ deal of the ground already covered by the Lagos
ce in the realization of the Lagos Plan. Conference, and it is not surprising therefore that
they came to similar conclusions, and, in fact,
Progress is being made with the Lagos Plan, commended the actions already taken by UNESCO
but perhaps in the discussion period we can consid- and ECA.
er this matter further.

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