An archtecture understood: Effective support structures for community-university partnerships

Good architectural design is fundamental to the successful construction, mainten-ance and liveability of a home. Likewise, the appropriate architecture is neces-sary in instituting policies and programmes that deepen, broaden, improve andsustain community–university research partnerships. The good news is that muchis known about how to design effective support structures to foster and nurturethese partnerships.This chapter reviews ten proven examples of such structures, all drawn fromthe Global North. These structures operate variously at the macro (national ormultinational), meso and micro levels. The chapter also discusses strategies andtools for evaluating partnerships that can be used by support structures. Finally,the chapter addresses the question of how the Global South can institute supportstructures to promote community–university research partnerships in pooremerging countries, building on the experience of the North