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British Academy funds three Coventry University-led projects tackling social and environmental challenges across the globe
Three Coventry University projects have received funding from the British Academy, including one to help provide clean water in South Africa
University news / Research news
Tuesday 29 July 2025
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Coventry University is spearheading new international efforts to tackle social and environmental challenges in Africa and Asia.
Three separate projects have been granted funding totalling nearly £450,000 by the British Academy, including a bid to help provide clean water and proper sanitation to residents of South Africa’s informal settlements, efforts to improve conditions for Nepalese people working abroad and research on the links between climate change and violent extremism.
The South African project will explore how to better inform local and national policies and their implementation in informal settlements, with a particular focus on drainage and greywater (used household water) management, vital components of water hygiene and human dignity in communities often excluded from basic infrastructure planning.
The research, focused on the Western Cape, aims to improve public health, reduce environmental risks and help South Africa meet its Sustainable Development Goal of clean water and sanitation for all by the end of the decade, known as SDG 6.
The ambition of SDG 6 is to provide clean water and sanitation for all by 2030 - however, it is acknowledged that this is highly unlikely to be achieved in time. Our project focuses on informal settlements where globally 1.2 billion people often lack basic sanitation infrastructure including drainage and greywater management.
In South Africa, one in four urban residents live in such settlements and we will engage with communities, stakeholders and local authorities to assess sanitation improvement projects in three informal settlements in the Western Cape, South Africa. We will gather information around what initiatives work, what doesn’t and whether existing sanitation policies are successfully implemented, how and to what extent.
Dr Jana Fried, Assistant Professor with Coventry University’s Research Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience
Two further projects – both based within the university’s Research Centre for Peace and Security – will also benefit from the British Academy grants.
Professor Katharine Jones will lead a project - titled EVI-MIG Researching evidence-informed migration policymaking in Nepal - to help policymakers in Nepal to address international migration. Collaborating with the Overseas Development Institute and Nepal Institute for Social and Environmental Research, the aim is to improve conditions for Nepalese men and women working abroad, including in global supply chains.
Nepal depends heavily on money sent home by migrant workers, many of whom face poor conditions and abuse abroad. Despite efforts to protect them, Nepal’s policymakers lack access to strong evidence which can help formulate robust migration governance and increase their international policymaking leverage.
Led by an all-female team, EVI-MIG aims to change this by studying how evidence is currently used in policy decisions, identifying challenges and working with local and international partners to create a plan for better, evidence-based policymaking. The project also highlights global inequalities in who gets to produce and use knowledge in shaping policy.
Professor Katharine Jones, from the Research Centre for Peace and Security
Dr Dylan O’Driscoll and Professor Joel Busher, also based in the Centre for Peace and Security, will work alongside researchers at the Technical University of Mombasa to explore how evidence can be generated and utilised to make efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism more sensitive to the effects of climate change, and climate policy more sensitive to the threats of violent extremism.
The project tackles two major global challenges - climate change and violent extremism - which often make each other worse. Instead of treating them separately, we will bring together Kenyan and international experts to find joined-up solutions to better understand the links between these issues, create combined strategies, support smarter decision making and develop a model that other countries can use too.
Dr Dylan O’Driscoll. from the Research Centre for Peace and Security
Find out more about the Research Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience and the Research Centre for Peace and Security.
