The UT-Austin IRES program in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, developed an innovative model for research training for students while addressing infrastructure challenges in informal settlements. IRES scholarship recipients received research training through a two-semester service-learning course as well as in-country mentoring by Dominican project partners during their independent research. The course assisted students in developing their research design but also increased their sensitivity towards the political and cultural contexts of international research. Students learned about the significance of research ethics, identity and positionality when conducting action-oriented research with diverse populations, and they developed a deeper understanding of trans-disciplinary approaches and mixed research methods.

The program provided training and research experience to 12 graduate students, the majority of whom were from underrepresented groups. Seven of the students completed masters theses based on their independent field research during the grant period. Three of the IRES students are in the process of writing theses following their research in Santo Domingo, and one student is finishing her doctoral dissertation for graduation in May 2020. An additional 26 graduate students also attended the training program in Santo Domingo (8 in 2014, 5 in 2016, 5 in 2017, and 8 in 2018) with the help of matching funding from the University of Texas School of Architecture and the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS).

The research training took place in the classroom as well as in the informal settlement of Los Platanitos, Santo Domingo Norte. Students worked closely with community-based research partners, focusing on the problems facing the community because of inadequate stormwater management, lack of household waste collection services, and limited economic opportunities. Students were able to practice ethnographic methods, survey design and implementation, field-based mapping and GIS, and facilitation methods such as focus groups, visioning exercises, and participatory planning and design. 

To ensure broad dissemination of this innovative model, students, PI, and project partners have produced a wide range of publications in both printed and digital form. These include four, 200+ plus page bilingual books (Spanish and English) that concisely describe the pedagogical structure, the research design, and findings from research on community infrastructures, ethnobotany and composting, solid waste management, and gender-based enterprise development. The books include extensive appendices with research tools and best practice recommendations, in both Spanish and English. In order to extend the impacts of the IRES program beyond the Dominican Republic, in March 2018 PI co-organized an international IRES conference with IRES students and project partners at the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena (UNPHU). Conference speakers, including invited scholars from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Finland, and France, reflected on lessons learned from 10 years of work in Los Platanitos and the role of service learning and engaged scholarship for community-based infrastructure improvements.

PI, IRES students, and Dominican research partners are also developing a capacity-building guide for participatory action researchers, civil society organizations, and municipal officials. The guide is based on the service learning courses led by PI in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018, and will be published by UNPHU in June 2020. To complement the handbook, PI, IRES students, and Dominican partners are also editing a documentary for release in June 2020. Titled "Mi Barrio," the film documents the preparations for the IRES conference and a participatory urban design project directed by IRES students. By incorporating footage from the first service-learning course in Los Platanitos in 2008, the documentary provides a unique perspective on the consolidation process of informal settlements. The books, capacity-building guide, video, and other research documents produced during the IRES program are being made available on the UT-Austin IRES website, http://sites.utexas.edu/santodomingo-informality/.

Beyond its broader lessons for international research training for students, the UT-Austin IRES program had significant merit for research in infrastructure planning and slum redevelopment. Residents in communities such as Los Platanitos have developed innovative strategies to manage infrastructure challenges, but they have limited technical and economic resources to conduct formal research. As the IRES program demonstrated, participatory research conducted by residents in partnership with supportive state officials, civil society representatives, and students and faculty members, can produce data and outcomes with great intellectual merit as well as social impact. The UT-Austin IRES program continues to produce publications in leading peer-reviewed journals, thus contributing significantly to research in community based infrastructure development informed by feminist and postcolonial epistemologies. But the IRES program also had direct impact in the community. As a result of the work conducted by students with funding from NSF-IRES, the national government implemented a stormwater project that has transformed Los Platanitos, including providing a new access road and new low-income housing. Thus the UT-Austin IRES project is a model for international student research training based on collaboration with residents informal settlements, resulting in research of significant intellectual merit as well as social impact.

Last Modified: 01/30/2020
Modified by: Bjorn Sletto