Participants at the 4th ACES Political Economy Summer School. (Photo by the Association for Comparative Economic Studies)
Building research communities: Reflections from the 4th ACES Summer School
The 4th ACES Political Economy Summer School, co-hosted with the African School of Economics and Africa Urban Lab, brought together PhD students and early-career researchers for lectures, mentorship, and discussions with leading professors. This post reflects on how such an event can support researchers, foster a sense of community, and encourage collaboration, building the foundation for stronger, more inclusive research ecosystems.
A version of this article first appeared in VoxDev.
Pursuing a PhD is intellectually and emotionally demanding. The long, often solitary nature of research can make it difficult to stay motivated or to see the broader purpose of one’s work. These challenges are even greater in many developing countries, where limited resources, restricted data access, and weaker links to international networks make it harder for early-career researchers to advance.
Yet local scholars bring an essential perspective: their close understanding of cultural and institutional realities helps them identify the questions that matter most for policy. Strengthening their research capacity is therefore not only a matter of fairness or inclusion, but also essential to producing rigorous, relevant research.
That is what made the 4th ACES Political Economy Summer School, held in August 2025 at the African School of Economics (ASE) in Zanzibar, such a valuable experience. Co-hosted by the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES), ASE, and the Africa Urban Lab (AUL), the event brought together 23 PhD students and early-career researchers – representing 12 countries, with 18 students from Africa and Asia – for three days of lectures, mentorship, and discussion with leading professors in political economy.
The event was made possible through the support of ACES and the International Growth Centre (IGC), as part of its capacity-building efforts for researchers in developing countries.
Training the next generation of political economists
The Summer School was designed to maximise both learning and interactions. Each morning featured lectures by senior faculty on cutting-edge topics in political economy.
Ceren Baysan covered democratic backsliding and how voters form beliefs under censorship. Sara Lowes explored how culture shapes economic behaviour and policy outcomes, showing that norms and perceptions are not peripheral to policymaking but central to its success. Similarly, Awa Ambra Seck’s research on the role of "age sets" versus kinship ties in East Africa illustrated how policies can fall short when they overlook the cultural context in which they are applied.
Noam Yuchtman spoke about using real-time data to study social movements and institutional change, while Michael Callen provided observational evidence from Afghanistan and experimental evidence from Nepal to show how confidence in institutional durability, as reflected in the beliefs of the stakeholders building the state, can increase investments in state capacity.
These lectures were followed by focused mentorship sessions where students presented their research and received detailed feedback from both faculty and peers. Each student met with two different mentors on both days, ensuring targeted and practical advice. For many, these one-on-one discussions were the most valuable part of the week, providing an opportunity to test ideas, clarify methods, and receive guidance.
The programme concluded with a day-long research conference showcasing some of the most innovative work in the field.
How does research really happen?
Finished research papers, especially those by accomplished senior scholars, can sometimes feel intimidating. Their standards appear impossibly high, and it is easy for students to doubt that they will ever produce work as original or polished.
One of the most valuable aspects of the Summer School was therefore the openness with which senior researchers spoke about the research process itself. Their candour demystified what is often left unsaid in academic settings and made visible the uncertainty, false starts, and revisions that lie behind every published paper.
Three main lessons emerged:
- Personal experience can be a strength. It not only fuels intellectual curiosity but also helps identify what is missing from standard economic debates.
- Curiosity should not stop at the boundaries of economics. Reading widely across history, politics, and the humanities can spark new ideas that add value to the existing economic literature.
- Research projects often have long lives, and persistence matters. Young researchers should choose questions they care about deeply, since passion is what sustains a project through years of work and revision.
These discussions collectively underscored a deeper lesson: research is not a linear path, but an iterative process that demands stamina, curiosity about the world, creativity, entrepreneurship, and rigour. It feels difficult because it is; but students should not be expected to face those challenges alone. By providing a rare opportunity for genuine mentorship, the Summer School took a small but significant step away from the ‘survival of the fittest’ model of academia, instead recognising that young researchers thrive when they receive guidance and support from their community.
Community and mentorship are the foundation of good research
Community was at the heart of the event. In smaller subfields such as political economy, opportunities for in-person interactions are rare, especially for students from under-resourced universities. The Summer School created a genuine sense of belonging and collaboration that extended well beyond the formal sessions, with conversations continuing over meals and coffee breaks. The small-group format of the mentorship sessions fostered openness and trust, helping students build lasting relationships with mentors and peers alike.
Equally valuable was the peer-to-peer connection. Participants met others working on similar questions, exchanged practical advice, and discovered opportunities for collaboration that might not have emerged within their own institutions. This horizontal learning between researchers at similar career stages complemented the mentorship from senior academics and strengthened the sense of a shared, supportive research community.
Investing in the next generation of scholars
The ACES Summer School broadened participation in the field of political economy, reaching talented researchers who might not have otherwise had access to leading conferences or networks. Senior scholars gave their time generously, offering both inspiration and practical advice. Participants highlighted the mentorship and networking opportunities as the most valuable aspect of the programme, providing them with the tools to sharpen their research ideas and develop professional links across continents.
For funders such as the IGC, such programmes represent a high-impact investment in capacity-building that aligns closely with the organisation's broader engagement with local researchers. Delivered in partnership with the ASE at its newly opened Zanzibar campus and the AUL, the Summer School reflects IGC’s model of working through local institutions to strengthen research ecosystems. With a modest budget, it provided world-class training, fostered collaboration across regions, and reinforced a more inclusive research community.
By investing in a more diverse generation of economists, initiatives like this help shape not only who contributes to economic research but also the questions that are asked and the evidence that is generated. In doing so, they help make the discipline stronger, more relevant, and more reflective of the societies it seeks to understand.