{"id":6695,"date":"2017-07-04T15:14:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T19:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=6695"},"modified":"2025-10-18T16:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T20:36:12","slug":"banting-fellow-supports-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/banting-fellow-supports-ethiopia\/","title":{"rendered":"Banting Fellow Supports Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Banting Fellow Supports Ethiopia\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Ask Logan Cochrane what keeps drawing him back to Ethiopia and he\u2019ll say it\u2019s a mixture of personal connections and depth of experience. While Carleton\u2019s newest Banting Postdoctoral Fellow has worked in other African countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and DR Congo, Cochrane consistently returns the nation where he first started his career as a development worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Banting Fellow Logan Cochrane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the first place that I moved, and I spent my early years there, so I learned to speak their national language. That gave me a much stronger connection. Now, if I go to work for a project, I’m building on a legacy of experiences from a range of different sectors. I think that adds a lot of value,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Cochrane took his commitment a step further by becoming a permanent resident of Ethiopia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With research funding amounting to $70,000 a year for two years, Cochrane is set to put the value he brings to further good use. His postdoctoral project, undertaken for Carleton\u2019s Faculty of Public Affairs<\/a>, will investigate how citizens engage their fellow citizens and government to make positive change in policies and institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019ll also consider how specific factors contribute to change, including social capital factors (religion, linguistic, age, gender) and access to information. Finally, he\u2019ll consider the effect government responsiveness has on the stability of the government and country (Ethiopia\u2019s two previous governments were overthrown by coups d\u2019etat).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ethiopia: A Nation in Crisis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That Ethiopia is a nation in crisis is clear from the numbers: in 2015 and 2016, there were more than 500 protests where at least 650 unarmed protestors were killed by the military and 20,000 were arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A state of emergency was declared in fall 2016.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Being embedded for many years gives Cochrane an understanding that goes beyond the headlines, a depth that is evident in both his research and development work history. Growing up in British Columbia, Cochrane moved to Ethiopia after completing a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology at the University of Victoria. There, he started working with organizations such as UNICEF, UNAIDS, and Save the Children, several of which he continues to consult for today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research for his master\u2019s degree in sustainable development at Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom focused on climate change adaptation in Ethiopia, and his doctoral research at the University of British Columbia focused on improving policies and programs around Ethiopia\u2019s food security. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Community Collaboration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cochrane says that his new home base in Ottawa is an ideal location for his continued research due to its proximity to funding agencies (he\u2019s currently working for the International Development Research Centre) and African embassies. He adds that the strength of the university\u2019s graduate and undergraduate programs in international development, as well as its Institute for African Studies<\/a> (the only such institute in Canada) makes Carleton the best home base.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cCarleton has this really unique opportunity of being connected with all of the African diplomats. A number of African nations have very strong relationships with Carleton,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Cochrane adds that he\u2019s drawn to continue his work in academia for its potential to provide a basis for evidence-based decision making. He\u2019s quick to emphasize the collaborative nature of the work he does, soliciting input from community members on everything from devising research questions to collecting and analyzing data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s this mix of outside objectivity and community involvement that helps to produce more functional research, says Cochrane. \u201cBecause government programs can be political, outside researchers consulting with community members can help determine whether programs are meeting the needs of the community. In some ways research can be an intermediary between national decision makers and community members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet his ongoing passion for development work is rooted in a strong sense of social justice. \u201cA legacy of injustice needs to be addressed, and that includes forms of contemporary capitalism; it includes all sorts of things where certain people are marginalized and suffer for the benefit of others, and that includes us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ask Logan Cochrane what keeps drawing him back to Ethiopia and he\u2019ll say it\u2019s a mixture of personal connections and depth of experience. While Carleton\u2019s newest Banting Postdoctoral Fellow has worked in other African countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and DR Congo, Cochrane consistently returns the nation where he first started his career as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28,25],"cu_story_tag":[1920,1921,1923,1926],"class_list":["post-6695","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-arts-and-social-sciences","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs","cu_story_tag-graduate-studies","cu_story_tag-international"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/6695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/6695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98449,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/6695\/revisions\/98449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=6695"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=6695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}