You are here

  1. Home
  2. Dr Alexander Borda-Rodriguez

Dr Alexander Borda-Rodriguez

Profile summary

Professional biography

Alexander Borda-Rodriguez is a Research Fellow in the Strategic Research Area in International Development and Inclusive Development. He holds an MA in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia and a PhD in International Development from The Open University (OU). Before joining the OU, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation in Ecuador. He also worked as a research fellow and lecturer in the area of international development at Dalhousie University (Canada), Universidad Católica de Cuenca (Ecuador) and Universidad Mayor de San Simon (Bolivia). He held a visiting fellowship at the International Development Studies Programme at Saint Mary’s University (Canada), over the years he has conducted extensive fieldwork and collaborative research work in Malawi, Peru, Ecuador, Canada, Bolivia and the UK.

Research interests

Alexander’s research interests are in the area of politics of inclusive development and innovation in the Global South. Over the last four years his research has been focused on inclusive organisational structures such as social enterprises (i.e. co-operatives and associations) and inclusive innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. His previous work explored the politics of knowledge for development and development aid in low income countries.

Some of his publications include:

Teaching interests

Alexander has taught both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. At the OU he taught the postgraduate module Development Context and Practice (T877) and currently teaches a module on inclusive development at the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership. He has also co-written case study material for distance learning teaching, which can be found on the Open Educational Resources website. This material is available to everyone interested in rural co-operative resilience in developing countries.

He welcomes PhD proposals in the area of inclusive development, particularly in relation to social enterprises, organisational resilience in developing countries and the politics of inclusive innovation. Alexander is currently co-supervising the following PhD students:

  • Chris Willman, ‘Children’s Contribution to Child Labour in Bolivia’ (with Prof. Helen Yanacopulos and Dr. Agnes Czajka)

  • Carlos Encalada ‘Inclusive ICTs in the context of Social and Solidarity Economy organisations, the case of Ecuador’ (with Dr. Claudia Pons and Dr. Leandro Antonelli), National University of La Plata (Argentina).

External collaborations

Alexander is a member of international editorial board of OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology and Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine. He has also setup and leads the interdisciplinary research group ITOESS  at the Universidad Católica de Cuenca (Ecuador), ITOESS is an interdisciplinary group that draws on international development and systems engineering, it explores the development and application of inclusive technologies and the role of ICTs in the context of social enterprises in Ecuador.

Publications

Inclusive Development and Co‐operatives (2020-09)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Johnson, Hazel
The European Journal of Development Research, 32 (pp. 976-997)


What makes rural co-operatives resilient in developing countries? (2016-01)
Johnson, Hazel; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Shaw, Linda and Vicari, Sara
Journal of International Development, 28(1) (pp. 89-111)


Coffee co-operatives in Malawi: building resilience through innovation (2015-06)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Vicari, Sara
Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 86(2) (pp. 317-338)


An appeal to the global health community for a tripartite innovation: an ‘‘Essential Diagnostics List,’’ ‘‘Health in All Policies,’’ and ‘‘See-Through 21st Century Science and Ethics" (2015)
Dove, Edward S.; Barlas, İ. Ömer; Birch, Kean; Boehme, Catharina; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Byne, William M.; Chaverneff, Florence; Coşkun, Yavuz; Dahl, Marja-Liisa; Dereli, Türkay; Diwakar, Shyam; Elbeyli, Levent; Endrenyi, Laszlo; Eroğlu-Kesim, Belgin; Ferguson, Lynnette R.; Güngör, Kıvanç; Gürsoy, Ulvi; Hekim, Nezih; Huzair, Farah; Kaushik, Kabeer; Kickbusch, Ilona; Kıroğlu, Olcay; Kolker, Eugene; Könönen, Eija; Lin, Biaoyang; Llerena, Adrian; Malhan, Faruk; Nair, Bipin; Patrinos, George P.; Şardaş, Semra; Sert, Özlem; Srivastava, Sanjeeva; Steuten, Lotte M.G.; Toraman, Cengiz; Vayena, Effy; Wang, Wei; Warnich, Louise and Özdemir, Vural
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, 19(8) (pp. 435-442)


H3Africa and the African life sciences ecosystem: building sustainable innovation (2014-12-08)
Dandara, Collet; Huzair, Farah; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Chirikure, Shadreck; Okpechi, Ikechi; Warnich, Louise and Masimirembwa, Collen
OMICS A Journal of Integrative Biology, 18(12) (pp. 733-739)


Rural co-operative resilience: the case of Malawi (2014-06-02)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Vicari, Sara
Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management, 2(1) (pp. 43-52)


UK bioenergy innovation priorities: Making expectations credible in state-industry arenas (2014)
Levidow, Les; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Papaioannou, Theo
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 87 (pp. 191-204)


Innovation priorities for UK bioenergy: technological expectations within path dependence (2013-12)
Levidow, Les; Papaioannou, Theo and Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander
Science & Technology Studies, 26(3) (pp. 14-36)


Development on my terms: development consultants and knowledge for development (2013-08-30)
Borda-Rodriguez, A. and Johnson, H.
Public Administration and Development, 33(5) (pp. 343-356)


Path-dependent UK bioenergy (2013-05)
Levidow, Les; Papaioannou, Theo and Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander
Science as Culture, 22(2) (pp. 213-221)


Editorial: public health pharmacogenomics and the design principles for global public goods – moving genomics to responsible innovation (2013-03)
Ozdemir, Vural; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Dove, Edward S; Ferguson, Lynette R; Huzair, Farah; Manolopoulos, Vangelis G.; Masellis, Mario; Milius, Djims; Warnich, Louise and Srivastava, Sanjeeva
Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine, 11(1) (pp. 1-4)


An interdisciplinary and development lens on knowledge translation (2013)
Huzair, Farah; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Upton, Mary and Mugwagwa, Julius
Science and Public Policy, 40(1) (pp. 43-50)


Challenges for the application and development of omics health technologies in developing countries (2012-11)
Huzair, Farah and Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander
Drug Development Research, 73(7) (pp. 447-451)


Capacity for a global vaccine safety system: the perspective of national regulatory authorities (2012-07)
Graham, Janice E.; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Huzair, Farah and Zinck, Emily
Vaccine, 30 (pp. 4953-4959)


Revisiting the Paris Declaration: pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine as accelerators for development aid and effectiveness (2011-12-01)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Huzair, Farah
Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine, 9(4) (pp. 240-242)


Not so simple: situating postgenomics personalized medicine in the regional context in Africa for global and women's health (2011-12-01)
Ngueng-Feze, Ida; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Huzair, Farah
Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine, 9(4) (pp. 332-334)


Resilience (2016-05-01)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Vicari, Sara
In: Bernardi, Andrea and Monni, Salvatore eds. The Co-operative Firm Keywords (pp. 129-138)
ISBN : 978-88-97524-67-0 | Publisher : RomaTrE-Press | Published : Rome


Knowledge and technology for development (2011-01)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Lanfranco, Sam
In: Veltmeyer, Henry ed. The Critical Development Studies Handbook: Tools for Change
ISBN : Critical Development Studies Handbook9781552663868 | Publisher : Fernwood Publishing | Published : Black Point, Nova Scotia


Knowledge for development? : reflections from consultants and advisors in Bolivia (2008)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander
PhD thesis The Open University


Reshaping inclusive development? The case of cooperative enterprises (2015-08)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Johnson, Hazel
The Open University, Milton Keynes.


The Malawian co-operative movement: insights for resilience (2014-02)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Vicari, Sara
The Open University


Resilience and Ugandan Cooperatives: A Literature Review (2013-02-15)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Vicari, Sara
Innovation, Knowledge and Development, The Open University, Milton Keynes.


Global vaccine safety blueprint: the landscape analysis (survey of regulators) (2012-03)
Graham, Janice E.; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Huzair, Farah
World Health Organization, Geneva.


Knowledge in development aid and healthcare: a comparative analysis (2011-10-01)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander
Innovation Knowledge Development