The Dried Fish Matters (DFM) project held its inception meeting on May 28, 2018, at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. The meeting brought together researchers from the University of Manitoba and representatives of the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC) to review the project’s early progress and discuss priorities for the newly established research partnership.
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Dried Fish Matters seeks to better understand the social economy of dried fish in South and Southeast Asia and its contributions to wellbeing and nutrition.
The meeting brought together Tina Chen, Iain Davidson-Hunt, C. Emdad Haque, Mark Hudson, Rumel Halder, Derek Johnson, Fabiana Li, and Eric Thrift from the University of Manitoba, alongside Hom Gartaula and Janice Hamilton from the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC).
The meeting’s agenda began with an overview of the project’s goals, objectives, timeline, and organizational arrangements, followed by updates on activities undertaken since DFM received funding. These included institution building, preparatory meetings, research activities, and partnership development.
A central focus of the meeting was planning the next stages of the project. The agenda outlined discussions on project governance and participant responsibilities, potential research plans across participating countries and regions, and strategies for communication and knowledge mobilization. Other areas of consideration included monitoring and evaluation, partnership building, and the development of memoranda of understanding.
As one of DFM’s earliest organizational gatherings, the inception meeting provided an important opportunity to review the project’s foundations and consider the collaborative arrangements needed to advance its interdisciplinary research agenda across South and Southeast Asia.