Research Newsletter - Issue 111: Open Research in Action

Out of the Archive? Open Data for an International History of Diplomatic Training

Dr Jonathan Harris

School of History and Geography

Research Overview

From 1957 onwards decolonisation saw numerous African nations enter international society as sovereign states, bringing with it the first generation of African diplomats, trained in elite international programmes. The "external provision" of training - university-led courses in Europe, North America, and Africa rather than states training their own officials - is the subject of this research, analysing the spaces, networks, and power relations involved in "learning to be a diplomat".

The ‘Training Diplomats’ project employed "recombinant historical geography", drawing from 32 archival collections across four continents, including state, university, and private records, as well as oral histories with former trainees.

Many of Africa's first diplomats were trained abroad. Here, the 1963-64 Carnegie Fellows in Diplomacy pose by the UN building, New York. Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Open Research Practices

The project was built on a foundation of open data, open code, and open access. As the subjects of the research were from states across Africa, it was particularly important to the research team that the outputs be freely accessible online, to ensure equity of access. Key open components included:

Open Data:

Diplomatic Training Network Visualiser

The project site includes the Diplomatic Training Network Visualiser, an online tool that allows the user to explore historical networks and map the movement of diplomats between institutions. The raw dataset, containing information on more than 3,000 trainee diplomats identified during the research, was also made freely accessible.

Open Code:

The programme code for the visualiser is hosted on GitHub, allowing others to adapt the tools for their own analysis. Indeed, this code adapted an earlier version of the code, developed for the Afro-Asian Networks Research Collective.

Open Access Publishing:

Publications stemming from the research were published open access, such as:
Harris, J. 2024 Visualising and mapping historical networks of international diplomatic training, Area, 57(1):e12984. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12984

Impact

So far, the project has resulted in the publication of seven peer-reviewed articles, two public engagement pieces and an edited book with Manchester University Press.

The project’s open data approach has already achieved significant international reach, with the dataset being downloaded over 100 times. Jonathan shared findings with global communities of practice, including at the 49th International Forum on Diplomatic Training.

Beyond quantitative data, the project captures the human element of diplomacy. By making these "hidden histories" open, the project provides modern diplomatic specialists with tools to understand the historical underpinnings of international solidarity.

For more information, visit www.diplotraining.org or contact jonathan.harris@dcu.ie.

Open Research aims to increase openness, transparency and reproducibility across all parts of the research lifecycle. It is considered beneficial to all involved in the research process - funders, researchers, policymakers, and to society as a whole. DCU actively supports and facilitates researchers to practice Open Research. The DCU Open Research Steering Group is leading the University's implementation of the NORF Action Plan 2022-2030 and working more broadly to foster a culture of openness in all aspects of DCU research.

Further information and links to useful resources can be found on the DCU Open Research Website.