Interrogating the power dynamics in international projects.

The push for global rankings and the possibility of attaining funding mean that participation in international projects is prized. Although international projects can bring enormous benefits, they can also exhibit 'social dynamics' (Bradley, 2008) that impact equality of participation. In the case of Global North-Global South partnerships, these social dynamics are often shaped by legacies of colonialism. For South African partners, they can also be shaped by history and the way it continues to impact on the institutional landscape. This paper draws on one project, involving six South African and six European universities, to explore the way these dynamics played out. Archer's (1995, 1996, 2000) social realism is used to analyse the dynamics of the project and, more specifically, the way different project partners' ability to exercise their agency was shaped by the social and cultural conditions in the global and national arena as well as within the project itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]