Abstract
The paper contributes to the conference theme and general research literature by offering a conceptual model illustrating how inclusive, long--term research communities can foster innovation, build capacity, and challenge global North/ South asymmetries and hegemonies in knowledge production. The paper describes a research collaboration model built from a case study description and thematic analyses of an African research group and its national and international members’ commentaries, of its structure and function. The findings of the study illustrate the essential commodities required for a collaborative research group which are maintained as consisting of six essential ingredients: Distributed Leadership (D), Inclusiveness (I), Collaborative Knowledge (C) Epistemic Initiation (E) and Sustainable Impact and Resilience (S). The paper concludes by indicating that institutions need to recognize the value of collaborative research outputs in generating holistic research knowledge. Africa-based researchers and research outputs continue to be shunned as unimportant or even irrelevant by the global North. The paper advocates that Africa initiated research leadership needs institutional support through fostering inclusive research communities, encouraging distributed leadership and initiating joint authorships. Research scholars as members of a research group that follows the essential characteristics of the research group described in the paper, can enjoy conducting research work in long-term collaborative research communities that embrace interdisciplinary dialogue and engage in mentoring and co-authorship. The paper suggests that global collaborative research policy should support equitable partnerships, recognize African initiated research networks, acknowledge the importance of the African epistemic and invest in the promulgation of research groups equipped to perform long-term research collaboration.