Thread by @KaygeeAtWork

I can't help but wade into the debate this paper throws up -not just of authors not being from India but 'authenticity', of data and insights used. Thread on what I think will be the definitive solution to India's AQ modeling woes 1/

https://twitter.com/jurpelai/status/1304409711878565892

it is widely known that @UrbanEmissions (retreated from twitter) has the best quality inventory at a decent geographic resolution. The problem, like with most other aspects of research is, this is not public. At a time, when western scholars (specifically) 2/

but perhaps scholars in general, don't really give much credit to other progenitors of ideas ala @jasonhickel in his recent Lancet paper not having even acknoweledged the likes of @tjayaraman group in the paper means that one can only expect 'southern' researchers to be 3/

more cautious of of the well-endowed western researcher. I am a minion in the domain and I remember how a relatively senior researcher from an international inst. requested my group for a collaboration based on a dataset that @CEEWIndia (along with @jurpelai ) put together 3/

the moment she realised that the dataset was actually public, I didn't hear back from her ! perhaps I reading too much into this but the academic hegemony of established names and institutes in the west is the bane of progress in many scientific domains in the global south 4/

getting back to the matter at hand - in the case of AQ inventory as well, this is the holy grail of sorts. Can there not be a way to ensure that credits keep flowing to the pioneering groups and to those contributing? What we need is an air tight way of ensuring this 5/

I am sure each groups is making reasonable assumptions in the absence of 'verified' data but being the data junkie that I am, I can guarantee that what @UrbanEmissions has is top of the line. we have partnered with @IIASAVienna in a study very similar to this one being debated 6/

and I can tell that it not nearly as good. are we looking for stylised representations of the issue with 30% and 40% meaning the same thing or are we looking to scientifically address the problem? let's reject more stuff that merely regurgitates this more 'in-house' inventory 7/

what we need, if we have to solve the AQ problem in India is for everyone to come together and use the best information out there. each group improves it. creates a database worth of citing and trust on part of every stakeholder there is. otherwise, what we will have 8/

is each group claiming superiority in a game of never ending high stakes poker with each holding their cards close to their chest and the stakes only rising for the citizens of the country ! @WorldBank wants to build inventories with @IIASAVienna ... everybody else wants to 9/

partner with every #IIT there is and with the handful of professors who actually understand the issue, there's only so much that can come out by putting more money and resources into their groups. there are a ton of people that can benefit from a high quality inventory 10/

that will seed others and save a lot of resources, duplication, improve trust among the community. but are we here to solve the issue for the greater good for one upmanship ? n/