The first hub workshop was held in York in February 2016 and was attended by participants from a range of academic institutions and NGOs, as well as funders and HRDs.

Around 50 participants from key academic institutions and international NGOs as well as funders and HRDs came together to discuss and share ongoing research and future plans and challenges.  The workshop was designed to start the development of the network through enabling the sharing of ongoing research plans and to identify areas for collaboration. Part of the time was spent in identifying key challenges for research work on HRDs – ranging from very practical issues to more theoretical problems.