---
id: "pisquared:interview/fry-caroline"
type: "Pi-Squared interview"
title: "Anita McGahan in conversation with Caroline Fry"
url: "https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/interviews/fry-caroline"
date: "2026-01-27"
people: ["Anita McGahan","Caroline Fry"]
summary: "Caroline Fry is Associate Professor in the Management and Industrial Relations Department at the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawai’i at..."
recording: "https://vimeo.com/1159011293"
source: "Pi-Squared (pisquared.theburnescenter.org), The Burnes Center for Social Change"
licence: "none stated"
---

# Anita McGahan in conversation with Caroline Fry

Caroline Fry, Associate Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa · 27 January 2026

## About the guest

Caroline Fry is Associate Professor in the Management and Industrial Relations Department at the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawai’i at Manoa. With a PhD from MIT, she is also an invited researcher at JPAL’s Science for Progress Initiative. Caroline’s research focuses on diversity in science and innovation. She is particularly interested in individuals who are traditionally disadvantaged, predominantly scientists in low-income countries. Her research identifies how these disadvantages arise, and explores the roles of institutions, global networks and policies in perpetuating or mitigating them. Her ideas reflect that barriers to inclusion hinder the creativity of the global innovation ecosystem and limit societies in finding solutions to important problems.

## Reflections from the interview

Caroline and Anita explored Caroline's research on diversity in science and innovation, particularly focusing on migrant scientists from low-income countries and the impact of migration on knowledge flows. The conversation concluded with discussions about the evolution of scientific capacity building in low-income countries and the role of preprints in the dissemination of scientific information during the COVID-19 pandemic.

**Benefits of Migrant Scientists' Research**

Anita and Caroline discussed Caroline's research on diversity in science and innovation, particularly focusing on migrant scientists from low-income countries. Caroline explained her findings on how migration can benefit both the source and host countries through increased global connections and relationship brokering. The conversation highlighted the importance of institutional environments and pre-migration preparation in determining the success of migrant scientists.

**Gender, Science, and Global Development**

Caroline discussed her findings that gender parity in home countries significantly impacts the experience of female migrants. She also explored the long-term effects of a clinical trial scandal in Nigeria, which led to mistrust of science and a decline in scientific activity in affected regions. Caroline's work with Michael Blomfield demonstrates the positive impact of sustained clinical trial capacity building in African countries supported by a European agency. Anita and Caroline discussed the varying success stories of countries in developing clinical infrastructure and the potential dark side of even successful institutional development, as seen in the negative views on Chinese science during COVID-19.

**Preprints' Impact on Science Dissemination**

Caroline and Anita discussed the impact of preprints on the diffusion of science during the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that preprints, which provide access to research findings before peer review, can exacerbate inequality in the dissemination of scientific information. This was particularly evident in the case of Chinese and American research, where biases led to a greater gap in the perception of research quality based on geographical origin.

**Scientific Capacity Building Evolution**

Caroline discussed the evolution of scientific capacity building in low-income countries, including research that had been funded by USAID and that is not supported by a non-profit called the Science Development Center. She emphasized the importance of advocacy for scientific capacity as a worthwhile investment and noted that migration programs, incentives, and participatory projects have shown high returns. Caroline expressed optimism about the work being done by passionate practitioners in the field and encouraged more researchers to join this area of study.

## Related resources

- [Caroline’s website](https://carolineviolafry.com/)
- [Carolyn’s website at the University of Hawaii](https://shidler.hawaii.edu/mir/directory/caroline-fry)
- [Google Scholar on Caroline](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-Yur6-QAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)
- [Caroline’s paper with Jeff Furman on migration of female scientists](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10.1287/orsc.2023.1683)
- [Caroline’s paper with Megan Macgarvie on perceptions of the quality of science based on country of origin](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4936)
- [Caroline’s paper with Shannon Tran on the persistence of destructive effects on scientific progress of a clinical-trials scandal in Nigeria](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13662716.2024.2421933)

## Recording

Video: https://vimeo.com/1159011293

## Category

[Where Do We Go From Here?](https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/category/where-next)

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Original page: https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/interviews/fry-caroline · Licence: none stated