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CircularJourney

Before you decide

Why participate?

Written to be useful rather than persuasive. If it turns out this is not worth your time, that is a reasonable conclusion to reach from this page.

What we ask for

  • Access

    A site visit, or time with someone who runs the system. Seeing it operate is worth more than any amount of documentation about it.

  • Candour

    Including what did not work. This is the part that makes the research worth doing, and the part most rarely written down.

  • Permission to record, on your terms

    Notes always, photography and filming only if you agree, each as a separate decision.

  • Introductions, if you are willing

    A name and a warm introduction opens doors that cold email does not. Often the most valuable thing a host contributes.

The interview questions, published in advance

  1. 1What problem were you trying to solve?
  2. 2What solution did you develop?
  3. 3What made it work?
  4. 4What challenges remain?
  5. 5What could another country learn from your experience?

Everyone gets the same five. There is nothing held back for the day.

What we offer

  • A documented case study

    Your system written up to a fixed template, with sources, limitations and your factual corrections applied. Published openly and yours to use however you like.

  • Connection to Indian practice

    Direct contact with people working on the same problems at very large scale, which is harder to arrange than it sounds.

  • Your operating knowledge on the record

    Most of what a team learns running a system for a decade never leaves that team. This is a way of writing it down.

  • Visibility, where you want it

    Being featured in the Atlas, in research outputs and potentially in a documentary episode, entirely at your discretion.

What we do not promise

Stated plainly, because vague promises at this stage become disappointments later.

  • We do not promise a favourable write-up. The limitations section is compulsory and it will be filled in.
  • We do not promise a documentary episode. Filming depends on the mission, the schedule and the permissions.
  • We do not promise a summit invitation. Capacity in 2029 will be limited and selection is not settled.
  • We do not promise funding, commercial introductions or procurement opportunities.
  • We do not promise the visit will happen. Missions get reshaped, and a scheduled visit can fall through.

What you control

  • Whether your organization is named publicly at all.
  • Whether anything is photographed, and whether anything is filmed. Two separate decisions.
  • Which areas are off limits, and which topics are not for publication.
  • Factual corrections to anything written about you, before it is published.
  • Withdrawal. If you change your mind, the material comes down.

The detail is in the privacy notice and the methodology.

How much time

For most hosts: one email exchange to arrange it, half a day to a day on site, and perhaps an hour reviewing the draft before it is published. That is the whole commitment.

If a documentary episode is involved it is longer, and we would say so explicitly before asking.

Declining

A straight no is an entirely reasonable answer and it will not be chased. If the timing is wrong rather than the idea, saying so is useful: missions run for years, and there will be another one.