Extractivism and research impact: how to build authentic collaborations with non-academic/community partners
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
Research is increasingly concerned with impact on and knowledge exchange with non-academic partners. The drivers for this turn towards collaborating with people who have 'lived experience' of the research focus or who work on the same focus but from a community or activist perspective come from several directions. One is the demand of the research councils for policy impact to be a direct outcome of funded research. Another is a political commitment to researching the social from below. A third is the recognition that research aims, objectives and questions derived from the extant research on a field and seeking to meet a gap in that field closes the space for innovation. Some of these debates are decades old, many of them emerging from the turn to history from below, from the reframing of culture as everyday life, from standpoint theory and feminist and Black scholars wanting to work with and not on communities and individuals. In short, a recognition that social research should expand the scope for social justice. Nonetheless the spectre of extractivism or wanting to collaborate but ending up in simply mining people's lives and stories continues to haunt the attempts at collaborative, co-designed, or participatory research.
In this roundtable and workshop, experienced researchers from several disciplines discuss their experiences of doing collaborative research. Emily Jones (developmental trajectories of young children), Esther Leslie (Academic lead and founder of the People's Museum Somers Town), Lesley McFayden (heritage ecologies), Bojana Petric (Syrian academics in exile) and Olivia Sheringham (Networks of Solidarity and Belonging for Refugees and Asylum Seekers) reflect on their experiences of doing collaborative research within the frame of social justice. The discussion will be moderated and led by Ben Gidley. It will be followed by breakout groups and the collective writing of a collaborative research manifesto.
1pm: Introductions - so the roundtable knows who is in the room we will start with a short round of simple introductions (name and why the topic is of interest to you)
2pm: Introductions/presentations from the roundtable speakers
2.45pm: Discussion between the speakers and the moderator
3pm: Break for coffee/tea and snacks
3.30pm: Breakout groups on emerging themes (4 groups, each led by one of the roundtable speakers)
4pm: Manifesto drafting: 5 principles of collaborative research design (each breakout group produces one)
4.30pm: Manifesto discussion: what are the obstacles to implementing the manifesto and how can they be overcome. Drafting of final manifesto
5pm: End
Contact name:
Karen Wells