Between research and community development: Negotiating a contested space for collaboration and creativity

Abstract

This chapter discusses the relationship between co-produced research and community development. In particular, it addresses longstanding debates about whether certain forms of co-produced research (especially participatory action research), are, in fact, indistinguishable from community development. This question is explored with reference to Imagine North East, a co-produced research project based in North East England, which was part of a larger programme of research on civic participation (Imagine – connecting communities through research). The chapter offers a critical analysis of three elements of Imagine North East: an academic-led study of community development from the 1970s to the present; starting with the national Community Development Projects in Benwell and North Shields; a series of community development projects undertaken by local community-based organisations; and the challenges and outcomes of a joint process of reflection and co-inquiry. It considers the role of co-produced research in challenging stigma, celebrating place and developing skills and community networks – all recognisable as community development processes and outcomes. It also discusses the difficult process of bringing together a disparate group of people in a co-inquiry group; the time taken to develop identities as practitioner-researchers; and the skills required to engage in a kind of ‘collaborative reflexivity’ whereby members of the group critically reflected together on the group’s role and dynamics.

Towards a Foundation for Collaborative Digital Archiving with Local Concert-Giving Organisations

“…Banks et al highlight '[f]eelings of mistrust towards universities and research projects' as a challenging dynamic that can arise in co-produced projects, suggesting that '[t]ime is needed for people to get to know each other and their organisations, and to develop trusting relationships, where concerns can be expressed and disagreements openly acknowledged'. [2] While such feelings of mistrust may feature less prominently in our project than in more activist-led community development projects with underrepresented and marginalised groups, making time to develop trusting working relationships seems a sensible starting point for any co-produced initiative.…”

“…The investigators use the term 'co-production' to describe projects and partnerships involving 'people who have a direct experience of, or interest in, the research topic [...] working as łco-researchersž alongside academic or other łprofessionalž researchers (people who do research for a living)'. [2] Taking a holistic view of our research and its outputs and acknowledging the mutual benefit of our relationships with these local concert-giving institutions, we (as professional researchers) must similarly recognise and explore our own role as participants in a network that comprises a range of stakeholder groups. There is a need for us to consider how our presence ś along with the existence of any preconceptions about our profession within the given institutions ś will inform the project's outcomes.…”

“…Banks et al stress that in co-production projects such as Imagine, '[a] shared aim, purpose and vision takes time to develop and cannot be assumed at the start of a project'. [2] In our pursuit of the intersection of public and professional history-making advocated for by Hoyle, we will need to remain attuned to our own impact on the relationships within the project's network. We are also concerned with the role of the music societies' archival collections and performance and meeting spaces in shaping the social processes that have influenced, and continue to influence these concert-giving institutions and their communities.…”

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“…Partnership building and transforming is impact in itself and the Change-scape conceptual framework is designed to develop partnership and this impact in each stage of the research lifecycle. The depth and breadth of community-university partnerships has grown within and across countries (Banks et al 2019) and we welcome this article as an opportunity to celebrate that. The different layers of the YOUR World partnership have served as a platform to make steps towards creating impact in a number of areas.…”

“…Involving youth and communities in the global South in developing the conceptual framework is an approach that aligns with findings of projects examining partnership-based research undertaken in the UK. Proponents of a community approach to partnership that works on a basis of coproduction argue that involving community partners and people in all stages of the research lifecycle, including design and conceptual thinking, allows research partnerships to challenge existing power relationships and make a difference to the communities of geographies, identity, and interest that are connected to the research (Banks et al 2019; Martikke, Church and Hart 2019).…”