The Rethinking Research Collaborative (RRC) was an international network of networks including research organisations, civil society organisations, social movements, international NGOs and research brokers, training providers and funders who were committed to working together to explore the politics of participation in knowledge for international development and to encourage more inclusive and responsive collaboration in order to produce more relevant research.

Founded through an ESRC-funded seminar series in 2014, a network-building and agenda-setting grant from the Open University in 2017 and a grant from UKRI for strategic research to inform fairer and more equitable research collaboration in the context of their Oversees Development Assistance (ODA) funded research, the RRC evolved from a UK-focussed network (with core partners including The Open University, Christian Aid, INTRAC, Bond and UKCDR) to an international movement (with partners including the UNESCO Chair programme in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, Global Development Network, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices, MS TCDC and the pan-African social movement Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity.)

In 2019 the RRC was awarded first prize for ‘Best External Research Collaboration’ at the Open University’s 50th Birthday Research Awards. We produced a series of influential Principles for Fair and Equitable Research Collaborations, publications on ‘Evidence and the Politics of Participation‘, ‘Rethinking Research Impact‘ and ‘Moving Beyond Partnership with Systems Thinking and Complexity Theory‘ a series of high-impact learning resources and reports for funders such as UKRI and network organisations such as Bond.

Building on our collective commitment to decolonising international development as well as our research which increasingly called into question the value of ‘research partnerships’ over and above more sustained investment in research systems in the global South, in 2021 we took the decision to disband the RRC as an expert network and instead to support the ongoing work of our southern-based partners. Please refer to the work of the UNESCO Chair programme in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, Global Development Network, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices, MS TCDC, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity and Southern Voice for ongoing commentary on research collaboration for international development.

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Case Studies

The bulk of the seminar series will focus on in-depth analysis of a selection of Case Studies of research partnerships. We will trace these partnerships through the processes of i) establishing partnerships (negotiating agendas, making connections and securing funding); ii) designing research (developing conceptual and methodological frameworks); iii) implementing research (collecting and analysing data); and iv) representing and disseminating research.

To date, the Case Studies include:

ActionAid International and UCL Institute of Education

Case Study Presentation 

International HIV/AIDS Alliance and London School of Economics

Alliance LSE partnership – Case study outline

Institute of Development Studies and SIPU, Sweden

Case Study Poster 

Case Study Text

International Medical Corps and Columbia/John Hopkins Universities

Case Study Text

International Planned Parenthood Federation and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Case Study Poster

INTRAC’s Action Research projects in North Africa and the Middle East

Case Study Text

Practical Action and UCL (Faculty of the Built Environment)

University of the West of Scotland and Oxfam

UWS Oxfam Partnership WEBSITE

Voluntary Service Oversees and Institute of Development Studies

If you have a Case Study of a research partnership that you would be interested in contributing to the seminar series, please contact Jude Fransman (jude.fransman@open.ac.uk)

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One response to “Case Studies”

  1. Tyson Avatar
    Tyson

    Appreciatte you blogging this

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