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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Resources and links

The UKRI-funded ‘Improving Fair and Equitable Research Partnerships’ project involved the review and synthesis of existing principles for research partnerships. A summary of the resources is available here.

 Developed from the ESRC seminar series the Rethinking Research Partnerships Discussion Guide and Toolkit is available here.

Aniekwe, C.C., Hayman, R. and Mdee, A. (2012) Academic-NGO Collaboration in International Development Research: a reflection on the issues. Working Paper September 2012. Development Studies association. http://www.intrac.org/data/files/resources/750/Academic-NGO-Collaboration-in-International-Development_September-2012.pdf

Archer, D. and Newman, K. (2003) Communication and Power: Reflect Practical Resource Materials. The International Reflect Circle (CIRAC): http://www.reflect-action.org/

Ávalos, I., Cervilla , M. A., Mercado, A., Sánchez-Rose, I., Sonsiré López , M., Vessuri, H., (2020). Doing Research in Venezuela: Science, Technology and Innovation Capabilities to Overcome the Crisis in Venezuela, IDRC GDN, http://gdn.int/DRA_Venezuela2020

Ávalos, I., Cervilla , M. A., Mercado, A., Sánchez-Rose, I., Sonsiré López , M., Vessuri, H., (2020). Strategies for rebuilding research capacities in Venezuela, IDRC GDN, http://gdn.int/DRA_Venezuela2020

Beardon, H. and Newman, K. (eds.) (2011) How wide are the ripples? From Local participation to international organisational learning, PLA 63, IIED

Bingley, K., Brock, K. Newman, K., Sempere, K. (2020). Balancing research and practice in an international NGO: reflections on setting up a long-term study of change. REL Practice Paper 1.

Bovaird, T. (2012) From Engagement to Co-production: The Contribution of Users and Communities to Outcomes and Public Value Tony Bovaird, Elke Loeffler VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, December 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp. 1119-1138

Bryan, D., Dunleavy, K. ,Facer, K., Forsdyck, C., Malek, M., Salt, K., (2018) Common Cause Research: Building Research Collaborations Between Universities and Black and Minority Ethnic Communities, Arts & Humanities Research Council/Connected Communities Programme (144 pages)   https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/a/358/files/2018/09/CC_Enablers_Barriers_final_sp-2c2f4bh.pdf

Buclet, B (2017) Doing Research Pilot Phase Synthesis, Global Development Network Program Document

Burns, D, B Harvey and A Ortiz Aragon (eds.) (2012) Action research for development and social change, IDS Bulletin 43:3, Mar 2012, Brighton: IDS

Clarke, P, and K Oswald (eds.) (2010) Capacity: reflecting collectively on capacities for change. IDS Bulletin 41:3, May 2010, Brighton: IDS

Cornish, F. & Gillespie, A. (2009) A pragmatist approach to the problem of knowledge in health psychology. Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 1-10.

Cornish, F., Priego Hernandez J., Campbell, C., Mburu, G. & McLean, S. (under review). The impact of community mobilization on HIV prevention in middle and low income countries: a systematic review and critique. AIDS and Behavior

Cornish, H, Fransman, J and Newman, K. Rethinking Research Partnerships Discussion Guide and Toolkit,  London: available here  

Cuba, L. P., Ribera, S., Laserna, R., Gómez, M., (2020). Doing Research in Bolivia Country Report. GDN CERES, http://gdn.int/DRA_Bolivia2020

Egbetokun, A., Olofinyehun, A., Ayo-Lawal. A., Oluwatope, O., Sanni, M., Yusuff, U., (2020). Doing Research in Nigeria Country Report. GDN NACETEM, http://gdn.int/DRA_Nigeria2020

ELRHA (2012) Guide to constructing effective partnerships.
URL: http://www.elrha.org/uploads/effective-partnerships-report.pdf

ESRC (2013) ‘Creating effective partnerships with civil society organisations’. Evidence Briefing. February 2013. URL:
http://www .esrc.ac.uk/_images/Creating%20effective%20partnerships%20with%20civil%20socie ty%20organisations_tcm8-25285.pdf

Eyben, R. et al. (Sept 2013) The Politics of Evidence. Big Push Forward: Conference Report: available here

Facer, K., Manners, P., Agusita, E (2012) Towards a Knowledge Base for University-Public Engagement: sharing knowledge, building insight, taking action, NCCPE: Bristol: available here

Facer K and Enright B (2016) Creating Living Knowledge: collaboration, interdisciplinarity and the participatory turn, Arts & Humanities Research Council/Connected Communities Programme (130 pages) https://connected-communities.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Creating-Living-Knowledge.Final_.pdf

And see also the Policy Press Connected Communities Series: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/connected-communities

Fransman, J. (2013) ‘Enacting ‘Digital Literacy’ through Research: Ontological politics in a study on scholarly uses of Twitter’ in Goodfellow, R. and Lea, M (eds.) (2013) Literacy in the Digital University, London: Routledge

Fransman, J. (2012) ‘Re-imagining the conditions of possibility of a PhD thesis’ in Andrews, R., Borg, E., Boyd Davis, S., Domingo, M. and England, J. (eds.) (2012) The Sage Handbook of Digital Dissertations and Theses, London: Sage. (May 2012)

Fransman, J., Hall, B., Hayman, R., Narayanan, P., Newman, K. and Tandon, R., 2021. Beyond partnerships: embracing complexity to understand and improve research collaboration for global development. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d’études du développement, pp.1-21.

Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P. and Martin Trow (1994) The new production of knowledge: the dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London: Sage

HEFCE (2011) Decisions on assessing research impact.
URL: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref/pubs/2011/01_11/01_11.doc

Hanley, T. and I. Vogel (2012) Effective Academic-Humanitarian Collaboration, A practical resource to support academic and humanitarian organisations working together, Enhanced Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA), London.

Harle, J (2020) (In)equitable knowledge systems: before, during and beyond a pandemic. INASP. URL: https://www.inasp.info/sites/default/files/2020-08/EKES-COVID.pdf

Holland, J. (ed.) (2013) Who Counts? The Power of Participatory Statistics: Practical Action Publishing

INASP (2019) Unleashing the talent: Building equitable knowledge ecosystems. Url: https://www.inasp.info/sites/default/files/2019-05/Full%20concept%20note.pdf

Lea, M. and Street, B. (1998) Student writing in higher education: an academic literacies approach, Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 157–172.

Lee, Z. X., Glutting, J. R., Htet, N. L., Win, N. W., Aung, N. C., Oo, T. Z. C., Oo, Z., (2020). Doing Research in Myanmar Country Report. GDN CESD, http://gdn.int/DRA_Myanmar2020

Lepore, W., Hall, B.L. and Tandon, R., 2020. The Knowledge for Change Consortium: a decolonising approach to international collaboration in capacity-building in community-based participatory research. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d’études du développement, pp.1-24.

Newman, K (2012) Challenges and dilemmas in integrating human rights-based approaches and participatory approaches to development, PhD Thesis Goldsmiths College, University of London

Obino, F., (2021). Can Covid-19 flip North–South power imbalances in research?, OTT Annual Review 2020-2021, OTT, https://medium.com/ott-annual-review-2020-2021/can-covid-19-flip-north-south-power-imbalances-in-research-87a76588cd5f

Pain, R., Kesby, M., Askins, K. (2010) Geographies of impact: power, participation and potential, Area Volume 43, Issue 2, pages 183–188,

Pettit, JG, A Gumucio Dagron and JF Salazar (eds.), (2009), Citizen’s Media and Communication, guest editors for special issue of Development in Practice, Vol 19 No 4, June 2009

Phipps, D.J., Jensen, K.E., Myers, J.G. (2012). Applying Social Sciences Research for Public Benefit Using Knowledge Mobilization and Social Media David, Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Social Sciences and Knowledge Management Asunción López-Varela: InTech,

Rakhmani, I., Sakhiyya, Z., Ramadhan, A. S., Agahari, W., (2020). Doing Research in Indonesia Country Report. GDN CIPG, http://gdn.int/DRA_Indonesia2020

Roper, L. (2002). Achieving Successful Academic-Practitioner Research Collaborations. Development in Practice, 12(3/4), 338-345

Sarkey, A., Gittings, L., Young, J., and Warne, V (2020) Doing research differently: reshaping research in the time of COVID-19. URL: http://blog.inasp.info/research-differently-reshaping-research-time-covid-19/

Shutt, C. (2009) Changing the World by Changing Ourselves: Reflections from a Bunch of BINGOs IDS Practice Paper 3 (2009)

Yanacopulos, H. (forthcoming 2014) Spaces of change: NGO Activism, Engagement and Advocacy. Bassingstoke: Palgrave Publishers.

Yanacopulos, H. (2005) ‘The strategies that bind. NGO coalitions and their influence’. Global Networks – A Journal of Transnational Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 1

 

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