Evidence and the Politics of Participation in Academic-INGO Research Partnerships for International Development

This proposal arises responsively from concern expressed by both practitioners and academics to improve research partnerships between HEIs and INGOs in the field of international development. In the context of a British funding climate in which academics are under heightened pressure to justify the impact of their research by engaging research users and mediators (HEFCE et al 2011) and INGOs are seeking to satisfy donors and supporters by providing 'rigorous measures of success' for their programmes (Eyben 2013) partnerships are increasingly perceived as mutually beneficial. However, while the drive towards research collaboration has fuelled many new initiatives to broker partnerships, a recent wave of studies have suggested that the effectiveness of partnerships is often limited by constraints to participation (e.g. Aniekwe et al 2012; ELRHA 2012; Hanley and Vogel 2012). These studies have been largely descriptive, focusing on the instrumental nature of partnerships but with little analytical attention to the mechanics of participation or to the implications for the kind of evidence that is valued in and produced through partnerships. A new research agenda is therefore needed to strengthen the analyses of partnerships and in doing so, contribute to broader understandings of the politics of knowledge production within and outside of the academy.

In response, this series brings together interrelated strands of research on 'participation in knowledge production' and the 'politics of evidence'. The seminars will explore the intersection between these two strands by drawing together research from different disciplines and sectors on how participation and notions of evidence are negotiated in research partnerships at three distinct levels: institutions (assumptions, agendas, structures and processes); literacy practices (new communication practices required for effective co-production of research); and research artefacts (tools, techniques, technologies and texts). It will achieve this in the following ways:

First, context-setting workshop informed by position papers will frame the core seminars by providing a series of analytical frameworks for understanding partnerships. This 2-day workshop will also be used to develop a tool kit for participatory analysis of partnership case studies and establish a code of conduct for the following seminars.

Second, a core series of four seminars structured around eight case studies of research partnerships (each co-presented by an academic and practitioner) will be used to create a safe space to facilitate trust and enable critical reflection of experiences in partnerships. These seminars will be innovative in their form using a range of participatory methodologies to structure analysis and debate, encourage active participation, and enable power dynamics within the process to be made visible and confronted. Due to the sensitive nature of discussions, these seminars will be restricted, however, dialogue with external participants will be facilitated through innovative use of social media (including a real-time Twitter-feed).

Third, the outcomes of the core seminars will be presented at a high-level conference which will also incorporate insights and perspectives from a range of UK-based and international contibutors. The conference will conclude with a round-table discussion on the research agenda and around strategies for developing resources to support stronger research partnerships

By drawing together as co-researchers practitioners and academics (including senior and early-career researchers) and research students - who often occupy both roles simultaneously - the seminar series aims to democratise the status of both academics and practitioners as co-researchers. The series will result in the development of publications and resources to inform a new research agenda and improve practice in research partnerships.

This seminar series has been conceptualised and designed in the spirit of a collaborative research partnership. Responding directly to concerns articulated by both INGO practitioners and academics in the field of international development, it brings together academics and practitioners as co-researchers. For this reason, both academics and practitioners in this seminar series are conceived of as simultaneously researchers, researcher mediators and research beneficiaries - ultimately benefiting from reflections on their own professional practice with a view to improving research collaboration. There are four main groups of beneficiaries:

First INGO practitioners who are charged with providing evidence of their initiatives for funders, supporters and/or their own organisational performance management and learning will benefit from analysis of the interplay between evidence and participation in partnerships and the implications for research outcomes. Participants in the seminar series will also benefit from the opportunity to participate in the process of theory-building as this is an area of research that many practitioners lack confidence in. It is hoped that this will contribute to greater self-identification of practitioners as researchers which might in turn contribute to a shift in the dichotomisation of academic and practitioner-generated knowledge. By involving support organisations like the International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC, providing training and resources for practitioners) and Enhancing Learning and Research through Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA, provide resources and a research brokering service) in the design of this proposal and in the first and final seminars (see 'Letters of Support') it is intended that these organisations will play a role in ensuring that learning and resources developed through the seminar series will be shared with the wider INGO community.

Second, academic researchers who are interested in engaging in research partnerships with practitioners will also benefit from stronger research collaboration skills. Those participating in the seminar series will benefit from the opportunity to critically reflect on their own experiences and learn from the experiences of others. This will be facilitated by the creation of a safe space for critical dialogue in the form of the core seminars and by the use of participatory methods, facilitated by experienced practitioner-academics. Academics beyond the core seminar group will also benefit from the resources presented on the seminar series website. It is hoped that the involvement of organisations such as the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) and VITAE in the concluding conference and dissemination of a briefing paper through their networks will also inform the development of training resources, in particular benefiting early career and postgraduate researchers.

Third, HEI professionals working to develop and institutionalise strategies for the engagement of publics in research will benefit from the implications of the seminar's findings for resource development around research training and academic literacies. The resources will be disseminated through organisations such as NCCPE and the Catalyst network of which the PI (and the Institute of Education as the series host institution) is a member.

Finally, research funders and policy-makers charged with commissioning and making use of evidence on international development will benefit from this seminar series. They will benefit from insight into assumptions about the nature of evidence with implications first, for participation in research partnerships and second, for the type of outcomes that do or do not emerge from research as a result. As with the previous group, representatives (e.g. from DFID and ESRC) will be invited to attend the final conference and briefing papers will be distributed.