As researchers and universities seek to contribute to their communities and wider society, there is growing emphasis on collaborative, participatory approaches that make research relevant, responsible, and useful. Yet economic and structural inequalities challenge the ethics of such engagement, particularly when working with communities around their culture and history.
Approaches such as community-based research (CBR) encourage researchers to reflect on how to ensure that research serves the interests of the communities involved by building reciprocal relationships and democratising knowledge production. Decolonising methodologies, developed by Linda Tuhiwai Smith and others, also seek to rethink the role of the researcher, not as an extractor of data, but as a partner in shared inquiry and social transformation.
Such approaches are often undervalued within academic research structures. Ethical review processes may assume a conventional “researcher–participant” relationship, while institutional frameworks for evaluating research (such as the REF in the UK) can create pressures to prioritise short-term, measurable impacts over truly equitable and ethical partnerships.
This round table discussion at the Centre for Public History will explore ethical and non-extractive research practices in public engagement, with a focus on the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector, communities and public history. The panel brings together experts in community engagement, the cultural sector, and engaged research to reflect on how researchers can avoid replicating extractivist models—where knowledge is taken without reciprocal benefit or accountability.
Please join us for an informal discussion and Q&A. All are welcome—whether you're a researcher, practitioner, student, or community member interested in ethical collaboration and cultural work.
A sandwich lunch will be provided.
Speakers:
Hannah Crowdy (National Museums Northern Ireland)
Sean O'Connell (Queen's University Belfast)
Anthony Schrag (Queen Margaret University Edinburgh)
Nisha Tandon (ArtsEkta)
Chair: Ali FitzGibbon (Queen's University Belfast)
