Completed Projects Seminar

Monday 15th July 2019, 10:30am – 12:30pm

Ambient Lab, Jennie Lee

openTEL is pleased to announce that next week’s Completed Projects Seminar will be presentations by Jude Fransman, Engaging Research for Practice: A civil society perspective and Jonty Rix, Lessons learned from the ARCHES project

Engaging Research for Practice: A civil society perspective

Jude Fransman

Abstract: Funded by a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, this 3-year study aimed to understand and improve the impact of research on practice by exploring how civil society practitioners ‘engage’ with research. While numerous studies have explored how academics can improve engagement with their own research, few have attempted to understand research engagement from the perspective of the public, commercial sector and especially civil society. In response, the study was structured around three phases: i) a framing and contextualising phase involving a systematic review to explore the evolution of approaches to engagement in different policy sectors in the UK; ii) an in-depth case study phase involving ethnographic and participatory research in UK-based international non-governmental organisations (INGOs); and iii) a learning and sharing phase involving working with sector brokers to translate findings into policy/practice to inform better research engagement. To date, the research has been disseminated through four academic publications, one Report/Toolkit, seven conference presentations, four keynotes/public lectures, and ten panel contributions. The main finding of the study was that INGOs are increasingly engaging with research in sophisticated ways, from developing their own protocols for ethics, quality assurance and impact assessment to building in-house research capacity through courses. This offers significant learning for the higher education sector, and especially in relation to ‘global challenge’ research, which demands new approaches to collaboration, ethics, impact and researcher development. In addition to the empirical findings around INGO engagement with research (Fransman/BOND Report, 2019) the study also made conceptual contributions to knowledge (see Fransman 2018; Fransman and Newman 2019 and Newman et al 2019) and methodological contributions (e.g. ‘participatory multimodal journaling’: Fransman, in preparation).

Bio: Jude Fransman has been a Research Fellow at IET since September 2014 (though will be moving to DPP/FASS in August 2019) She is also Co-Convenor of the Rethinking Research Collaborative; a cross- sectoral, transnational, and interdisciplinary network committed to more responsive and impactful research. Her own research focuses on the politics of knowledge for global development and she has led multiple studies funded by the Society of Research into Higher Education (SRHE), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the Leverhulme Trust, and the Department for International Development (DFID). Previously, Jude worked for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Centre, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Education Monitoring Report, and ActionAid International.

Lessons learned from the ARCHES project

Jonty Rix

Abstract: ARCHES (Accessible Resources in Cultural Heritage EcoSystems) is a 3-year, Horizon 2020 project which ends in December 2019. The aim was to develop technological and multi-sensory resources through the participation of people with different access preferences in a museum environment. The consortium consisted of partners around Austria, Spain and the UK, as well as four participatory research groups. We will explore the complexities of establishing the research groups in the context of these international partnerships (including what happens when a lead partner declares themselves bankrupt). As part of this we will share experiences of participants and tales of the research team. We will also discuss the range of practical outputs we have created and outline emerging theory which could inform future participatory work.

Bio: Jonty Rix is PI on ARCHES. He has previously led funded research with grants from amongst others; the British Academy, the Training and Development Agency, the National Council for Special Education in Ireland and the BookTrust. Jonty's research interests focus upon: policies, practices and language that facilitate inclusion within the mainstream; capturing diverse perspectives; and developing models to facilitate our thinking about the form and function of education. He has a strong and broad interest in issues relating to learning difficulties and issues of equality and participation. Jonty teaches on courses dealing with inclusion, early years and special educational needs. He is a Professor of Participation and Learning Support in WELS and at the Inland Norway University of Applied Science. He regularly tweets strange pencil drawings from @jontyrix

openTEL: Completed Projects Seminar