Dr Jude Fransman

This seminar series arises responsively from concern expressed by both practitioners and academics to improve research partnerships between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and international NGOs in the field of international development. While a recent drive towards research collaboration has fuelled many new initiatives to broker partnerships, a 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. 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. First, context-setting workshop will frame the core seminars by providing a series of analytical frameworks for understanding partnerships. Second, a core series of four seminars structured around 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. 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 contributors. By drawing together as co-researchers practitioners, academics 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.