Interrogating knowledge exchange for more collaborative research: An invitation to join the conversation
Interrogating knowledge exchange for more collaborative research: An invitation to join the conversation
A new design and learning initiative, commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, invites you to join a critical dialogue about participation and power in research, aimed at fostering more effective routes for more meaningful and equitable research collaborations.
What value comes from involving diverse communities in health research and sharing knowledge? How does power operate in different sites for knowledge production and exchange? How do we shift incentives and power structures in research to allow for more equitable collaboration between researchers and diverse communities?
These questions have been at the heart of critical conversations around participation, decolonisation, and epistemic justice for decades. They’ve also guided the transformative practices of community activists, participatory researchers, and grassroots practitioners in the global South. Prominent institutions and actors in the global North have recognised the necessity of shifting their practices to promote inclusion and equity in knowledge production in order to achieve better health and social outcomes for all. Wellcome Trust, the largest health research funder in the UK, has made a commitment that by 2031, all Wellcome-funded research will be inclusive in both design and practice, to help drive better science and more equitable solutions to the most urgent health challenges.
Despite this commitment, there is a lack of consensus of how to move towards these goals and achieve systemic and sustainable change. Diverse actors in different localities hold pieces of the puzzle, acquired through traditional modes of research as well as tacit “local” forms of knowledge, but these pieces have not been brought together to see the full picture — one that is complex and context-specific. At the same time, it’s necessary to acknowledge that these challenges are framed by the presence of long-standing, historically-shaped power inequalities between those positioned as knowledge producers and the many different communities represented in and affected by the forms of knowledge that are produced. Without radical change in these structures of power — including the systems that govern research funding, research practice, and the translation of knowledge — meaningful change is not possible.
The Pivot Collective is leading a collaborative project, commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, that aims to better understand knowledge exchange in health research and to design more effective and meaningful routes for communities to collaborate in research. This project aims to explore how we can build mutuality and capability in the relationship between researchers and communities, working to bring deeper understandings of the diversity of local contexts and values into the design and implementation of global frameworks and practices. We also aim to identify the potential role for Wellcome and other funders in supporting and/or resourcing this infrastructure — currently called ‘Centres for Exchange’ — building on existing assets and structures within communities. The ultimate goal of this project is to support communities to play a meaningful, inclusive and reciprocal role in the research ecosystem and ensure that research is more responsive to local socio-political contexts and needs. This would, in turn, deliver mutual benefit and new, more impactful knowledge both to communities and to research.
To achieve this aim, we’re orienting our project around 3 axes: (1) exploring stakeholders and relationships in place-based knowledge exchange in different regions and contexts, (2) understanding how power operates in health research, and (3) designing the structures and practices necessary to transform the research ecosystem to become more equitable, inclusive, and responsive.
Across this project, we’re committed to ensuring that sensitivity to power and context guide both our collaborative process and the final architecture and knowledge products we co-develop. While designing new “global” models of practice, we intend to remain grounded in the deep insights that emerge from ‘hyperlocal’ insights and innovations. To this end, the project will include the exploration of models of practices from around the world as well as place-based design workshops in South Africa, India, and Brazil.
To achieve these ambitions, we have brought together a dynamic and diverse team of expert collaborators representing key partners and networks in the space of community engagement and participatory research, including Restless Development, Praxis, Vocal, Fiocruz, and Eh!woza, as well as independent practitioners. Our collaborative team operates from the global South and is representative of diverse lived and professional experiences. We are a passionate, varied, and vibrant community that shares a common goal of building diversity and cultivating inclusivity in order to promote engagement and thus work to ensure accountability and transparency.
Reflecting on their excitement to join this collaboration, our team members shared the following thoughts:
“I’ve always deeply felt the disconnect between scientific knowledge production and communities. There’s too much abstraction from the places where research is being conducted. I’m excited to see a project take this on!” (Maria Malomalo, Restless Development, Zimbabwe)
“I’m excited to move from critiques of structures of power and inequality in global health into more action-oriented conversations about how to actually shift things” (Lindsey Reynolds, Pivot Collective, South Africa)
“I want to highlight the importance of a deeper historical and political perspective in project as well, looking at the history of engagement and participation in diverse regions, including Brazil and Latin America” (Gustavo Matta, Fiocruz, Brazil)
“Getting to do this project with an organisation like Wellcome is especially exciting, given their commitment to supporting engagement work and their influence” (Sarah Iqbal, independent consultant, India)
Our intent is to gather as many perspectives on these issues as possible, taking a collaborative and iterative approach to the learning journey and fostering an open, ongoing dialogue. We will publicly share our learning throughout the process and proactively create platforms and opportunities for public involvement. We hope you’re also excited to join our critical conversation and share your insights and learning.
As a first step, we’ve created a public survey to elicit your opinions and insights about the state of practice in community engagement and participation in research. To help shape the first phases of the project, please share your responses (and forward broadly!) as soon you can.
For more information about this survey or about the ‘Centres for Exchange’ project please contact cfe@pivotcollective.org