Academic researchers
Introduction
Ways to get involved as an academic researcher
The Binks Hub is a new interdisciplinary research hub at the University of Edinburgh producing transformative, co-created research. We aim to bring together communities, artists, and academics to co-produce research that promotes social justice and really makes a difference to people’s lives.
Our plans
Over the next five years, we’ll be:
- Creating the space to build on existing expertise and networks
- Running a seminar series
- Providing training for staff and students
- Curating useful resources for researchers
- Writing and inviting contributions to our blog
- Co-producing research with academics, artists, and community groups to find solutions that really make a difference to people’s lives
- Developing a model for delivering transformative, co-created research across settings, disciplines, and social groups
We’re in the very early stages of setting up the hub, so if you want to learn more, the best way to keep up to date on all that we’re doing is to sign up to our mailing list.
What does participatory research mean to us?
To us, participation means collaboratively producing the questions, methods, and dissemination of research. It means viewing communities, artists, and academics as equals when it comes to sharing and developing knowledge.
It means that rather than conducting research on communities, we will develop research in partnership with communities by providing citizens and groups with the tools to be involved in research on the issues that affect them.
We see artistic and creative methods as integral to this process. This means providing a creative space for our community partners, a focus on storytelling around “lived experience” and using the arts in the development and dissemination of co-produced research.
Ultimately, we aim to develop a methodology and set of tools that can be used for any work in community settings. We also aim to engage governments and policy actors in this conversation, and to raise the profile of citizen and community-led research within these settings.