Community-Based Research & Knowledge Exchange

Community-Engaged Research is a framework or approach for conducting research, not a particular method in and of itself. At the core of all Community-Engaged Research is the understanding that the community will be involved in a meaningful way. Community-Engaged Research involves partnership development, commitment to addressing community issues and knowledge exchange. Knowledge Exchange is a process that brings together academic staff, students and members of civil society organisations to exchange ideas, learning, experiences and expertise with the purpose of mutual learning and growth. It is characterised by the principles that provide guidance for the research process and dissemination, and for managing partnerships between the wider community and the university.

Principles

Community engaged research is characterised by a number of principles including: 

• The research is based on needs identified by the community partner which address issues of public concern and relevance.
• Community partners are involved from the beginning stages of a project, helping to define research questions and objectives, and having input into how the research will be carried out and the results circulated.
• Research partnerships are based on mutual respect, collaboration, power-sharing, and democratic participation, so that all participants are aware of their roles and responsibilities and the nature and extent of the collaboration involved in the research. 
• Research processes and outcomes are of benefit to the community partner and build capacity within the community. 

The term ‘community’ refers to a range of possible research partners including, the community and voluntary sector, policy makers, civic and civil society organisations, public and professional service and product users. In addition, there is a range of terminology used to describe engaged approaches to research, in part, reflective of different disciplines and contexts, for example, Community Engaged Research (CER), Community Based Research (CBR), Participatory Action Research (PAR), Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR), Patient & Public Involvement (PPI), Citizen Science. While there are a variety of terms in use, engaged approaches share key principles with regard to research participation and collaboration in that they address needs identified by the community partner, validate community knowledge, enhance access to research, and have the aim of bringing about social transformation.

Among engaged research projects at University of Galway are:

Patient & Public Involvement

Older Traveller and Older Homeless People Study: Irish Centre for Social Gerontology

Citizen Science, Insight, SFI Centre for Data Analytics

Open Scholarship Community Galway

Engaged Research in Teaching and Learning Contexts

Engaged research is also a methodology that can be used in Teaching and Learning contexts, providing students with an opportunity to apply this approach as part of their studies, with the supervision of members of academic staff in partnership with a community partner. This is most often used in postgraduate programmes but there can also be opportunities at undergraduate level. Projects to date include those related to Social Work, Environmental Science, Information Technology, Human Rights, Management, and involving community partners such as Galway Traveller Movement, Galway Volunteer Centre, Terryland Conservation Volunteers, Headford Environmental Group, COPE Waterside House (now Modh Eile House), Strengthening Families and Jigsaw.

Benefits of Community Engaged Research

• The research takes place under real world conditions and because the research questions come from the community, the relevance of the outcomes and the likelihood of social transformation are enhanced.
• It promotes knowledge democracy as it acknowledges the experiences, expertise and resources all of the partners involved.
• Partnerships and collaboration enhance the creative process by combining different perspectives, experiences and forms of knowledge.
• Researched-based learning using community engaged research can enrich the processes of teaching and learning.
• It brings the opportunity to build greater trust and respect between academic researchers and communities and contributes to the achievement of the engagement agenda of higher education.

Additional information is available in the Campus Engage publication: ‘Engaged Research: Society & Higher Education Addressing Grand Societal Challenges Together’

Get involved!

Proposals, ideas and questions relating to community engaged research projects from community organisations, students, researchers and academic staff are most welcome and can be made to:

Dr. Ann Lyons, Email: ann.lyons@universityofgalway.ie Mobile: 08776770780