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Academics and community partners researching wellbeing. What’s the point of doing it together?

Angie HartAcademic Director, Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp)

What’s the point? What does it look

like? Things I’ve learnt

along the way Lessons from you

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‘Better knowledge’ Reaction against 19th

century Hummboldtian construction of knowledge

‘knowledge transfer’

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Gibbons on knowledge production

‘applied, problem-centred, trans-disciplinary, heterogeneous, hybrid, demand-driven, entrepreneurial, network-embedded’

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Knowledge exchange ‘The sites of (scientific) problem formulation

and negotiation have moved from their previous domains in government, industry and universities into the agora.... the public space in which ‘science meets the public and in which the public ‘speaks back to science’....the space, par excellence’ for the production of socially robust knowledge’ (Gibbons 2003:59).

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emergence Hydrogen and oxygen

are the elemental gases that make up water, but the ‘wetness’ of water is an ‘emergent property’ of the system not reducible to hydrogen or oxygen (Zajonc 2010, 81).

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The principles of emergence mean that over-controlling approaches will not work well within complex systems–that in order to maximise system adaptiveness, there must be space for innovation and novelty to occur (Ramalingam, Jones et al. 2008, 21).

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‘In terms of community it presents a challenge to universities to be of and not just in the community; not simply to engage in “knowledge-transfer” but to establish a dialogue across the boundary between the university and its community which is open-ended, fluid and experimental’ (Watson 2003 )

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Moral purpose, Civic role

GUNI – Global University Network for Innovation

Talloires CCPH – Community

Campus Partnerships for Health

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Disrupts status inequalities Wilkinson and

Pickett The Spirit level

Widening participation in its widest sense

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Politically strategic

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Rewarding for academics Public academic Nice little earner

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Academic/university wins Research income and publication Chance to undertake research that is viewed as

socially meaningful and valuable Chance to integrate the working practices of

different parts of the university Act as role models to colleagues, other

institutions and students Chance to develop an identity as a particular type

of public academic

Rewarding for community partners

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Community wins Getting critical friends Accessing robust evidence in relation to our

work Acquiring a passionate partner to bounce

ideas off Elevating the status of our work Resources Broadening out our network –increased social

and organisational capital Improving the quality of our thinking

There isn’t one...

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What does researching together mean?

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PAR and its many guises Communities of practice Straight commissioning? Who’s involved in the meta

conversations?

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Communities of Practice“…groups of people informally bound together by

shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise” (Wenger & Snyder, 2000)

Emphasise sharing and mutuality No fixed boundaries between ‘experts’ and ‘non-

experts’ Expectation that members will work across

organisational and disciplinary boundaries Challenging current structures and hierarchies

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Community of Practice Inter disciplinary Cross agency Collaborating for

mutual benefit Exchange of

knowledge between sectors

Boundary spanning Shared passion

CoPs ‘boundary cross’ CoPs aim to be inclusive, to make connections and

consolidate learning across potential lines of division in relation to joint enterprise.

Boundary crossing causes people to look afresh at their own assumptions.

Two ways CoPs facilitate boundary crossing: ‘boundary objects’ – e.g. language, artefacts‘brokering’ – e.g. linking differing perspectives

Power dynamics between partners• imbalance –

commitment, resources and information

• power balance is fluid - imbalances ‘ebb and flow’ throughout the life of the project.

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Models of partnership

Friends, lovers, marriage, partnership registration (see Hart and Wolff)

Other possible ones: • Client-patron• Service provider• Outreach worker• Master/mistress-slave• Expert-client• Mentor or teacher• Gardener-plant

Other more complex and dynamic…e.g. Ecological systems theories (Lerner and

Simon)

‘Communities of practice’ (Hart and Wolff)

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Partnership issues and challenges Creating a win / win Different agendas Brain Drain Being accessible and inclusive and yet scholarly Outcomes and not just outputs Importance of boundary spanning –overinvestment

in individuals? Hybrid community of practice and work plan group ‘Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness’

Bridging cultures Respectful of different knowledge/expertise ‘Click factor’

Know what you want from partnering Always prepare to translate and explain

Confidence to be vulnerable Prepared to be taken down a peg or two

Explicitly elevate community expertise Trust and be led by your ‘gatekeeper’

Emphasise ‘practice’ and relationships rather than organisational form or structure: ‘Communities of practice

Don’t get stuck with one narrative

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“Community university partnerships in practice”Edited by Angie Hart, Elizabeth Maddison and David Wolffwww.niace.org.uk/publications/C/comm-university.asp