Co-producing Research: A Community Development Approach

Co-producing Research offers a critical examination of the nature of ‘co-produced’ research, outlining a particular approach that we call a ‘community development approach’ to co-production, which privileges the agency of communities. The authors draw from materials and case studies from a large ESRC funded project: Imagine – connecting communities through research. The book offers a unique approach that is practice led, and locates values and knowledge within communities. Bringing community development together with co-production offers a fruitful lens from which to view co-production as an active process that works with knowledge within communities. It does not presuppose an existing rubric or way of doing things but offers an open opportunity for communities to get involved in setting the agenda. The book will be useful for practitioners within community contexts, researchers interested in working with communities, activists, community artists and anybody wanting to make a difference. It aims to reach policy makers by describing in clear and accessible language what co-production between community groups and academics can do to improve things. Community groups recognize that they are not passive recipients of knowledge but agents of change. This book shows how that change can come about through a community development approach to co-production.