Open and participatory action research for social justice

Seminar
  • Date and time: Tuesday 26 November 2024, 1pm to 2pm
  • Location: Online only
  • Audience: Open to staff, students (postgraduate researchers only)
  • Admission: Free admission, booking required

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Event details

Participatory action research recognises the value of experiential knowledge and local priorities by involving community members as active participants and co-designers. It seeks to bring about solutions to social issues through meaningful collaboration in study design, methods, results, analysis and reflection. 

Open research shares many of these principles, striving to embed values of accessibility, inclusivity and accountability in the research process. It is based in the belief that knowledge produces the greatest benefit when it exists in a commons, for the public good, and that publicly-funded research should belong to and exist for the benefit of all. 

This discussion will explore the correlations between participatory action research and the open research agenda at York, highlighting current projects from researchers across the University. Together, we will question how our research practices can serve the public good and enhance social justice for local, indigenous and underrepresented communities. 

Contributors 

Host: Professor Nina Caspersen

Professor Nina Caspersen is Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Social Sciences, based in the Department of Politics and International Relations. She is also Chair of the University’s Open Research Strategy Group. 

Nina’s research focuses on the dynamics of intra-state conflicts, peace processes and peace settlements, unrecognised/de facto states, rebel governance, and state recognition. In her work, she has emphasised the importance of examining dynamics within communal groups and is particularly interested in intra-communal rivalry and contestation, popular mobilisation and legitimising strategies, and issues of governance.

Nina is currently working on a project on the relationship between de facto states and their external patrons, funded by the Norwegian Research Council and led by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Over the years, she has worked with a number of international organisations, NGOs and think tanks. 

Dr Smriti Safaya

Dr Smriti Safaya is an SEI York Affiliated Researcher and a Croucher Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow working between the Department of Environment and Geography and Department of Education. 

Smriti’s current research focus is the 'Environmental Citizen Science in Schools' project looking at the impact of such environmental education on how UK and Hong Kong youth feel, think and act towards the natural environment. This research is an extension of her PhD in Education (University of York) which involved only Hong Kong schools.

Smriti has run immersive nature-based experiences for university staff and the public, around the beautiful York campus and the city centre (the York City Nature Challenge), to highlight the value of multi-sensory experiential education. 

Dr Aniela Wenham is a Senior Lecturer and Dr Katherine Smith is a Research Associate in Social Policy, both based in the School for Business and Society.
Aniela has a longstanding interest in the issues children and young people face, and her area of expertise is qualitative longitudinal research with young mothers. She recently completed an ESRC-funded project on co-production with teenage parents in a deprived North Yorkshire coastal town. Alongside her academic role she has been employed by the City of York Council for several years working with, and as an advocate for, young people who are socially excluded and have a range of complex needs.
Katherine is currently working on a Health Foundation-funded research project on young people’s experiences of emotional support and the impact of this upon outcomes, including mental health. Previously, she has worked on research projects in the UK and Europe on youth participation and inequalities, and is interested in the process of doing research with young people, co-production and creative methods. She also has a background as a youth worker in open access, targeted and participation youth work settings.

Dr Ruth Kelly

Dr Ruth Kelly is a Lecturer in human rights, based in the Department of Politics and International Relations and the Centre for Applied Human Rights. 

Ruth convenes the Human Rights Workshop – an interdisciplinary space for thinking creatively, critically and politically about rights – and is a member of the advisory board of York’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Centre. She is currently Dean of Postgraduate Taught Students in the Department of Politics and International Relations and also serves as Chair of the Board of Elect Her - a multi-partisan organisation working to motivate, support and equip women in all their diversity to stand for political office in Britain. 

Ruth’s research is on cultural politics, citizenship practices and political theory. Since 2016 she has been working with artists and activists from Bangladesh and Uganda to explore the links between storytelling and the arts, activism, and the political imagination. This has included work on the ethics of North-South research collaborations, in the context of epistemic injustice and colonial legacies. During that time she has also supported programmes of peer-learning for human rights leaders and activists at risk, and research on sustaining activism over time.


Programme

13:00-13:05 - Welcome - Prof Nina Caspersen

13:05-13:20 - Dr Smriti Safaya 

13:20-13:35 - Dr Katherine Smith 

13:35-13:50 - Dr Ruth Kelly 

13:50-14:00 - Q&A moderated by Nina


This is a collaborative event between IGDC and Open Research at York

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