www.cupp.org.uk academics and community partners researching wellbeing. what’s the point of doing...
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Academics and community partners researching wellbeing. What’s the point of doing it together?
Angie Hart
Academic 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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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
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
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.
(
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