22nd June 2021
Petra Engelbrecht reflected on her experiences of international collaborative partnerships. She discussed the role of a reflexive diary, reflexive debriefings with researchers to capture perceptions and build teams, and the value of participatory action research for building sustainable projects, with shared ownership and lasting impact. She recommended that we listen carefully to the voices of the people we are collaborating with and be open to discussing issues from the start to ensure an open and trusting relationship develops. Petra discussed how cultural competence is a journey which never ends, that we should acknowledge our own culture and be sensitive to others, accepting cultural diversity. As well as listening to voices, we should also listen to what people are not telling us, due to power differentials, reflect, and explore issues from different perspectives, asking different questions. An engaging, informative and interesting talk.
11th November 2020
A morning event with two wonderful speakers. Firstly, we heard from Dr Jo Albin-Clark discussing intra-activity in early childhood education, her doctorate, challenges and issues related to early years practice.
Our second speaker was Professor Margaret Ledwith who used stories to explore ideas to change the world. A powerful and thought-provoking discussion of values.
15th May 2019
CREATE heard from Dr Erica Lewis (Faculty of Arts and Sciences) about her experiences of using participatory methods during her doctoral studies. Erica’s presentation was interesting and challenging. She sparked interesting discussions about the use of participatory methods, gender issues and power within organisations.
25th January 2019
Mike Stoddart (Faculty of Education) and Dr Paul Simpson (Faculty of Health and Social Care) presented their research focusing on making research genuinely participative to CREATE. Mike’s presentation, based on his work with the university Action For Refugee’s work, presented ways in which narratives from both refugees, and from researchers, combine in creating new and shared understandings which help people live and work together. Paul has been using photovoice methodologies, working with men to investigate ‘what matters’ and exploring reflection and reflexivity.
Our first meeting of 2019, was held on 25th January. The report of the meeting, and links to the presentations, can be found here.