(S5E4) Leeds Social Sciences Institute Co-production Research Toolkit with Prof Gehan Selim

Research Culture Uncovered

In our weekly Research Culture Uncovered conversations we are asking what is Research Culture and why does it matter? This is the fourth episode of Season 5, where we are investigating the impact of impact on research culture. In this episode your host Ged is joined by Professor Gehan Selim. Gehan is the Hoffman Wood Chair in Architecture in the School of Civil Engineering of the University of Leeds. She's also the Deputy Director of the Leeds Social Sciences Institute (LSSI) and was fellow of the Senator George Mitchell, Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice in 2017 and 2018. Gehan leads the Architecture and Urbanism Research Group at Leeds with her research covering interdisciplinary methods, bridging between architecture, urban politics, and digital heritage.

In this episode Ged discusses co-production with Gehan, who led a project for the LSSI to create a co-production toolkit. The key messages from the discussion are:

• Co-production and other collaborative practices (co-creation, participatory research) are yet to be fully defined and therefore it is experimental and there is no one methodology that fits all situations.
• This can lead to risks, so researchers should reflect and learn from successes and failures, theirs and others, in applying co-production in their research.
• When thinking of co-production, it is the process and not the outcomes that are important. This is because there is less certainty and more risk that the hoped for outcomes will emerge.
• Co-production enables a democratisation of research and impact, as it enables more voices to be part of the overall research design. This requires equal and trusting partnerships that take time to build and are harmed if researchers walk away at the end of the funding.
• The riskiness of co-production requires funders and institutions to adapt their cultures and leadership to give these relationships time and resource to grow.

Co-Production Toolkit links:

• Toolkit Overview and how you can access all 16 case studies
• Adam Crawford’s case study on policing that Gehan mentioned
• Shala Aroussi’s case study using body-mapping to understand how men and women perceive and resist violence in their everyday lives in Kenya, which was referenced in the interview.
• Jen Dyer’s case study using creative and visual methods to enable voices to be heard, which Gehan also discussed.

Gehan also mentioned LSSI’s Co-Production Network in the interview.

The N8 Universities, mentioned in the interview, are the north of England's research-intensive who collaborate on a range of research partnerships.

Police and crime commissioners are elected in areas of England and Wales to make sure that local police meet the needs of the community.

You can connect with Gehan on LinkedIn and Twitter @gselim74

Be sure to check out the other episodes in this season to find out more.

Research culture links:

• Researcher Development and Culture Website
• Our Concordat Implemention plans and progress
• University of Leeds Research Culture Statement
• University of Leeds Responsible Metrics Statement
• University of Leeds Open Research Statement

Follow us on twitter: @ResDevLeeds, @OpenResLeeds, @ResCultureLeeds, @HallGed

Connect to us on LinkedIn: @ResearchUncoveredPodcast, @GedHall

If you would like to contribute to a podcast episode get in touch: [e-mail]