Knowledge Democracy / Participatory Research
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://192.9.200.215:4000/handle/123456789/123
Welcome to the Knowledge Democracy / Participatory Research Community. This community serves as a comprehensive repository of resources on participatory approaches, community-based research, and collaborative inquiry methods. Our mission is to foster knowledge sharing and support initiatives that empower communities to contribute to research, ensuring their voices shape the knowledge that impacts their lives.
Explore a wealth of materials, including case studies, policy papers, training guides, and research publications that highlight the practice and principles of participatory research worldwide.
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Item Strengthening community university research partnerships: A global study of effective institutional arrangements for the facilitation and support of research partnership between community and universities.(UVic & PRIA, 2014-09) Tremblay, Crystal; Hall, Budd L; Tandon, RajeshItem Community-based participatory research with Dr. Rajesh Tandon-Podcast, Episode 1(The Action Research Podcast, 2021-09-21) Tandon, RajeshIn this episode, the Ar Pod team welcomes Dr. Rajesh Tandon, an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. In 1982 Dr. Tandon founded the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a voluntary organisation providing support to grassroots initiatives in South Asia and continues to be its Chief Functionary. He also holds a UNESCO Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education since 2012. He is a prolific writer and scholar and is highly decorated. The conversation opens with an introduction of Dr. Tandon and the story behind PRIA (2:02), followed by a lightening round of questions (8:29), where Joe and Adam ask about the mission and vision of PRIA, a recent project with domestic workers, definitions of community based participatory research and, how is participatory research different from community-based participatory action research. Later in the episode, Adam asks what have been some of the more effective mechanisms or processes that you have used to catalyze participation in the field as it relates to participatory research (19:16). Dr. Tandon responds by placing emphasis on building trust among the stakeholders, facilitating conversation with the community and finding a local trusted organisation. How might a budding scholar identify those local organisations? How can these local organisations be trusted? (26:28). To find out, tune in!Item International collaboration for changing the culture of research: UN SDGs and knowledge for change consortium(2020) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, RajeshDr. Budd L. Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon explore the role of international networks in advancing participatory knowledge creation for social change in higher education. They trace the evolution of participatory research from its origins in the 1970s to its institutional development today. . They describe a series of global studies produced under the Chair that document community-university research partnerships across multiple countries and connect this work to the policy debates around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including the European Union's Responsible Research and Innovation framework. The article outlines three practical ways community-based participatory research (CBPR) can support SDG-linked knowledge, framing research locally, building community knowledge partnerships, and developing new researcher competencies. It also details the Knowledge for Change (K4C) Consortium's Mentor Training Program, which has built research capacity across the global South and the "excluded North" through hubs in eleven countries. Hall and Tandon call for a transformation of research culture toward justice, equity, and community relevance.Item Community based participatory research & sustainable development goals(2017) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, RajeshIn this report, Dr. Budd Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon explore the role of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The authors contend that addressing the social, economic, and environmental challenges within the SDG framework demands knowledge production approaches that go beyond what conventional academic research offers. Higher education institutions, with their considerable intellectual, physical, and digital resources, are seen as well-placed to generate locally relevant and actionable knowledge through socially responsible research. CBPR is discussed as a collaborative and participatory approach that brings together universities, communities, civil society, and policy actors in equitable partnerships, with an emphasis on co-learning, capacity building, and social change. The report also considers how higher education institutions can integrate CBPR into their research work through locally grounded and community-driven methods. It closes with recommendations for universities, policymakers, funding agencies, and civil society organizations on building stronger institutional support for CBPR in the pursuit of the SDGs.Item Global foundations of community based research(0000) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd LThis paper by Dr. Budd Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon looks back at the origin of participatory research, tracing its evolution from the late 1970s when a small network of like-minded researchers and activists across Toronto, New Delhi, Dar es Salaam, the Netherlands, and Caracas began to challenge the foundations of conventional social science research. It highlights how this early movement grew into a globally recognized approach to knowledge creation and social change. The paper examines the emergence of international and regional networks, the establishment of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), and the development of participatory methodologies aimed at social transformation. It also reflects on the challenges participatory research faced in gaining acceptance within academia, where researchers and practitioners often struggled to bridge differences in perspective and practice. Significant developments, including the 1997 Cartagena Congress, the launch of GACER, and the 2012 UNESCO Co-Chairs appointment, marked important steps toward broader recognition. The paper argues that years of participatory research work have slowly changed how knowledge is understood, who gets to produce it, in what settings, and in whose interest. For Hall and Tandon, this shift connects directly to current conversations about knowledge democracy and what higher education institutions owe to the communities around them.Item Challenges in the co-construction of knowledge: A global study on strengthening structures for community university research partnerships(0000) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh; Tremblay, Crystal; Singh, WafaWhat does it mean to institutionalise the co-construction of knowledge between universities and communities at a global level? This paper begins from the premise that knowledge democracy requires moving beyond expert driven models towards collaborative processes that recognise the knowledge generating capacities of each human being and of every community. Community university research partnerships are presented as a key pathway for this shift, as they create structures through which research questions, methods, processes and outcomes can be shaped jointly. Drawing on a global survey and national case studies across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, the authors examine the histories, discourses and institutional forms that support or constrain such partnerships. This paper further analyses models such as Science Shops, centers of community-based research and national policy frameworks, while identifying tensions and practical challenges in embedding such work within universities. It highlights the importance of facilitative structures, supportive leadership, transnational networks and sustained institutional commitment. In doing so, it argues that institutionalising community-based research is not only a technical exercise but a political and ideological process that reshapes how universities understand knowledge, partnership and their responsibilities to society.Item Editorial: Knowledge democracy for a transforming world(UTS ePress, 2020) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, RajeshThe past five decades have seen enormous, worldwide growth in, and appreciation of, knowledge democracy - the discourse which we have found best contains the various theoretical approaches, values and practices within which participatory research exists. This Introduction outlines our understanding of knowledge democracy, which can be expressed by a number of principles: (1) Recognition of a multiplicity of epistemologies and ways of knowing; (2) Openness to assembling, representing and sharing knowledge in multiple forms (including traditional academic formats and all manner of social and arts-based approaches); (3) Recognition that knowledge emerging from the daily lives of excluded persons is an essential tool for social movements and other transformational strategies; and the (4) Requirement to carefully balance the need to protect the ownership of communities' knowledge with the need to share knowledge in a free and open access manner. We are pleased to present five articles from around the world that broaden and deepen our understanding of knowledge democracy -from a theoretical perspective, a practice perspective, an ontological perspective, and an action or political perspective.Item The power of collaboration, creativity and art in knowledge mobilization: Reflections from international work(2020) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd LIn this paper, Dr. Budd Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon examine how knowledge mobilization (KMb) can become a more effective tool for social transformation when it is integrated throughout the research process rather than treated as a final dissemination activity. Drawing on over four decades of community-based participatory research (CBPR) across the global South and excluded North, the authors contend that KMb is most powerful when embedded in research from the outset, rather than added after the fact. Working within a knowledge democracy framework through the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, the paper explores how creative and arts-based methods have served as powerful vehicles for sharing research with communities, policymakers, and the broader public. Through four case studies—domestic workers in India using a hand-stitched saree to document sexual harassment, waste recyclers in Brazil producing participatory videos for policy advocacy, immigrant women in Toronto presenting through spoken word at City Hall, and a community health fair in rural South Africa the paper illustrates how art reaches people and places that conventional academic outputs cannot. The paper concludes that creativity is not decorative in KMb; it is essential, particularly when research aims at social transformation and meaningful community change.Item Knowledge and engagement: Building capacity for the next generation of community based researchers(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2016-10) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L; Lepore, Walter; Singh, WafaKnowledge and Engagement summarizes the main findings of a global study titled ‘Building the Next Generation of Community-Based Researchers’ (a.k.a. the Next Gen project) undertaken between May 2014 and April 2016, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The overall objective of the Next Gen project was to increase access to high quality training in Community Based Research (CBR) within higher education institutions (HEIs) and civil society organizations (CSOs). The research aimed to understand the current state-of-the-art in pedagogies and strategies for building CBR capacities, and to work towards the strengthening of existing training fieldwork and the theoretical and curricular content on participatory research within and outside academia. The book opens with a theoretical chapter on pedagogical principles about training, teaching and learning CBR, which have been elaborated by triangulating three data sources: systematic literature reviews, a global survey, and case studies on CBR training. It advances the discussion on capacity building for CBR because, while large amounts of literature abound on doing CBR, very little is available on training for CBR. The results of the first-ever global survey on training modalities, materials and locations for CBR are presented in Chapter 3. It confirms, among other things, that the demand for training in CBR far exceeds the supply of training opportunities. Twenty-one case studies (of nine HEIs and 12 CSOs from 14 countries) with lessons form Chapter 4, followed by a comparative analysis of the case studies using the pedagogical principles of training, teaching and learning CBR as an analytical framework. A detailed summary of the project’s findings, conclusions and recommendations round off the book, with appendices containing the guidelines for conducting thematic reviews, the survey questions, a list of institutions providing top training programs in CBR, and the case study framework. Knowledge and Engagement represents a collective effort to highlight many issues and areas of work in CBR training, analyzes the current scenario and opportunities, and provides recommendations on what can be done to provide best quality training for the next generation of community based researchers.Item A note on the participatory research project in the asian region(1981) Tandon, RajeshThis paper traces the rise of participatory research as a response to the limits of conventional social science, linking it to wider struggles for democracy and development. It reflects on both its potential and contradictions, framing it as an ongoing project rather than a finished method.