‘Universities must create research that is relevant to the local community’
Community-based research (CBR) refers to engaging the community (outside academic circles) to contribute in research and knowledge creation on an issue that is relevant to the community. The principle is based on sharing existing knowledge to facilitate new knowledge creation. The UNESCO Chair for Social Responsibility and Community Based Research in Higher Education aims to help UNESCO take the global lead to play “a key role in assisting countries to build knowledge societies”.
The first co-chairs, Dr. Rajesh Tandon, founding President of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia located in New Delh and Dr. Budd L. Hall, professor, community development at the University of Victoria in Canada share how higher education institutions (HEI) can engage with the community.
how can heis invest in CBr?
HEI’s can take several important steps to build their institutional capacity in the field of CBR:
1. Create a community-university partnership office or structure – a central structure to facilitate research partnerships between community sectors and academics in the university is an invaluable contribution to helping community partners find the right researcher to work with.
2. Join national and international networks working in the field of CBPR to be able to learn from others and share work of their own.
3. Advocate with research granting partners to provide funds to support partnership research
Are heis creating knowledge that is relevant to the society and its needs?
Yes they are, but in many ways the academic research community has lost contact with societal needs. The knowledge culture within the university emphasizes sharing of new knowledge with other academics via peer reviewed journals, conferences, production of books in English and an emphasis on abstracted theory.
CBR calls on researchers to make a contribution to the lives of those communities where the universities actually are located. HEI must make a contribution directly to the common good. Researchers need to ask themselves the deep questions about who benefits from their research.
Are there areas or voices that have been excluded by traditional research methods that communitybased research can help bring to the forefront?
Indeed, the voices of vast numbers of people living around the world have been excluded. Indigenous peoples everywhere have been erased as knowing subjects. The specific experiential knowledge of people living in poverty, of women victims of sexual assault, of the differently abled, of those without a place to live, of women farmers is not found in universities.
Epistemicide or the killing off of knowledge systems has occurred through out the world.
how can heis actively engage in capacity enhancement and knowledge mobilisation?
Our proposal for address this issue is to create the Knowledge for Change (K4C) Global Consortium on Training in CBPR.
We are launching a global network beginning in 10 countries where training hubs will be created. Each hub will be a partnership between an HEI and a community sector partner.
The ‘mentors’ who will create the first hubs with their training courses will undergo a Mentor Training Programme consisting of an on-line component, a field work component and a face to face component.
Initially there are three Universities in India that will be founding members of the K4C: O.P. Jindal Global University, Manipal University and Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University.
The University of Victoria and PRIA provide support for the UNESCO Chair in CBR and Social Responsibility in Higher Education as it moves this work forward.
how can young researchers and scholars be steered towards community based research?
HEI’s need to make sure that young researchers are aware that CBR is supported and appreciated and encouraged. Academics need to create many more courses and opportunities for young people to learn how to do CBR.