‘Academic research has lost connect with society’ @ Community-based research (CBR)
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 Delhi 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?
HEIs
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 CBR 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 emphasises
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 he is actively engage in capacity enhancement and
Knowledge
mobilisation?
Our
proposal to address this issue is to create the Knowledge for Change (K4C)
Global Consortium on Training in CBR. 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:
OP 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?
HEIs
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.
Source | Hindustan
Times | 6th December 2017
Regards
Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
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