This research group aims to radically re-think the praxis of knowledge ‘co-production’ between scholars and ‘grassroots’ collectives of citizens and activists. We aim to provide a novel account of why philosophical/theoretical innovation is vital in these settings and to challenge mainstream approaches to research ‘impact’ and the instrumentalisation of academic knowledge.

‘Co-production’ is research with, rather than about, research subjects and has become more popular in the context of HE ‘impact’ agendas. Conventionally understood, co-production produces tensions between the integrity and autonomy of researchers and the needs of research users (government/community constituencies). Perhaps as a result, co-production has made minimal inroads into political philosophy and social theory. While political philosophers once held the image of the ‘citizen philosopher’ in high esteem, social and political theorists struggle to find the methods to cultivate and learn from the virtuous public life. By breaking down barriers between expertise and community knowledge production, coproduction has the potential to transform how scholars work with social justice movements to address real world problems. By reconnecting theorists and philosophers with grassroots constituencies, it has the potential to generate new opportunities for emergent becoming, challenging the instrumentalisation of knowledge production and impact.

This cross-disciplinary group will build on a one-and-a-half-day workshop at the University of Exeter in December 2016. Each participant has developed theoretically and methodologically innovative methods of coproduction with activist groups and communities across a variety of countries and context (see participants list). The group comprises scholars publishing in a variety of disciplines: geography, management studies, politics, international relations, international development and critical legal studies. The funding would allow us to mutually interrogate our insights via two academic journal articles. Building on this, we aim to develop a sustainable international network to support other scholars and activists in innovative methods of theoretical and philosophical co-production.