PAD clinic: Action Research – A participatory approach to social justice

Facilitator: Dr Joan Walton 

RDF Indicator: A1

Programme: Staff Continuous Professional Development Programme 22/23

Theme: Institute for Social Justice (ISJ) PAD clinic

Session Overview:

This session will include an exploration of social justice as a verb, not just as a noun.   There are many theoretical debates about what social justice actually means – what it would look like to live in a socially just world.  This is an important debate;  but more importantly is the question as to what action can we take to improve social justice?  The claim here is that there is no one ‘once and for all’ answer to this question; but that we need to take responsibility, individually and collaboratively, for working out what that means for each of us.  Action research is an approach to research that allows us to plan, implement and evaluate action.  In this session, there will be the opportunity to learn about and to discuss first, second and third person forms of action research as complementary elements for enabling participatory approaches to social justice.  

Learning Outcomes:

• Understanding of social justice as a verb and the actions you can take to improve social justice
• How to take responsibility for and evaluate social justice actions within your research

PAD Clinics are an opportunity to hear about and discuss approaches to Participatory methodologies, Action research and Democratic methods. Each clinic will have a different focus and will be introduced by speakers who will reflect upon their first-hand experience of working with these methods. Crucially, the sessions are intended to be responsive and interactive, inviting you to bring along your questions and queries. Rather than a one-off CPD event, we hope the PAD Clinics develop into a community of practice able to problem solve challenges and co-produce good practice relating to conducting research in a participatory manner. The sessions are part of the PAD research group, hosted by the Institute for Social Justice.

Format is a short input from 2 speakers for 10-15mins, but then an invitation for people to bring along their research problems of questions for us to discuss. So participants need to be prepared for this.

Delivery: Online via Teams

Book on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pad-clinic-action-research-a-participatory-approach-to-social-justice-tickets-428467105647