Great expectations? How community-led research is paving the way to new outcomes

Great expectations? How community-led research is paving the way to new outcomes

By Dr. Philippa Lloyd, Vice-Principal, Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Queen Mary University of London

From Fleming’s chance discovery of penicillin to Copernicus’ radical theory of planetary orbit, ground-breaking research hasn’t always delivered the answers we expected to find, or perhaps even answered the questions we were initially asking.

So, as universities, how do we ensure our academics are asking the right questions? When research can be subject to bias and the limitations of our own perspectives, we must consult the lived experiences, and understand the collective needs, of the people we aim to help. Only then, by broadening our perspectives, can we find new ways to tackle and answer the big questions affecting us all.

Establishing the right questions is the first step on the journey. Once an area of study has been identified, we must repeatedly interrogate our research process by exploring new viewpoints to ensure that our work isn’t shaped by our own pre-emptive conclusions. In turn, this helps unlock answers that defy our initial expectations of where our research will take us.

This process requires trusting relationships with key communities. That is why at Queen Mary University of London, we forge equitable partnerships with the communities that our work impacts. Our Research Highways philosophy challenges our academics to develop collaborative and co-created research projects and our sustainability, environment, energy Research Highway is leading the way to deliver sustainable solutions for the public good.

Fish, fairness and finding the right deal

Ensuring research leads to valuable outcomes relies on this commitment to understanding the specific needs of the people affected by our work, as evidenced by Queen Mary’s International Business and Development Professor Liam Campling’s involvement with the global tuna industry. The global tuna industry is worth $42 billion (USD) every year. So, it might be fair to assume that the people who catch and process the fish reap the benefits from this lucrative industry.

However, Professor Campling’s extensive research into the tuna trade identified an economic equity gap in how fishers in developing countries did business with larger global powers. Professor Campling and his team worked closely with communities across the Pacific Islands to learn more about their specific trade circumstances and how that gap could be closed. From ongoing policy work with international agencies to advising the Pacific Island Forum comprising 14 countries, the team developed a unique insight into trade deals: namely, how they can become more sustainable and also offer fairer conditions for Pacific Island communities.

Traditionally, fishers have pursued relationships with larger global economic powers in the belief that these relationships would reap more beneficial trade deals. But, for developing countries, the scales are often weighted against them. Equipped with the knowledge of the Pacific Island Forum’s circumstances, Professor Campling counselled the Forum against entering into a trade arrangement with the USA on the basis that it would ultimately save the communities’ personnel time and financial resources. By eschewing the expected “right” approach, countries in the Forum were empowered to look for alternative relationships with more viable rules of engagement.  

The impact of the collaborative research project has extended beyond the immediate locus of economic benefit for local communities – it has also helped reposition the fisheries’ role in the Global Value Chain (GVC) of tuna production. In their negotiations with the UN, the Solomon Islands were able to obtain an extension on its offshore processing capabilities. The extension helped the Solomon Islands retain 1,800 fish processing jobs for a further six years while governments looked for alternative, more sustainable access to the EU market. 

 Deciding the direction of travel

Keeping diverse perspectives front and centre of every step of the research process, from building the initial research questions to carrying out academic investigation to post-research evaluation, means we can fully gauge the potential and reach of our research’s impact from its conclusions and recommendations. As higher education institutions, it is our role to ensure that, where possible, research interests refocus on the task at hand and benefit the people most in need of its breakthroughs. With the invaluable experiences of our community partners, we can achieve outcomes that were previously unthinkable at the outset of our research journeys. In this way very practical and tangible solutions and benefits arise from such work.

So, what can universities do to help steer researchers away from predicted outcomes and obvious choices? At Queen Mary, our collaborative community partnerships guarantee that we co-create knowledge, and in doing so we maximise the benefit to the people our work affects most.

Discover how our community partnerships are delivering real world impact here.