Universities are increasingly being asked to take an active role as research collaborators with citizens, public bodies, and community organisations, which, it is claimed, makes them more accountable, creates better research outcomes, and enhances the knowledge base. Yet many of these research collaborators, as well as their funders and institutions, have not yet developed the methods to ‘account for’ collaborative research, or to help collaborators in challenging their assumptions about the quality of this work.


This book, part of the Connected Communities series, highlights the benefits of universities collaborating with outside bodies on research and addresses the key challenge of articulating the value of collaborative research in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Edited by two well respected academics, it includes voices and perspectives from researchers and practitioners in a wide range of disciplines.


Together, they explore tensions in the evaluation and assessment of research in general, and the debates generated by collaborative research between universities and communities to enable greater understanding of collaborative research, and to provide a much-needed account of key theorists in the field of interdisciplinary collaborative research.

Contributions by: Andrew Power, Karen Smyth, Robert Rutherfoord, Liz Richardson, Peter Matthews, Catherine Durose, Dave Vanderhoven, Colin Shepherd, Helen Graham, Oliver Davis, Elizabeth Curtis, Jo Vergunst, Amanda Ravetz, Steve Pool, Kimberley Marwood, Helen Graham, Hugh Escott, Deborah James, Martin Phillips, Mihaela Kelemen, Rachael Turner, Martin Swan, John Stanley, David Robinson, Paul Manners, Rebecca Madgin, John Lawson, Alex Hale, Helen Graham, Paul Furness, Kathy Cremin, Richard A. Courtney, Danny Callaghan, Peter Brown, Karen Brookfield, Richard Brigham, Lianne Brigham, Tim Boon, Mike Benson, Martin Bashforth, Colin Foskett, Justine Gaubert, Gemma Burford, Katerina Alexiou, Theodore Zamenopoulos, Ann Light, Andy Dearden, Sophia De Sousa, Paula Graham, Marie Harder, Elona Hoover, Julian Brigstocke, Dave O'Brien, Steve Connelly, Laura Brown, Julie Brown, Janice Astbury, Peter Matthews, Kim Aumann, Sophie Duncan