The Leuven Gymkhana: Transdisciplinary Action Research Questioning Socially Innovative Multi-Actor Collaborations in COVID Times

Medina-García, Clara; Nagarajan, Sharmada; Broeck, Pieter Van den

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2022.746974

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…The authors of 29 papers mention issues in the digital transition category; this is equivalent to 76% of all papers analysed in this study, making digital transition challenges the most common ones in the literature. Indeed, authors frequently commented on how changing their projects to virtual environments was a necessary response to the conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, usually as a result of government-decreed stay-athome orders and limitations on social gatherings [10,[29][30][31].…”

Section: Digital Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors of 9 papers in this review, almost 24% of all papers, claim to have struggled with this social aspect of their research plans due to the pandemic. To most authors, trust-building issues encountered were a result of the hindered manner in which people develop relationships in virtual environments [29,33]. Some authors mentioned that digital accessibility issues were the primary barriers to successfully establishing trust with participants.…”

Section: Building Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another related factor is the expanded reach and capacity of the participatory events. With the added convenience of being able to attend an event from the comfort of their own homes and offices, more participants could be included, and they could do so from faraway locations that would otherwise make their presence a logistical challenge [16,29].…”

Section: The Pandemic's Positive Aspects For Parmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Participatory Action Research Challenges Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review and Comparison across Two European Projects

et al. 2023

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The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that spread through the world in 2020 had a major effect on academia. Research projects relying on participatory methods and action research approaches were especially harmed by the restrictions and changes the situation imposed. This study performs a rapid literature review to identify common themes in the narratives of published studies concerning the difficulties of carrying-out participatory research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceptions and experiences of the authors of these studies are compiled and summarized. Additionally, insights and lessons learned from two projects in which the authors of this study participated are discussed and used to establish a comparison with the common challenges found in the literature. Over 90% of authors experienced challenges related to digitalization and methodological changes, 70% encountered difficulties with organizational and operational aspects of research, and over 30% felt that personal challenges, as well as issues with participatory aspects of research, were significant. On a positive note, almost 40% of authors from our sample recognize that the pandemic also brought unexpected benefits, such as a reduction in logistical expenses, and the creation of new opportunities for participation. This study adds to the growing body of literature regarding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the research community. Additionally, it comments on the adaptation of participatory action research methods for added sustainability and social inclusion in the face of global crises.

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Section: Digital Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Building Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Pandemic's Positive Aspects For Parmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Participatory Action Research Challenges Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review and Comparison across Two European Projects

et al. 2023

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“…Power relationships have significant impact on capacity development and on the links between research, policy and practice [23]. The multidisciplinary research approach has played a key role in the production of quality evidence of the complexity demand by policy [24], and has enhanced the engagement of various actors [25,26]. Translation of evidence to policy needs collaboration among multidisciplinary scholars; collaboration between researchers and community representatives from diverse background and lay perspectives, and collaboration among community organizations across local, state, national, and international levels [24,27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges for research uptake for health policymaking and practice in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Semahegn,

Manyazewal,

Hanlon

et al. 2023

Health Res Policy Sys

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Background An estimated 85% of research resources are wasted worldwide, while there is growing demand for context-based evidence-informed health policymaking. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), research uptake for health policymaking and practice is even lower, while little is known about the barriers to the translation of health evidence to policy and local implementation. We aimed to compile the current evidence on barriers to uptake of research in health policy and practice in LMICs using scoping review. Methods The scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses-extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and the Arksey and O'Malley framework. Both published evidence and grey literature on research uptake were systematically searched from major databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL (EBSCO), Global Health (Ovid)) and direct Google Scholar. Literature exploring barriers to uptake of research evidence in health policy and practice in LMICs were included and their key findings were synthesized using thematic areas to address the review question. Results A total of 4291 publications were retrieved in the initial search, of which 142 were included meeting the eligibility criteria. Overall, research uptake for policymaking and practice in LMICs was very low. The challenges to research uptake were related to lack of understanding of the local contexts, low political priority, poor stakeholder engagement and partnership, resource and capacity constraints, low system response for accountability and lack of communication and dissemination platforms. Conclusion Important barriers to research uptake, mainly limited contextual understanding and low participation of key stakeholders and ownership, have been identified. Understanding the local research and policy context and participatory evidence production and dissemination may promote research uptake for policy and practice. Institutions that bridge the chasm between knowledge formation, evidence synthesis and translation may play critical role in the translation process.

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Innovative Multi-Actor Collaborations as Collective Actors and Institutionalized Spaces. The Case of Food Governance Transformation in Leuven (Belgium)

Medina-García

Nagarajan

Castillo-Vysokolan

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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The sustainable transformation of food systems is a particularly prolific field in which innovative multi-actor collaborations (IMACs) are being tested. Despite the growing literature on food governance and transformation of food systems, and on the principles of alternative food networks and local food strategies, little is known about how these are implemented and how multi-actor networks are coordinated and governed. Taking food as a lens, our objectives are to identify (1) how IMACs are established, (2) how collaboration is enacted within them, and (3) how governance innovations in these fields affect and are affected by broader urban governance innovation. Methodologically, we take a transdisciplinary action research approach, combining different groups of researchers with stakeholders involved in two on-going and interacting IMAC trajectories in Leuven (Belgium), i.e., the non-profit governmental organization Leuven2030 aiming to achieve climate-neutrality and the parallel collective development and implementation of the local food strategy “Food Connects.” After reconstructing the trajectory of these IMACs from a governance perspective and discussing their current limitations, we realize that these IMACs perform both as collective actors and as institutionalized spaces for experimentation and transformative change. Our findings demonstrate that IMACs can be an empowering tool for local actors to challenge supra-local and systemic power imbalance and injustice; that networking and supra-local connections of urban actors can increase the legitimacy and outreach of transition processes, mobilization of resources and peer-learning; and that the consolidation of IMACs builds on previous sedimentations of experimentation and benefits from the impulse of political will in specific windows of opportunity. We conclude that the institutionalization of common objectives set within IMACs requires a parallel institutionalization of governance structures that enabled reaching them, which entails defining specific roles and responsibilities among actors and ensuring stable spaces for conflict, deliberation, and negotiation.

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The Leuven Gymkhana: Transdisciplinary Action Research Questioning Socially Innovative Multi-Actor Collaborations in COVID Times

Cited by 3 publications

References 31 publications

Participatory Action Research Challenges Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review and Comparison across Two European Projects

Participatory Action Research Challenges Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review and Comparison across Two European Projects

Challenges for research uptake for health policymaking and practice in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Innovative Multi-Actor Collaborations as Collective Actors and Institutionalized Spaces. The Case of Food Governance Transformation in Leuven (Belgium)

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