RAI Film Festival Conference 2023

The workshop was designed to facilitate thinking about creative research methods which emerge from community-led problem identification, in order to foster more participatory approaches. The workshop welcomed participants from across the Hub Collaboratories, with the convening team from Colombia and the UK joined by Jannah Tajuddin representing Malaysia, Endaweke Assegide from Ethiopia, and Beenish Mushtaq, Radhika Modi, and Shambhavi Gupta representing India.

Helen: “Over the two-hour session we discussed the diverse ways in which we initiate work with communities and other actors (including the complexities of researching with institutional actors or governmental representatives), how we involve communities in our research (including how to foster ethical engagement and build trust), and how we plan for the realities encountered in the research process (from practicalities such as weather and travel difficulties to remote regions, through to changes in government or local officials that can cause major setbacks to research). 

The session resulted in a rich and enjoyable discussion on how to be ethical and intentional in setting up research relationships with communities, whilst outlining realistic impacts that our research might have - making sure that this contributes to the sense of trust that is essential for long-term engagement. We hope to take this forward by collaborating on the creation of community engagement training materials for the Hub’s RMGC platform.”