About

The Co-Pro Futures Inquiry aimed to identify practical sector-wide and institutional changes that can improve the conditions for co-produced and participatory research within UK universities and the Higher Education (HE) sector.

Between 2024-2026, it involved workshops, interviews, a public Call for Evidence and Ideas, desk-based secondary analysis, and a high-profile panel drawn from the higher education sector who identified actions that can be put into practice. The process was overseen by our Community Reference Group.

Why we did this

There has been a growing emphasis on interactive approaches to knowledge exchange and a recognition of the need to consider wider research cultures - specifically, how research is produced, with whom, and for whom. This has moved co-production and participatory research from the margins to the mainstream.

Despite this positive progress, there is still more work to do. Participatory researchers sometimes end up doing their work 'despite not because of' the university.

We needed a sector-wide reflection on what universities, funders, and policy-makers need to do to support this effectively.

The Inquiry was funded by Research England Participatory Research Funds, and was co-led by Professor Catherine Durose (Heseltine Institute at the University of Liverpool) Professor Liz Richardson (Department of Politics at the University of Manchester) and Professor Beth Perry (Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield).