Inquiry process
An overview of the Co-pro Futures Inquiry process, tracking the key stages of research, engagement and evidence-gathering undertaken between 2024 and 2026.
Overview
Our Inquiry spans several phases, including early workshops to surface challenges faced by researchers; a national Call for Evidence (which gathered 239 submissions); deliberations with our Inquiry Panel; and workshops exploring international perspectives and community researcher experiences. A landscape review is also underway to map the wider ecosystem of organisations working toward similar goals.
Alongside the main inquiry, the work has prompted practical pathfinder projects at the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, improving contracts, ethics review, and payment processes to better support co-production.
Introducing the Inquiry
University of Sheffield workshop - ‘Air your dirty laundry’
In June 2024 we held a workshop in Sheffield to introduce the Inquiry to researchers drawn primarily from the Universities of Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester.
We invited the 60+ participants to 'air their dirty laundry in public', identifying challenges they had experienced in the field which related to specific processes or structures within their own universities. They then wrote postcards to the person or team that might be able to address the problem - most often the Directors of Finance and Operation, Directors of Research, or UKRI/funding bodies.
The workshop highlighted that people often feel 'isolated' trying to navigate different systems and processes. Yet there are a vast range of similar experiences across multiple organisations, sectors and disciplines and knowledge of how institutional conditions support or limit co-produced research.
The June workshop revealed the creativity and imagination that researchers and professional services staff show when coming up with ways to do co-produced or participatory research in systems that are not designed for it.
Outputs
MethodsCon 2024 Workshop
We conducted a second workshop in September 2024, as part of 'MethodsCon', organised by the National Centre for Research Methods in Manchester.
Launching our call for evidence and ideas
In 2024–25 we ran a national Call for Evidence and Ideas, asking people to share their experiences of doing co-produced and participatory research with universities around four themes: Fair Funding, Equitable Partnerships, Responsible Metrics and Negotiated Ethics. 239 pieces of evidence were submitted by community groups, charities, universities, researchers and funders.
Getting Our House in Order
University of Sheffield Launch Workshop
Publishing our Call for Evidence Summary Report
We analysed the submissions from the Call for Evidence and Ideas and published our Call for Evidence Summary Report in July 2025.
The evidence shows widespread agreement that there are significant institutional barriers to doing co-produced and participatory research, but also highlights promising actions and solutions already being tried and tested. We discussed these findings with our Community Reference Group and Inquiry Panel, who stressed that improving research culture – not just systems – will be key to meaningful change.
Meeting with our Inquiry members
In June 2025, we met with our Community Reference Group in Manchester to share and reflect on our Call for Evidence Summary Report, and discuss how we take this forward. A key takeaway from this session was the group's emphasis on the role of research culture, highlighting how many of the issues raised are as much about behaviours and values within the Higher Education context as they are about systems and structures.
We then presented our final report to the Inquiry Panel in Liverpool in July. We heard from funders and other key stakeholders across the sector, and discussed how to move from insight to action in what many acknowledged is a crowded and sometimes contradictory landscape. A key question emerged from this session: How do we ensure this work lands and makes a difference?
Building on the Call for Evidence and Ideas
Deliberating with our Inquiry Panel
We ran a series of three deliberations with our Inquiry Panel between October 2025 and May 2026.
We spent time understanding the barriers across the sector, what needs to change, and exploring how real, practical change can happen across a complex sector. We agreed there is no simple fix – but by mapping different approaches happening across the sector, we can see more clearly where influence and momentum lie.
We also explored how to make the case for co-production in ways that land with different decision-makers. We discussed what each of us in the room can do to push this forward within our own organisations.
Deliberations with our Inquiry Panel
Understanding the international context - online workshop
In December 2025, we held an online session with the Urban Institute at The University of Sheffield (https://sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institute), bringing together colleagues from the UK, Brazil, Pakistan and South Africa.
The dialogues delved into the international dimensions of working across borders and how we can create more supportive conditions and cultures for co-research with marginalised or underserved organisations or groups outside the UK.
We heard from UK academics who have experienced challenges or found creative ways to do knowledge co-production across borders. We also found out how international researchers in Belo Horizonte, Cape Town and Karachi experience working with UK academics in co-produced projects, and whether bypassing them all altogether produces more equitable outcomes.
These conversations highlighted how power, funding and accountability work across borders – and what more equitable international co-production could look like.
Understanding community researcher perspectives - workshop and webinar
We ran a workshop with community researchers and community-based organisations in January 2026 to understand what a good experience of working with universities looks and feels like.
While community researchers highlighted that they felt empowered, amplified, and legitimised by their experience working with universities, they also called for universities to commit to sustaining relationships and working together as partners. We asked what needs to change to improve the experiences of community researchers, and collected a series of ‘hopes’ that will inform the Inquiry’s next steps.
On 14 April 2026, we hosted a public webinar to disseminate the findings from this workshop and open up a wider discussion about what a good experience of working with universities looks and feels like. During the webinar, we collected other examples of current initiatives we may have missed that are working towards this goal.
Watch the webinar and read the findings here.
Conducting a landscape review
We conducted a landscape review to understand how the Inquiry fits within the wider ecosystem of organisations and initiatives working toward similar goals, which weren’t identified through our Call for Evidence and Ideas.
This will help us to identify where enabling infrastructure already exists, where practice is emerging, and where opportunities exist to build an ongoing community of practice.
This will be publicly available soon.
Pathfinder projects and wider impact
The evidence we have collected is shaping funder conversations and national discussions about research culture.
The Inquiry has also led to the following pathfinder projects within our own institutions:
Improving the contracts process at Sheffield At The University of Sheffield, we’ve been working with our contracts team to improve the contracts process – which includes issues around data ownership and intellectual property – so that it better supports co-production and community-University research partnerships.
Ethical review and payment processes at Manchester
At the University of Manchester, there is an ongoing project to improve the ethics to better support participatory research. You can read more about the current process here:
Overview of the ethical review process at Manchester
Colleagues at Manchester have also recently reviewed their payment system to make it easier to pay community partners.
Overview of the payment process at Manchester
Additional cross-sector engagement
We have also contributed to many other workshops, talks and events across the sector.
Cross-sector engagement
Where next?
Cross-sector engagement 
