Research Together: Building trust and partnerships across Academic and Civil Society Sectors
Authors: Dr Noreen Lacey, Research Development Officer and Dr Sarah Delaney, Research Support Manager.
Organisations: Research Development Office, Maynooth University and Health Research Charities Ireland.
Description: ‘Research Together’ is an annual in-person, half-day event, designed to foster collaboration between civil society organisations (CSOs) and the academic research community. This platform enables participants to build long-term trust-based partnerships, share expertise and overcome barriers to sustained research collaborations.
Rationale: The role of civil society in research collaborations is increasingly recognised as fundamental to impactful research. The short period from funding call opening to submission deadline hinders the development of meaningful partnerships and co-developed applications.
Aim: To build mutual understanding and trust between researchers and societal partners while promoting upcoming funding opportunities to work towards together.
Initiative: Agenda collaboratively designed by MU Research Development Office and Health Research Charities Ireland to ensure relevance for attendees. Subsequent agendas shaped by participant feedback and collaboration with The Wheel. During the event, CSOs and researchers share their research needs and interests, while describing what constitutes a meaningful partnership from their perspective. Action talks and design thinking workshops connect CSOs and researchers on specific research themes. Information on upcoming funding opportunities is shared, followed by resources and tips for sustaining partnerships.
Results: Launched in 2022, sold out events have brought together 95 researchers, 40 CSOs and 44 research support professionals. Feedback indicates the events successfully facilitated connection-building, perspective sharing and learning for future collaborations and grant submissions.
Conclusion: There is opportunity to expand ‘Research Together’ events to other Universities, further enhancing academic-CSO sector partnerships to solve real-time societal challenges.