Living Knowledge Conference, Belfast

In the morning plenary on Friday, Robin Webster, Chief Executive of Age Action Ireland, spoke about the rights, duties and responsibilities of all people [growing old]. He reflected on the nature of partnerships comprised of the advantaged and disadvantaged, and whether the motivations of public alliances were biased because of natural (individual, organisational and institutional) self-selection. He provided warning that power balances in partnerships were inevitable and that diversity represented a major challenge, but also of course, an ideal opportunity to readdress those inequalities.

Professor Monica McWilliams, Chief Commissioner for Human Rights in Northern Ireland, who was chairing the session, provided summary for the short presentations provided by Mr Webster, who was joined by Dr Rajesr Tandon of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia, Murielle Gagnon from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Professor Gerry McCormac, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and External Relations at Queen’s University Belfast.

Professor McWilliams suggested that public and community-based research had huge potential and obligation to have serious impact on policy, legislation and regulatory frameworks. She echoed Robin’s comments by finishing the session with the advocacy notion: is this partnership what we [the public] really want? Why not ask us and check.

There was enough time for a few questions before morning coffee, one of which was answered by:

It doesn’t mater how complex the research findings are, the most important thing is to communicate to all audiences with open and accessible language in terms the reader cares about. Who just wants to read the executive summary of a lengthy report and not really be able to, or have the energy to, read the rest?

When the comments from the floor moved on to question the identities community and co-creation of knowledge, they prompted the comment from Dr Rajesr Tandon:

Who is any partnership made up of? We’re heading towards a knowledge economy, what about the knowledge society? We’re not working in a social vacuum and the economy is merely a subset of the whole society.