"Education is Freedom"
The 3rd of September 2022 marked the We Move Summit for Racial Equality and Migrants Rights, held by the Runnymede Trust at the University of Leeds. Hosting a variety of seminars, panel discussions, and networking events, the We Move Summit saw dozens of academics, policymakers, educators, and activists flock to the University of Leeds campus to discuss pressing issues surrounding racial equality and migrants’ rights. Angelique Retief (Senior Policy Officer), Chiara Lodi (Senior Research Officer), and Japheth Monzon (Project Officer) attended as representatives of the Black South West Network in order to foster life-long connections and to gather knowledge that would be of great use for the work done at BSWN. With only a day’s worth of attendance available, the three representatives elected to attend three seminars and discussions throughout the day.
Co-production can be defined as a collaborative process in which citizens can play an active role in producing public goods and services of consequence to them (Farr). In realising the ‘ambitions’ of researchers and community leaders, authentic co-productive research – that is, research that is appropriately open and democratic – must challenge the existing power differentials and hierarchies innate in knowledge production (Duros et al). But the fact that the valuable insights brought to the table by community representatives can be so easily set aside based on the prejudices and motivations of research institutions clearly indicates that there is work to be done to democratise the production of knowledge.
Japheth Monzon ©
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