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Conducting collaborative co-research project with people who have experience of the UK asylum system.

The project conducted collaborative ethnographic research with six co-researchers who hadÌýpersonalÌýexperience of the UK asylum system. Berg and Dickson provided an online training programme composedÌýof six phases, for the co-researchers who were recruited via the project's partner organisation, St Augustine’sÌýCentre in Halifax, Yorkshire. Rowe provided the visual methods training component of the researchÌýprocess and the co-researchers were provided with mobile phones and data to enable them to participate.Ìý

The research process is an outcome in itself: it provided training for a group of marginalised people,Ìýexcluded from work and training in the UK. Of the group of six, one co-researcher is now in full-timeÌýemployment with the project's partner organisation, and one is in full-time higher education. The partnerÌýorganisation has decided to implement the co-research method pioneered in this initiative for some of its otherÌýprojects.

The funding enabled the project team to conduct a collaborative research project with a marginalised group of peopleÌýwhose voices are barely heard in public discussion of asylum and dispersal, yet whose lives are severely circumscribed by punitive policies of enforced destitution and dispersal. It enabled Berg and Dickson to trial an innovative research process, build a mutually beneficial relationship with the partner organisation, and it facilitated access to a wider group of research participants via the co-researchersÌýand the organisation.Ìý

The project's findings have been disseminated through publication of a major , several , an online , an article for the newsletter of the DoncasterÌýConversation Club, a voluntary organisation supporting asylum seekers in Doncaster and surroundingÌýareas, and severalÌýseminar presentations to academic colleagues and third sector organisations. Berg is also organising a conferenceÌýpanel for the IMISCOE conference in June/July 2022 in Oslo in which a paper by Berg and Dickson will beÌýpresented. IMISCOE is Europe’s largest network of migration scholars.

In addition, impacts from the project have also included colleagues in the Thomas Coram Research Unit (IOE) benefittingÌýfrom a seminar on theÌýparticipatory co-research process, and other colleagues will benefit from forthcoming publications onÌýthe research, including an anticipated book chapter co-written with two of the co-researchers.ÌýDr Dickson successfully applied for promotion to Research Fellow during the research process and theÌýGC funding was part of her application.ÌýBoth Berg and Dickson are committed to using a participatory co-research process in future research.