There’s a real possibility that I, and maybe we, will go home from here.
There’s the literal sense, I return home, I return to what I know, to doing what I always do, because it’s not so bad in my world. There’s rest and recuperation to be found at home, sometimes. And safety, if we’re lucky.
And there’s a more metaphorical sense, I return to an intellectual home, with familiar processes and practices that have fuelled my personal and professional achievements thus far.
But co-production isn’t central to that professional world.
So how do I decide to go somewhere else other than “home”? Or, how do I bring what I’ve learnt about co-production into my “home”?
If I decide to go somewhere else, then there have got to be “pull” factors, something that makes the new place more appealing than the home I know, because there aren’t many “push” factors that mean home’s not a comfortable place to be and making me want to move on. What is it about co-production that makes my research and practice better? Well, the people I work with would be interesting, and often fun, certainly different! And maybe the impact of what I do would be increased because others and other perspectives were involved in it. But also, my personal contribution might not be as delineated and clear, so how would I get the recognition that I’ve contributed? Moving to co-production might also make the place where I work brighter, more interesting, more stimulating. Will I still feel at home there? Will it be a safe place?
Dr Alice Owen
Programme Leader – MSc Sustainability (Environmental Consultancy & Project Management)
Lecturer in Business, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement
Sustainability Research Institute
School of Earth and Environment
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
15 July 2015
Co-producing Knowledge 