ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the co-production endeavour from the academic researcher’s point of view. It considers the barriers and facilitators to effective co-production in academia, drawing on many years of practice experience. The chapter presents feature interviews with researchers in order to capture their opinions around the unique opportunities afforded by co-production work. A number of academics and practitioners who have been involved in long-running co-production projects centred on the evaluation of locally commissioned public health services, and providing national policy and practice support. Co-production projects can be tricky; as with any industry, stakeholders working together face a number of challenges. An additional pressure point concerns the practicalities of running a project, such as organising honorary contracts and administrative support. One of the fundamental reasons for undertaking co-production research is the ability to influence policy and practice. Not only can research provide academic benefits, such as an original contribution to the wider literature, but it can offer wider benefits to policy.