ABSTRACT
The term ‘co-ownership’ is recently emerging in the research fields of health care and social well-being. The notion is ill-defined, but a key idea is that when people co-create knowledge, as in participatory research (PR), they should also equally share and own this knowledge and accompanying innovations. The reason for interest in co-ownership is the increasing acceptance that not only academics have the right or capability to inquire about the world in which we live. This relates to redressing the balance of power and interests, and one of the most prominent ethical issues in sharing control and co-ownership throughout the research process is how to prevent the colonisation, co-option and appropriation of the voices and stories of less powerful people by vested interests. This ‘taking over’ is not always intended, but nevertheless may be felt as such because it re-establishes structural inequalities in the research field – a topic we discuss later in the chapter.
