Amir, Ilma and Judy collaborate on a project focused on the charity sector. A key methodological concern of their work is to adopt an approach where the organisations they work with feel involved throughout the research design process.

In this episode they reflect on elements of co-production as well as their previous Methods@Manchester workshop with attendees from the voluntary and community sector, which aimed at supporting these organisations with developing their knowledge around qualitative methods and analysis for service design.

You can find out more about Amir, Ilma and Judy on their profiles.

Sophie, Jolene and Ben use storytelling and narratives in their work in various ways. In this episode they talk about the power of stories and their experiences using them, both as an academic research method and a means of building and sustaining community. 

The three of them came together with methods@manchester to lead a workshop as part of the 2024 Being Human Festival. You can read a blog about their workshop ‘What’s in your wardrobe? Exploring the power of stories and connections’ here.

Sophie and Jolene have collaborated with NCRM to produce a storytelling toolkit. 

You can find out more about Sophie and Ben by visiting their profiles and read more about Jolene’s work with Joy Ethic. 

Njabulo is the Museum’s Curator of Living Cultures. He is responsible for the care of more than 25,000 objects from different parts of the world and his work includes building active collaborative provenance research with diaspora and descendant communities. Our discussion focused on this collaborative approach to re-imagining meanings and explored why such an approach to decolonisation is important.

This episode was recorded following a collaborative object-handling session with local African diaspora community groups - you can read more about this event here.

You can read further about decolonisation methodology and Njabulo’s work with Manchester Museum in the following article:

Chipangura, Njabulo. 2023. “ The Benin Tusk and Zulu Beadwork: Practicing Decolonial Work at Manchester Museum Through Shared Authority.” Museum Anthropology 46(2): 106–116. 

Liz and Laura are researchers on the Austerity and Altered Life-Courses project and discuss a range of creative approaches to oral history methods.

The Austerity and Altered Life-Courses team have been exploring different ways to share the stories of young people experiencing austerity. They have launched a digital exhibition, Future Lives and Austerity, featuring 12 futures stories in English, Italian and Spanish. For more information, including the exhibition, see: https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/morgan-centre/research/austerityalters/

To find out more about Liz, Laura and the wider project team please see here: https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/morgan-centre/research/austerityalters/project-team-and-partners/

Chloe talks about her experiences as a researcher, particularly in relation to her PhD work focused on bodies and tattoo consumption. The discussion draws on a workshop she did for methods@manchester and her recent journal article in Journal of Marketing Management.

To access the work discussed here please see:

Steadman, C. (2023). Remembering and anticipating researcher vulnerability: an autoethnographic tale. Journal of Marketing Management, 39(9–10), 807–828. Full article: Remembering and anticipating researcher vulnerability: an autoethnographic tale

Chloe Steadman’s profile can be found here: Dr Chloe Steadman | Manchester Metropolitan University

To access the work discussed here please see:

CRIS Collective 2023 “Let there be a “We”: introducing an ethics of collective academic care", European Journal of Marketing,  57, 10, pp. 2838-2859. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJM-04-2022-0269/full/html

Kathy Hamilton’s profile can be found here: https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/hamiltonkathydr/