Engaging with knowledge co-production: critical reflections from global doctoral researchers

There has been a recent shift across social science research disciplines to engaging with co-production as a practical strategy for urban equality. Many doctoral researchers are interested in exploring how research and knowledge can be co-produced through doctoral programmes. However, there is a gap in current literature and methodological precedents regarding the feasibility of knowledge co-production from within a doctoral environment.

Doctoral programmes are designed to be time-bound, pre-defined, rigidly structured, independent and to result in an individual piece of work. This design does not align with processes of co-production. Considering these constraints and following the KNOW Doctoral Training Course, a group of ten global doctoral researchers coproduced this book chapter to reflect on and share our experiences with co-production from our specific positions. We frame our reflections under the categories: ethical research and power; knowledges and responsibilities; and partnerships and flexibility.

We conclude that doctoral programmes are typically structured in a way that tends to reproduce the hierarchies and inequalities within academic structures and knowledge production systems more broadly, which perpetuates gatekeeping of knowledge creation processes and access to such academic (i.e. privileged, esoteric) knowledge. Therefore, the transformative potential of co-produced doctoral research can only be delivered if doctoral researchers are trained, supported and encouraged to engage with the complexities of such co-productive processes from within university structures.