Action Research and Participatory Research: Engaging in Sustainable Change (2027)

Welcome to Action Research and Participatory Research: Engaging in Sustainable Change

Today, action research encompasses a diversity of projects across various fields such as education, social work, healthcare, the caregiving sector, and many others. It is conducted in both public and private organizations. Action research is associated with a wide array of concepts such as innovation, co-creation, capacity building, co-production, co-evaluation, learning, leadership, and organization, to name a few. However, what does the significant growth in the number of action research projects imply, what dilemmas arise, and what consequences has this development had, and might it have, now that action research has become so widespread? For "the young action researcher," this landscape can be experienced as both conflicting and challenging, particularly concerning the relationship between knowledge, theory, method, and action.

Four researchers with extensive experience in action research will be present throughout the course, each providing their perspective on action research. This ensures coherence in the course content, both during presentations and group work. Furthermore, the PhD course will offer two keynotes: Internationally recognized action researcher and Professor Emeritus Davydd Greenwood (Cornell University, USA) will deliver an online keynote. The second keynote will be delivered by Jonas Egmose, associate professor at Roskilde University.

Purpose:

The purpose of this PhD course is to share knowledge about action research in theory and practice with PhD students engaging in action research or similar change-oriented research approaches in their PhD projects. Furthermore, the course aims to create an inspiring forum for learning and knowledge exchange where the PhD students' projects can be presented and discussed.

Learning objectives:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of action research from contemporary and historical perspectives.

• Expand methodological knowledge, creativity and argumentation in the PhD project.

• Gain inspiration and perspectives in relation to design and research methodologies in PhD projects.

• Discuss and critically reflect on the role of the researcher when engaging with practitioners and different kinds of organizations in collaborative approaches to research.

Description of paper requirements:

The PhD-student can participate with either 1) a research paper or 2) a project description.

Provide an abstract of max. 500 words by June 1st 2027, containing:

• Purpose of the paper / project

• Methodological Considerations and Reflective Thoughts on Methodology

• Tentative Literature and/or Theoretical Considerations

Upon acceptance of abstract:

Scope of Full Paper / Complete Project Description: maximum 3000 words. The content is expected to elaborate on the same considerations as presented in the abstract.

Full paper / project description by September 7th, 2027.

Full paper / project description will be presented at paper workshops at the course, and the PhD students will be provided with feedback from the organizers and other participants in smaller groups.

Teaching methods: Lectures, parallel paper presentation workshops, plenary discussions.

The history and diversity of action research by Søren Frimann

Action research today encompasses a diversity of change- and action-oriented approaches that may be referred to as the "action family". These approaches are used in different contexts, such as private and public organizations, education, healthcare, and local communities. Action research is often associated with concepts such as co-creation, capacity building, and organizational learning. Many organizations have discovered that action research can be a rewarding approach to addressing and solving organizational problems and creating a space for learning, reflexivity, and development in practice, while also generating research knowledge through the action research process. This presentation provides an overview of the history of action research as well as its different epistemological positions and approaches. Based on concrete examples of action research, different epistemological positions, researcher roles, and approaches to action research will be explored and discussed.

Learning Processes, Collective Craftsmanship, and Art in Action Research Practice by Julie Borup Jensen

In recent years, within action research, there has been a movement towards new approaches to knowledge production, involving socio-material and art-based investigation methods. Current calls in international journals and conferences address the question of action research as a craft, or even as practices resembling art. For instance, the Action Research Journal issued a call for papers in 2020 titled "Artfulness in the Organizational Playground." Global climate change, green transition, and sustainability also play a role in this discussion. The assumption is that art can inspire the thematic exploration of the (co)creative aspects of action research concerning inclusive and engaging ways of conducting research that contribute to tangible learning and change. This lecture provides insight into perspectives on creative and artistic approaches to action research, inviting participants to reflect on the artistic aspects of their own investigative practices.

"Withness-thinking", "relational responsiveness" and "social poetics" in action research by Lone Hersted

This part of the PhD course contributes to a methodological and philosophical discussion on action research and draws on the intellectual work of the now deceased professor in communication, John Shotter (UK/USA). The lecture is inspired by a social constructionist and process-oriented approach to action research. Shotter has introduced the term "withness-thinking", which puts the relational in the foreground of all our inquiries. "Withness-thinking" requires a particular way of engaging oneself in the process together with the participants (often also called co-researchers). In this lecture we'll explore how we can understand the thinking of John Shotter and discuss how this way of thinking may serve as inspiration in action research practice. Special attention will be paid to concepts such as "withness-thinking", "withness-writing", "relational responsiveness", "social poetics", "polyphony", and "joint action" and how these concepts can inspire us in our living dialogues and interplay with practitioners and co-researchers.

Action Research and Eco-Social Transformation. Guest lecture by Jonas Egmose (Roskilde University, DK)

Finding ourselves in the midst of a plural eco-social crisis, this lecture addresses roles and guiding questions for action research understanding, envisioning, practicing, and organising eco-social action, with the aim of renewing our human entanglements with the living ecologies, in which we are embedded. Driven by the aim of democratising eco-social transformations, climate- and biodiversity disasters are approached as symptoms of a plural ecosocial crisis. From an eco-feminist position, this crisis concerns notions of mastery and extractivism eroding human and societal capabilities to sustain the inherent regenerative capacities of the living. Grounded in critical utopian action research, the lecture addresses different dimensions in action research for eco-social transformation: i) enabling social learning spaces to make visible the ways we are socially and ecologically related; ii) re-imagining how we want to live and relate in wider ecologies; iii) seeking alternatives to mastery through tangible practices; and iv) enabling new organisational forms for societal reorganisation. Building on concrete cases the lecture describes how these different perspectives can mutually strengthen action research for eco-social transformation.

A Call to Action Research: Confronting the social and environmental sustainability crises

Based on his new book with the same title. Online guest lecture by Davydd Greenwood (Cornell University, USA).

Programme outline:

Day 1

• 9.00-9.30: Welcome and running through the program.

• 9.30-10.00: Mutual presentation and dialogue on expectations.

• 10.00-10.15: Break.

• 10.15-11.15: The history and diversity of action research by Søren Frimann.

• 11.15-12.00: Discussion in small groups, summing up in plenary.

• 12.00-13.00: Lunch.

• 13.00-15.00: Parallel workshops with paper presentations or presentations of the participants' PhD project. Feedback from either Julie Borup Jensen, Søren Frimann, Lone Hersted or Jonas Egmose.

• 15.00-16.15: Action Research and Eco-Social Transformation by Jonas Egmose.

• 16.15-17.30: A Call to Action Research: Confronting the social and environmental sustainability crises by Davydd Greenwood.

• 17.30: Singing and socializing.

• 19.00: Self-paid dinner at a restaurant in town.

Day 2

• 9.00-9.15: Good morning and welcome back.

• 9.15-10.15: "Withness-thinking", "relational responsiveness" and "social poetics" in action research by Lone Hersted.

• 10.15-10.30: Break.

• 10.30-11.30: Learning Processes, Collective Craftsmanship, and Art in Action Research Practice by Julie Borup Jensen.

• 11.30-12.00: Group discussion.

• 12.00-13.00: Lunch.

• 13.00-15.00: Parallel workshops with paper presentations or presentations of the participants' PhD project. Feedback from either Julie Borup Jensen, Søren Frimann or Lone Hersted.

• 15.00-16.00: Summing up the course, oral evaluation. Søren Frimann, Julie Borup Jensen, Lone Hersted.

Key literature:

Mandatory general literature for the course

Bradbury H. (ed.) (2015). The Sage Handbook of Action Research. 3rd edition. London: Sage, pp. 1-30.

Frimann, S. & Hersted, L. (2021). Knowledge Building and Learning in the Public Sector Through Co-Creation and "Withness-Thinking". In: Thomassen, A. O. & Jensen, J. B. (eds) Processual Perspectives on the Co-Production Turn in Public Sector Organizations. Hershey PA, USA: IGI global, chapter 13, pp. 238-254.

Jensen, J. B., & Frimann, S. (2023). Professional and Organizational Development of Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care Through Action Learning. I Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care through Leadership and Organizational Learning: Organizational and Professional Development (Bind 41, s. 137-156). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39419-5

Eikeland, O., Frimann, S., Hersted, L., & Jensen, J. B. (2022). Are action researchers mixed up? Reviewing and revising basic assumptions, concepts, and terminology in action research. International Journal of Action Research, 18(2), 165-182.

Additional for the individual lectures

History of Action Research

Greenwood D.J. & Lewin M. (1998). Introduction to Action Research - Social Research for Social Change. London: Sage, Chapter 2., pp. 13-34.

Hersted, L., Ness, O. & Frimann, S. (2020). Action Research in a Relational Perspective - Dialogue, Reflexivity, Power and Ethics. London & New York: Routledge, chapter 1, pp. 3-16.

Learning Processes, Collective Craftsmanship, and Art in Action Research Practice

French J, Curd E. (2021, e-Pub ahead of Print). Zining as artful method: Facilitating zines as participatory action research within art museums. Action Research. August 2021. doi: 10.1177/14767503211037104

Jensen, J. B. (2025). Aesthetic suspension as methodological awareness in action research. Forskning og Forandring, 8(1), 124-141. https://doi.org/10.23865/fof.v8.6950

"Withness-thinking", "relational responsiveness" and "social poetics" in action research

Frimann, S., Hersted, L. & Søbye, A. (2020). "Action research in the perspective of becoming: The significance of reflexive dialogue." In: L. Hersted, O. Ness, and S. Frimann (2020) (eds.) Action Research in a Relational Perspective: Dialogue, reflexivity, power and ethics. London and New York: Routledge, chapter 3, pp. 34-51.

Hersted, L., (2020). "Developing leadership through action research with roleplaying". In: L. Hersted, O. Ness, and S. Frimann (2020) (eds.) Action Research in a Relational Perspective: Dialogue, reflexivity, power and ethics. London and New York: Routledge, chapter 7, pp. 111-133.

Action Research and Eco-Social Transformation

Egmose, J, Hauggaard-Nielsen, H, Jacobsen, SG (2022): Action Research in the Plural Crisis of the Living. Understanding, Envisioning, Practicing, Organising Eco-Social Transformation. Educational Action Research. https://doi-org.ep.fjernadgang.kb.dk/10.1080/09650792.2022.2084433

Egmose, J; Gleerup, J & Nielsen, B S (2020): Critical Utopian Action Research. Methodological inspiration for democratization? International Review of Qualitative Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940844720933236

A call to Action Research

Greenwood, D., Ravn, J. & Bartels, K. P. R. (2025): A Call to Action Research: Confronting the social and environmental sustainability crises. Edward Elgar.

Suggested literature

Egmose, Jonas (2015): Action Research for Sustainability. Social Imagination between Citizens and Scientist. Routledge.

Shotter, J. 2010. "Situated Dialogic Action Research: Disclosing 'Beginnings' for Innovative Change in Organizations." Organizational Research Methods 13(2): pp. 268-285.

Shotter, J. 2006. "Understanding Process from Within: An Argument for 'Withness'-Thinking." Organization Studies 27(4): pp. 585-600.

Shotter, J. 2007. "With What Kind of Science Should Action Research Be Contrasted?" International Journal of Action Research 3(1+2): pp. 65-92.

Shotter, J. and A.M. Katz. 1999. "'Living Moments' in Dialogical Exchanges." Human Systems 9: pp. 81-93.

Organizer:

Julie Borup Jensen, professor, Department of Culture and Communication, CO-LEARN
Søren Frimann, associate professor, Department of Culture and Communication, CO-LEARN
Lone Hersted, associate professor, Department of Culture and Communication, CO-LEARN

Lecturers:

Julie Borup Jensen
Søren Frimann
Lone Hersted
Jonas Egmose, associate professor, Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Denmark
Davydd Greenwood, Prof. Emeritus, Cornell University, USA

ECTS: 2 for two-day course participation; 1 additional ECTS for paper / project presentation. Maximum: 3 ECTS.

Conference participation:

The PhD-students may use the PhD-course to prepare a presentation at the conference "Activism and Democracy", October 27-28, 2027, arranged by the Danish Action Research Network (DAN, Dansk Aktionsforskningsnetværk). By also presenting their paper at the conference, it is possible to obtain up to 2 additional ECTS, depending on the individual participant's university policies concerning ECTS. Maximum = 5 ECTS.

Date: 29, 30 September 2027

Place:

City: Aalborg University, Kroghstræde 3, 9220 Aalborg SØ

Number of seats: 24 

Open for enrolment: 29 May 2027

Deadline for enrolment: 8 September 2027

Important information concerning PhD courses:

There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course.

You may find more information in our FAQ: https://phd.moodle.aau.dk/local/page/faq

For inquiries regarding registration, cancellation or waiting list, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk. When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.