Emerging Policy and Practices on Community-Based Research—Perspectives from the Island of Ireland

Abstract

It is our shared understanding that one of the core roles of higher education is “to reconnect economy, culture, science and society” as argued by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, and, in doing so, evolve scholarship that creates positive social change through the fostering of collaborative partnerships with community and the wider society. Higher education is going through a period of rapid change as globally the economic recession has caused a shift in conceptual thinking from economic foci toward engagement with community and society (Escrigas et al., 2014; Inman and Schuetze, 2011). It is widely agreed, in principle, that higher education institutions can play a pivotal role in terms of societal wellbeing through their three core activities of research, teaching, and service (also called engagement or outreach). Watson (2007) argues that it is through an intentional civic or community engagement strategy and practice that higher education can impact positively upon community and society.

In recent decades, much ground has been lost in terms of the public realm; that shared essential space of scholarly discourse and contestation of an independent people free to participate and change their circumstances, to imagine their future—be it in Ireland, Europe or at global level has to be reclaimed by generous and open scholarship … The challenge is to ethically reconnect economy, culture, science and society and in the process of so doing, to recover or reinforce an ethos of emancipatory scholarship. Independent thought, from home and abroad, and scholarly engagement with our current circumstances are crucial.

(Higgins, 2013 p. 1)