"I am here" - the collective experience, impacts and sense-making from a shared Summer School experience

This paper aims to offer a practice-inspired contribution to participatory research by describing and analyzing a particular experience lived in Porto – FPCEUP – at the EERA Summer School. Being a group of two tutors and six doctoral students, we depict some of the impacts the week had on all participants while sharing and reflecting on the place of participatory research in both the individual projects and the collective learning experience. The specificity of this group was the mobilization of ABR methodologies to start a reflexive dialogue on the transitioning process from doctoral student to researcher. Inspired by Photovoice (Wang & Burris, 1997) and Image Theatre (Boal, 2002) to attend to the multiplicity of visions, voices, and experiences in the room, we tried to foster a safe and creative space of collaboration where thoughts and feelings could be collectively experienced and reflected on. The use of Arts-Based Research, the rapid growth of trust within the group, and the agency that was felt and taken by the group’s participants are the main themes targeted in our analysis, which were at the heart of the unexpected and surprising way the week unfolded

Political science · Public relations · Sense of community · Sense of place · Social science · Sociology · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Engineering · Psychology · Social Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies · Youth Development and Social Support