DIGIT course: Action Research
The course will provide a strong foundation in the theories, methods, and ethics of action research, while also focusing on real-world applications and digital tools that enable collaboration. Participants will explore themes such as power dynamics, co-authorship, and community engagement, while gaining hands-on experience with mobile ethnography tools and participatory project design. Alongside interactive workshops, case studies, and group activities, the course offers opportunities for networking, including a special dinner with speakers and participants.
When: 11-12 Des, 2025
Where: Kalvskinnet campus, NTNU. Sverres gate 12, Trondheim. Room Akrinn: U304.
Registration (deadline 10 Nov): Registration has now closed. If you would like to request a late registration, please contact the DIGIT coordinator.
Language: English
Study points: Tentatively 2 ECTS*
For: Members of DIGIT research school and alumni. Are you not a member? Get in touch with the DIGIT coordinator.
Photo: Unsplash / Kaleidico
Content
This course provides an in-depth and hands-on introduction to Action Research (AR), Collaborative Action Research (CAR), and Participatory Action Research (PAR). What these research methodologies have in common is that they prioritize active collaboration with research participants, ensuring that research is co-designed, co-executed, and co-analyzed to address real-world problems. Rather than treating individuals as passive subjects, these approaches position communities and stakeholders as active partners in shaping research objectives, methods, and outcomes.
Special emphasis will be placed on how participatory research approaches can be used to study the societal and cultural implications of digitalization and datafication. Participants will explore how action research can critically engage with digital transformations in diverse contexts. The course will feature international expert speakers who bring diverse perspectives on researching digitalization across different societal contexts.
Through theoretical discussions, interactive workshops, and real-world case studies, participants will develop practical skills in:
(1) Designing and conducting participatory research projects, considering methodological and ethical challenges;
(2) Addressing power dynamics and ethical considerations in stakeholder engagement; and
(3) Utilizing digital tools to support collaboration in action research.
As digitalization and societal transformation reshape research practices, this course will explore how participatory methods can adapt to data-driven environments. Participants will engage with collaborative research techniques, digital participatory tools, and stakeholder engagement strategies that can be applied across various fields.
We are delighted to welcome two distinguished guest speakers:
Dr. Amelia Fiske (Technical University of Munich), an anthropologist and ethicist with expertise in interdisciplinary qualitative research, bioethics, and participatory methods.
Dr. Lucie Chateau (Utrecht University), a scholar of digital culture and aesthetics, leading research on creativity, collaboration, and the impact of AI on cultural practices.
Course programme
Day 1: Doing participatory and collaborative action research
Morning (9:00 – 12:30)
Welcome & introduction
Opening remarks and overview of course objectives
Introduction round: each participant presents a photo representing their research project
Theoretical session
Principles and approaches of participatory and collaborative action research
Ethics, power relations, and researcher–participant dynamics
Collaborative research design
Group discussion: developing shared research questions around care in academia
Planning the mobile ethnography exercise
Fieldwork: mobile ethnography
Participants go out to collect data (using mobile/digital tools)
Lunch break (12:30 – 13:30)
Afternoon (13:30 – 16:00)
Guest lectures and discussion
Dr. Amelia Fiske, Technical University of Munich
Dr. Lucie Chateau, Utrecht University
Discussion: reflections on participation, care, and digital practices in academia
Evening: Networking dinner with participants, speakers, and facilitators
Day 2: Collaborative analysis and reflection
Morning (9:00 – 12:30)
Workshop: collaborative data analysis
Participants share and collectively analyze material from their mobile ethnographies
Facilitated discussion: interpreting “care” across contexts and experiences
Lunch Break (12:30 – 13:30)
Afternoon (13:30 – 15:30)
Reflective session
How can participatory approaches be integrated into your own projects?
Ethical and methodological takeaways
Summary of findings and discussion of key insights
Invitation to join a collaborative writing project for a scholarly publication
15:30 – Closing remarks
Recommended litterature
Bruce, C. D., Flynn, T., & Stagg-Peterson, S. (2011). Examining what we mean by collaboration in collaborative action research: A cross-case analysis. Educational Action Research, 19(4), 433-452.
McNiff, J. (2013). Action research: Principles and practice. Routledge.
Cargo, M., & Mercer, S. L. (2008). The value and challenges of participatory research: strengthening its practice. Annu. Rev. Public Health, 29(1), 325-350.
Bergold, J., & Thomas, S. (2012). Participatory research methods: A methodological approach in motion. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 191-222.
Vaughn, L. M., & Jacquez, F. (2020). Participatory research methods–choice points in the research process. Journal of participatory research methods, 1(1).
Locke, T., Alcorn, N., & O’Neill, J. (2013). Ethical issues in collaborative action research. Educational Action Research, 21(1), 107-123.
Messiou, K. (2019). Collaborative action research: facilitating inclusion in schools. Educational Action Research, 27(2), 197-209.
Askins, K., & Blazek, M. (2017). Feeling our way: Academia, emotions and a politics of care. Social & Cultural Geography, 18(8), 1086-1105.
Plotnikof, M., & Utoft, E. H. (2022). The “new normal” of academia in pandemic times: Resisting toxicity through care. Gender, Work & Organization, 29(4), 1259-1271.
‘We are all unwell’: a scholar’s radical approach to health | Well actually | The Guardian
Learning outcomes and competence
After completing the course, students should be able to:
1) understand the difference between various types of action research, including their theoretical foundations and empirical applications in different research contexts;
2) critically reflect on the key ethical dilemmas that arise when designing and conducting participatory action research, such as issues of power dynamics, informed consent, and researcher-participant relationships;
3) demonstrate ability to apply participatory research methods into their own research projects.
Assessment
Reflection paper, pass/fail.
Certificate of completion / ECTS
Students who complete the examination will receive a certificate of completion, which will specify the course content, the workload, and the key competences acquired. This certificate can be presented to your home institution for potential recognition and conversion into ECTS credits. DIGIT will recommend 2 ECTS for the course, but it is your own institution that decides if and how many credits you will receive.
Financial support
For DIGIT participants residing outside Trondheim, DIGIT will cover expenses related to travel and accommodation. For travel we cover a maximum of 2700 NOK. Once your place on the course is confirmed, contact us for more details.
Guest speakers
Dr Amelia Fiske
Amelia Fiske is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Her work is situated at the intersection of cultural anthropology, science and technology studies, graphic art, social medicine and bioethics, and environmental humanities. She has over a decade of experience conducting interdisciplinary qualitative and ethnographic research in two key areas: 1) Anthropological and critical social science approaches to bioethics, artificial intelligence, and digital and sociotechnical shifts in knowledge production; 2) Ethnographic attention to issues of social-ecological justice, experiences of toxicity in the context of extraction, participatory research methods, and graphic arts.
Dr Lucie Chateu
Lucie Chateau is a digital culture and aesthetics scholar and lead of the Diversifying Creative AI cluster at Utrecht University’s Inclusive AI Lab, where she conducts research on redefining creative work in a cross-cultural context and the value of social impact in the age of digital and AI enabled transformation. She is interested in how collaborative co-creation can question the idea of creativity and authenticity in the Age of AI, with a focus on aesthetics and memes. Her work has been covered by The Guardian and El Pais, and her book Digital Humanities and the Hermeneutic Tradition, co-author with Dr. Inge van de Ven, was published by Routledge in 2024. She has given talks for associations such as Internet Archive, Public Spaces and Betweter Festival and delivered the keynotes for the Dutch Association of Aesthetics and the Northern Star Symposium.
Lecturers
Dr Sari Verachtert
Sari Verachtert is DIGIT a member and a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where she is part of the Citizens, Environment and Safety research group. She holds a master’s degree in educational sciences and a PhD in political sciences from the University of Leuven. Her research focuses on circular economy and consumer behaviour.
Dr Olga Usachova
Olga Usachova is a DIGIT member and a postdoctoral research fellow in Science and Technology Studies (STS) at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, NTNU. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Padua, Italy. Her current research explores the complexities of energy transition, specifically examining it through the lens of cybersecurity expertise in the development of smart grids.
Dr Marijke Roosen
Marijke Roosen is a DIGIT member and a MSCA postdoctoral researcher at OsloMet. Her research focuses on surveillance in the penal field, currently extending to welfare surveillance. She holds a PhD in criminology and she has previously worked in the fields of gender studies and law and technology. She has worked as a senior researcher at Demos Helsinki, where she contributed to an ethical framework for human-robot interaction. Marijke is an STS enthusiast and a board member of the Dutch Journal of Gender Studies.
Please feel free to contact the DIGIT coordinator should you have any practical questions.
For questions related to the course content, please contact one of the course leaders.