Stephen B Acabado

How do scholars approach community-engaged research? Why is there a need to involve community stakeholders in research? What happens when communities engage the scholars and invest in the research process? An increasing number of scholars have actively strived for the involvement of communities, not just as mere contributors, but as active and involved participants in the research process. This recent shift in research practice is a product of the realization that collaboration among local, indigenous, and other stakeholders provides a venue for inclusive co-production of knowledge. In this webinar series, we showcase examples of successful scholarship in the Asia Pacific where local stakeholders and communities are actively involved. Panel members are researchers who actively engage with the communities that they work with and community members who have engaged the researchers. The webinar series emphasizes that collaborative methodology is a venue where indigenous/local knowledge systems and Western science intersect. The goal is to utilize the knowledge co-production to argue for policy recommendations that has space for co-administration. More importantly, we highlight the importance of collaboration to empowering communities.