Research Collaboration in Education

The Research Collaboration in Education project aims to explore how success is conceptualised in academic research collaborations in education and how high performing education departments support positive research collaborations.

Research collaborations are increasingly emphasised in a range of policy contexts as underpinning research excellence and positive research cultures. However, the concept of research collaboration is under-researched and under-theorised, and little practical work exists on mapping how collaborations occur, how success is understood by different stakeholders, or the factors that shape successful and unsuccessful collaborations. The aim of this project is to examine these features of research collaboration in the field of education.

A systematic review of existing literature will be conducted to explore how success is conceptualised in academic research collaborations in education.

Bibliometric analyses of published journal articles, books, and reports will be conducted to investigate the extent, nature, and pattern of academic collaboration in education.

Case studies of several high performing education departments will be conducted to explore (1) how the highest performing education departments support positive research collaborations, (2) the features of effective collaborative research cultures, and (3) what Oxford can learn about research collaboration from other high performing departments internationally.

This project is designed to make a major contribution to our departmental research culture and environment. The project will also develop rich theorisations of research collaboration, and generalisable practical guidance that will be relevant for the wider university as well as research and innovation systems at regional, national, and global levels.