The Sage Handbook of Participatory Research and Inquiry

Danny Burns has worked at the Institute of Development Studies since 2010. He is a research professor and was research team leader of the Participation, Inclusion and Social Change team for 9 years. He was formerly co-director of SOLAR (Social and Organisational Learning as Action Research) at the University of the West of England and before that he worked for the University of Bristol. Danny has directed more than 25 participatory action research programmes. He is currently director of CLARISSA (Child Labour Action-Research-Innovation in South and South East Asia) a programme working on worst forms of child labour. CLARISSA is supporting 54 parallel action research processes across three countries (Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar). Danny is also co-coordinating a bottom up peace building programme in Mali which is developing a Systemic Action Research methodology. Danny’s work has focused on how to build deeply participatory and systemic processes at scale. Danny is author of two books on action research: Systemic Action Research (2007) and Navigating Complexity in International Development (2015) – with Stuart Worsley, as well as numerous articles and research papers. He has also written extensively on community development and participatory governance. Other key books include Poll Tax Rebellion (2001), The Politics of Decentralisation - Revitalisting Local Democracy (2004) – with Paul Hogget and Robin Hambleton, and Community Self-Help (2004) with Colin Williams and Jan Windebank.

Jo Howard is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, where she leads the IDS Participation, Inclusion and Social Change Research Cluster, and convenes the MA programme in Power, Participation and Social Change. After working with an NGO for six years in Central America, she trained as a researcher and has worked in the UK, Latin America, Africa and Asia. She uses participatory action research methods with community groups to promote and support processes of accountability, empowerment, citizenship and inclusion; she also convenes short courses and tailored learning processes with NGOs, INGOs and government departments, to enable them to use participatory approaches, reflective practice and increase knowledge exchange. Through a focus on participatory methodologies as enablers of social justice, she has supported peer-peer and other participatory research processes in the UK, India, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, South Africa and Nicaragua. She is a member of the editorial board of the Community Development Journal, and co-edited their special issue (2020) on ‘Intersecting inequalities and prospects for community development’.

Sonia M. Ospina is Professor of Public Management and Policy at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, sociologist by training, and an expert in qualitative and participatory research. Her interest in dynamics of democratic governance has motivated research on social change leadership, social innovation, and public accountability in various geographical settings.  She is presently working with Indigenous women leaders in Colombia to support their leadership and develop insights about collective leadership.  Her publications include Advancing Relational Leadership Research: A Conversation Across Perspectives (2012, co-edited); Social Innovation and Democratic Leadership: Communities and Social Change from Below (2017, co-authored) and a Human Relations Special Issue on Collective dimensions of leadership: Connecting theory and method (co-edited, 2020).  She co-founded an international network of leadership scholars, Co-Lead Net (2015) and the Research Center for Leadership in Action (2003), which she led until 2015. Among other service positions, she has been President of the Inter-American Network of Public Administration Education (INPAE), is a member of CLAD’s Scientific Council, a Latin American UN state reform body, and a Board member of the Public Management Research Association (PMRA). Born in the U.S. to Colombian parents, Sonia grew up in urban Bogotá, and now has lived more than half her life in New York City. Her transnational and multicultural approach to life embodies her bicultural experience and her strong ties to both countries.