We’ve been fortunate to have two great sessions for the MAOT CoP in recent weeks.

On January 28th Koula Charitonos presented on ‘Participatory research with refugee and displaced communities: ‘moving up and down the ladder of co-creation’ and yesterday we had Rob Farrow and Fereshte Goshtasbpour speaking on ‘Charting the Passage: Navigating the Transition from Master’s Study to Doctoral Research‘ with a contribution from MAODE alumnus Sarah Alcock.

Koula Charitonos

Koula spoke about her work in Uganda and Jordan, and navigating the ethical dimensions of co-creation in sensitive topic areas. She discussed the practical issues around training and workshops (language, timing, payment) and the value of allowing participants a real voice (in this case using the local radio station to help create audio narratives by some of the participants).

Rob Farrow

Fereshte Goshtasbpour

Rob and Fereshte highlighted the core elements of meeting the application and interview requirements for a doctoral position and how to write a good application, as well as looking at potential pathways for our own MAOT students towards doctoral study. Sarah provided a ‘student voice’ as someone who has recently trod that very pathway!

Sarah Alcock

The recordings of both sessions are available via the MAOT Community of Practice website on Slack. To join (if you are a student or alumnus of any elements of the MAOT or MAODE) contact Simon Ball at the Open University.