Walking, Storytelling and Participatory Action Research

Written by Dr Serena Saligari, JustGESI Research Associate, Loughborough University

In the last JustGESI XChange session, held on 28 July 2026, Professor Maggie O'Neill from University College Cork explored how Participatory Action Research (PAR), art-based research and feminist methodologies can be used to work ethically and collaboratively with marginalised communities.

Drawing on over three decades of research with migrants, asylum seekers, women experiencing coercive control and other marginalised groups, Maggie highlighted the transformative potential of participatory, arts-based, and walking methodologies to amplify lived experience, foster dialogue, challenge inequalities and inform policy and practice.

Selected slide shared by Maggie during her presentation.

The session examined key principles of inclusion, co-production, ethics of care and social justice, while reflecting on both the opportunities and challenges of participatory research in times of social, political and research funding uncertainty. Through a series of case studies, Maggie invited participants to consider how collaborative research can contribute to more just, inclusive and sustainable collective futures. A central theme throughout the talk was the importance of radical hope: the idea that creating spaces for collaboration can help communities and researchers imagine and enact alternative futures, even in times of crisis and uncertainty.

A full recording of the presentation is available through this link.