Call for Proposal: This session (at RGS IBG Conference to be held in Aug at Birmingham, UK ( 27-29 Aug 2025 that is organised by University of Bradford and Lancaster University) builds on a forthcoming publication series by IWA Publishing on this theme. Selected contributions to this session will ‘visualise’ how their work interacts with and transforms the understanding of the community (broadly defined) in real/ proximate time. Visualisation could be artistic, analytic, or narrative. Authors will have an opportunity to publish in the IWA series.

Agenda | Program

Conceptually, as this WHO [1] slogan (No research about us without us...) implicates, knowledge production must capacitate the knowledge bearers. This tradition of ‘involving lay people’ in research marks an ‘interaction turn’ in knowledge production [2]. The meaningful participation of various social actors as 'subjects of knowledge' introduces a richer representation of the issues and their possible solutions. This process can address three concerns of development research: a democratic (lay people have the right to participate), an epistemic (legitimate interlocutors capable of influencing epistemic/methodological definitions), and a knowledge reproduction and add-ons (they are capacitated to interpret conditions, changes, and responses to problems).

Thematically, over a billion people globally currently rely on informal sanitation [3], and their number is increasing at a rate faster than the rise in access to basic sanitation [4]. There are four persistent issues concerning informal sanitation: collective action challenge, coproduction challenge, challenge of affordability vs acceptability, and challenge related to tenure [5]. Given such intractability, informal sanitation issues are a ‘wicked’ problem [6]. Research must approach informal sanitation differently to optimising the benefits of research on the people, places, and processes that directly contribute to the research. The growing trend of locally led strategies by research institutions [7] is an opportunity to advance the interaction turns.

Guiding questions: These are suggestive; other pertinent questions are welcome.

• What multiple knowledge systems do informal sanitation issues entail?
• Who are ‘communities’ in this context and what form of interaction works for whom?
• What epistemic/methodological influences do the involvement of lay people result in?
• What level of knowledge reproduction/add-ons can interactive research result?

• What tensions and challenges do interactive research pose and how to address them?

Submission information: Please email abstracts of 250 words to m.roy1@lancaster.ac.uk by 5 pm 21^st February 2025. These could be academic articles or descriptions of artistic products such as drama, videos, etc. Acceptance decision will be communicated to authors by 28^th February 2025.

Literature cited (abridged bibliography and weblink):

[1] WHO, 2012. No research about us without us: why research capacity strengthening …

[2] Mazzitelli M G, Zeballos C & Bozzo M B, 2023. Interaction turns in knowledge production … 

[3] Satterthwaite D, Archer D, Colenbrander S, et al., 2020. Building resilience to climate change …

[4] Sprouse L, Lebu S, Nguyen J, et al., 2024. Shared sanitation in informal settlements …

[5] McGranahan G, 2015. Realizing the right to sanitation in deprived urban communities …

[6] Abdulhadi R, Bailey A & Noorloos F V, 2024. Access inequalities to WASH and housing …

[7] FCDO, 2023. UK dialogue on locally led humanitarian action …