The participatory turn in Swedish ageing research: Productive interactions as learning and societal impact

Collaboration between academia and actors outside academia (AOAs) has been proclaimed as a way for society to confront challenges in different fields. This ‘participatory imperative’ is anchored in EU research policy. The paper explores the participatory imperative in contemporary Swedish aging research. Three kinds of motives for participatory research as a way to societal impact emerged in the social voices of researchers granted money and AOAs with experience of participating in research. Participatory research was a suitable research method for certain types of research objectives, an answer to AOAs’ outspoken needs for new knowledge and a result from the interviewee’s double identity as a clinician and a researcher. Moreover, four types of activities were talked of. Participatory research was described as dissemination of results, as commissioned work, as joint action and as education. The paper closes by promoting a synergistic approach where collaboration is enacted within already existing infrastructures of research and education. Scholars are encouraged to integrate collaboration with AOAs in their daily work as teachers and researchers. By doing so, new constellations of actors will emerge; constellations that are equipped to tackle real-world issues in new ways.