Co-produced knowledge and transformative optimism: building resources to increase cultural competency through a staff-student research partnership

The 'Talking Heads' project is funded by the University of Birmingham Education Enhancement Fund and involves a team of academic and professional services staff and student co-researchers. The research explores the experiences of students and staff who identify with one or more of the characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010. This paper reflects not on research findings, but the process, through which various power relations were exposed, explored and remade. We reflect on our experiences and the ways in which they intersected with the challenges the project aimed to address, enabling new ways of thinking about recommendations for change.