An insight that surfaced again this week: I am not a monk, even though I’ve often convinced myself that I function best solo.

Of course, there is a time and place for deep, solitary work. Plowing through a stack of papers or analyzing data. But I notice time and again that, for me personally, the real energy and the sharpest insights emerge through dialogue. During a good conversation with a partner or an expert in the field.

It’s the moment when abstract ideas become concrete, where visions align or clash in a productive way. For me, it is a much more effective way of acquiring knowledge than reading for hours on end.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been having many conversations with stakeholders from the Citizen Science Hub Eastern Netherlands—from the Municipality of Enschede and the Province to Twentse Noabers, Tetem, NovelT, the University of Twente, and Saxion. And I’m being onboarded by my super motivating colleague Saskia Baas. For the DatComt research project (Smart Cities research group), I’m also kicking things off with plenty of discussions: Waterschap Vechtstromen, creative agency Artica, researchers at the UT, etc. What a joy! I can feel the connections and cross-links forming 🙂

It just confirms that knowledge isn’t merely something you ‘gather,’ but something you create together, in the space between people. Perhaps that is the very core of participatory research. 🤔

#Collaboration #KnowledgeSharing #ResearchPractice #Reflection #WorkingOutLoud