Last week Eddie and I spent some time at the Economic and Social Research Council’s Research Methods Festival. Before the event, I was curious to know what made it a ‘festival’ rather than a (admittedly more mundane-sounding) ’conference.’ The bunch of balloons in the registration area and some quite festive-looking sashes worn by the conference helpers were the only signs I could find. However, this was certainly an exciting celebration of ideas, with almost 70 sessions concerning theories and practices of social science research.

There were two highlights for me. The first was a session on researching lives and relationships, which generated some really interesting conversations around researching intimate aspects of people’s lives. The second was a session on participatory research methods, which explored some of the very real challenges and dilemmas, as well as the benefits and, in some cases,  necessity of participatory research.

Details on session content and presenters, as well as links to many of the presentations themselves, are available on the National Centre for Research Methods website.

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