DOING RESEARCH IN TIMES OF FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE: BEING SUBJECT AND OBJECT IN RESEARCH AS A REGENERATIVE PRACTICE?
Can the practice of research itself be regenerative? In this seminar, I invite us into a conversation and joint exploration around doing research in times of fundamental change.
I will be talking about a recent collaborative autoethnographic study with my colleague Anders Rosén* exploring and developing what the work of an educational developer could entail. In an emergent, radically open process, we studied our context, ourselves included, through diffractive analyses. Outcomes were a method for research and development, and insights into both educational development at our university and the role of the educational developer. Together with several colleagues, we have since extended this method for research and development to explore the potential of peace, love and appropriate technology.
I invite us to learn and critically reflect on the process. For example, one question that emerged is how researchers position themselves as both subject and object in research and how different positions may reveal alternative insights. We may try to experience the method to reflect on its potential.
*Peters, A. K., & Rosén, A. (2025). Pain and Pleasure in working with sustainability and transformation at a technical university: An exploration of the role of educational developers through collaborative autoethnography. European Journal of Engineering Education, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2025.2575119
Keywords
Research practice, collaborative autoethnography, higher education, transformation
Registration
The REGEN|ED Seminar Series (organized by the REGEN|ED research environment at NMD) brings together educators, researchers, practitioners, students, and community members interested in regenerative education, sustainability, and social-ecological transformation. We warmly welcome anyone curious about these questions to join us in a spirit of curiosity, engagement, and reciprocity as we learn with and from one another across diverse disciplines, contexts, and perspectives.
Registration for the REGEN|ED Seminar Series 2026/2027 is now open, and you can sign up here: Registration REGEN|ED Seminar Series 2026/2027
Anne-Kathrin Peters
Associate Professor, Learning in STEM, KTH Royal Institute of Technology (view profile)