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About the project
Co-production is a design approach that puts people at the heart of research. The Co-production Project is an enquiry into the practice of co-production in Aotearoa New Zealand, using women’s health as a case study. The project began in 2022, funded by Te Pūnaha Matatini, a Centre of Research Excellence with a focus on complexity. Over the three-year life span of the project, the aim has been to begin to collate a library of robust research questions that are a priority for women, co-produced by women.
“‘Women’s health’ is so routinely conflated with ‘reproductive health’ that it’s easy to forget that the latter is just an aspect of the former. Women’s health is impacted by many conditions besides those that affect the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes.” — Maya Dusenbery, Doing Harm
The Co-production Project originated from design researcher KA McKercher’s model of co-production. Co-production seeks to balance power asymmetries between those considered ‘experts’ and those that research aims to support — elevating their voices as experts of experience and ensuring they benefit from any resulting outcomes. The Co-production Project sought to develop knowledge and understanding of the process of co-producing research in order to improve use of this method in Aotearoa New Zealand.