This approach also provides ways of working collaboratively on the project itself

It builds on earlier work which applied care ethics to co-research by focussing on relationships within the research team and beyond rather than concentrating solely on the process of the research.

We will use a care ethics framework in the research process to seek to develop:

• inclusive and ethical ways of working that are attentive to the different needs and circumstances of our co-researchers.
• relationships of trust that encourage all research team members to articulate criticisms and ideas.
• ways of understanding and responding to the ethical challenges of this approach, in which co-researchers may confront research experiences they have faced in the past in caring for relatives or anticipate facing in their own lives.
• ways of recognising experiences from ‘lay’ and ‘professional’ perspectives, in which issues of power, status and ethics are made visible.

We understand that the research will benefit from the perspectives of those working within the care sector and we will create opportunities for the exchange of knowledge and sharing of ‘professional’ and ‘lay’ perspectives in spaces where these are listened to and respected.