Our approach is about working together to generate new knowledge that would not be possible without collaboration. This means recognising and challenging potential barriers between ‘expert’ and ‘lay’ knowledge.

We put older people’s experiences at the centre of our work because these are invaluable in helping us understand the experiences of getting older and the issues we may face in old age.

 

• Co-production, describes our type of collaborative research. We think about our work as a process in which we are all learning. So the ways we go about the research are an important part of what we find out. Our co-production involves two distinct elements: Our teams include co-researchers working in each site alongside the academic researchers. Our co-researchers are older members of the public with an interest in ageing and the issues affecting older people. They have been trained in all aspects of research and work with us on the research design, data collection, analysis and interpretation and dissemination.

 

• Knowledge exchange groups: throughout the project we meet with key stakeholders: social care commissioners, service providers and practitioners from the statutory, voluntary and private sectors. This is about creating the space for dialogue and a deeper exploration of self-funded care and local issues about self-funding from a range of perspectives. This is a way of producing understanding by bringing together different knowledges and learning together through the process.