Developing visual communication tools to navigate the ethical complexity of co-creating research and development with refugees

The purpose of this grant is to develop and share an ethical guide for involving refugees as public contributors in evaluation activities. During our VR-funded trial of a mental health intervention we involved refugees as public contributors. We collected observational and focus group data on the participatory process.

A number of questions and concerns related to practical and relational circumstances arose during the participatory process, many belonging in the ethical sphere.This grant would enable co-creation of an ethical guide based on our empirical findings. The practical outputs will include: training resources, a visual guide notebook, and a public art exhibition.

In line with the vision of VR to promote a dialogue and co-creation with groups outside academia, the work will be performed together with refugee contributors with the support of a professional communicator. The artwork will include contributions from refugees as well as professional artists. The target group for the training will include regions, municipalities and NGOs.The grant period is 24 months.

The first year will be dedicated to development of the ethical guide and artwork.

Development of the training resources and notebook takes place in the second year, followed by usability testing and the art exhibition.The work holds great value and importance in sharing the learning from our VR project, and shifting the power balance between professionals and refugees.