Researchers’ roles in co-research: From expert to “adaptive collaborator”

This article offers an in-depth reflexive account of the academic researcher’s experience in navigating ethical and practical dilemmas in a co-research project. The analysis is based on process documentation from a co-research project in the Norwegian mental health field. The analysis identifies tensions related to resources, control, and relationships and demonstrates that co-research is an adaptive process where these tensions must be actively managed by the academic researcher through embracing an adaptive collaborator role. Through adaptation, the academic researcher shares control and utilises co-researchers’ expertise to navigate tensions and transform dissent into usable knowledge. The article makes visible the professional and practical costs of genuine co-research, specifically detailing the substantial time investment and the academic researcher’s professional risk. The conclusion highlights that successful co-research requires institutional changes in funding and academic training to overcome the persistent structural bottlenecks and enable academic researchers to embrace the necessary adaptive collaborative researcher role.