Community engagement

Community engagement is about forming collaborative relationships with communities as part of the research process and working in partnership to ensure research is relevant, respectful, and mutually beneficial.

Engaging with communities can help ensure that your research reflects local knowledge, needs, and aspirations, while supporting more impactful and grounded outcomes.

• It ensures that research is relevant, ethical, and informed by the people it affects
• It supports the co-creation of knowledge, recognising lived experience alongside academic expertise
• It builds trust and reciprocity, especially in communities that may be under-represented or underserved by research
• It helps researchers understand and respond to local context, priorities, and tikanga
• It strengthens research impact by embedding the voices and values of those who will use or be affected by the research

Community engagement can take many forms depending on the community, the research, and the goals of the partnership. At its heart, it looks like researchers and communities coming together to develop meaningful, reciprocal relationships, where knowledge, ideas, and experiences are actively shared to help shape the direction of research.

For example:

• Co-designing research projects with community partners
• Holding hui, wānanga, or community workshops to inform research questions
• Embedding community governance or advisory groups
• Working with local organisations to co-analyse or interpret findings
• Co-presenting outcomes back to the community in accessible formats (e.g. storytelling, events, visual summaries)
• Building long-term partnerships that extend beyond a single project

Depending on who your community stakeholders are, you may want to engage with community leaders, iwi or hapū. This can lead to mutually beneficial relationships between researchers and the community, where an active sharing of knowledge can take place.

If you engage early and widely with communities, you can increase the likelihood that your research will have an impact.

Case study: Building Māori relationships in community and research.

For more information and resources, refer to the Centre for Social Impact website.

Effective planning lays the foundation for meaningful relationships and lasting impact. It’s about creating space for dialogue, aligning with community priorities, and ensuring your approach is grounded, inclusive, and responsive.

Key steps to consider:

• Map your community context: Understand who the key communities, groups, and leaders are, and what relationships already exist. Identify iwi, hapū, local networks, and organisations relevant to your research area. Learn what knowledge already exists within the community.
• Engage early and build trust: Reach out early in the research process, not just when you need input. Begin by listening, building relationships, and learning about community priorities, values, and aspirations.
• Co-define goals and expectations: Work together to shape the purpose and direction of the engagement. Clarify what you hope to achieve, what the community wants to see, and how success will be defined. Workshops, hui, or informal conversations can help support shared understanding.
• Use accessible, inclusive communication: Avoid jargon and use plain language or community-preferred formats. Establish shared language, and be intentional about what research findings or knowledge you share. Focus on what is most relevant and meaningful to the community.
• Design for reciprocity: Ensure the benefits of engagement flow both ways, whether through capacity building, shared ownership of outcomes, or resources that support community needs.
• Continually reflect and adapt: Be open to feedback and willing to adjust your approach. Check in regularly with partners and stakeholders to reflect on what’s working, what’s not, and how to improve the partnership.

Vision Mātauranga is a government policy that encourages Māori involvement in research and supports outcomes that are relevant and beneficial for Māori communities. It emphasises research that reflects Māori knowledge, values, and aspirations across four areas: economic growth, environmental sustainability, health and social wellbeing, and mātauranga Māori.

Engaging with Māori as partners helps ensure research is grounded, respectful, and impactful. By embedding Vision Mātauranga throughout the research process, researchers can co-create knowledge, build trust, identify the questions that matter, and deliver benefits for Māori and for Aotearoa New Zealand.

For more resources and tools to build knowledge in the area of Vision Mātauranga, visit He Korowai Mātauranga.

Students and schools

Engaging with schools can create mutually beneficial opportunities for students, teachers, and researchers. When engagement goes beyond one-off presentations to ongoing collaboration, it supports deeper learning, inspires future researchers, and grounds your research in community contexts.

Examples of engagement activities:

• Co-developing interactive workshops with teachers and students that link your research to classroom learning
• Collaborating with teaching staff to embed your research into curriculum planning or develop tailored resources
• Establishing mentoring relationships with students to foster interest in research and support long-term connections to your field
• Involving students in aspects of your research through participatory or citizen science approaches

For more on engaging with schools, visit the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement website.

Museums and libraries

Museums and libraries are trusted, accessible spaces that often have strong ties within a community and a variety of resources at their disposal. Partnering with them can help embed your research within local narratives and reach diverse audiences in meaningful ways.

Examples of engagement activities:

• Co-hosting community-led events, exhibitions, or interactive workshops
• Collaborating to design programmes that connect your research with public collections or community themes
• Participating in or co-designing existing initiatives at these venues that support community priorities and shared learning
• Using venue resources or archives as part of your research while involving the community in interpreting or applying findings

Research Impact Team
Email: researchimpact@auckland.ac.nz