Review of the Workshop on July 14, 2025
On July 14, 2025, the network held a workshop on participatory research organized by Tanja Gangarova (Berlin) and Robel Afeworki Abay (Berlin).
Robel Afeworki Abay began by introducing participatory research, its opportunities, and the challenges associated with it—such as the danger of epistemic extractivism, i.e., the exploitation of the experiences and resources of marginalized groups for knowledge production by hegemonic structures (Grosfoguel 2016, Afeworki Abay 2023). Tanja Gangarova then spoke about epistemic injustice in research and her work on the project “Community-Perspektiven auf Rassismus in der Gesundheitsforschung” .
The subsequent discussion between members covered various key issues, especially with regard to their own research within the network. Topics included the challenges of publishing participatory research and the role and positioning of researchers. Another important point of discussion was the question of data ownership: How can we ensure that research results are relayed back to the communities involved? Members also discussed the potential of participatory approaches for theoretical projects, for example in philosophy, in the development of concepts, or in the definition of terms.
The next network meeting, on the topic of “Public Health Ethics, Structural Injustice, and Vulnerability” will take place on September 22, 2025.
About:
Tanja Gangarova works as a researcher at the National Discrimination and Racism Monitor at the DeZIM Institute in Berlin. Her research focuses on racism in healthcare. She has over 15 years of experience in Community-based Participatory Health Research. She is particularly interested in how research can support social justice efforts. Tanja Gangarova is currently completing her PhD in Sociology at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her dissertation focuses on the ethics of knowledge production using the example of Community-based Participatory Research with structurally marginalised communities.
Robel Afeworki Abay (Dr. phil.) is a Sociologist and Guest Professor for Disability Studies at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. Previously, he was a substitute professor for participatory approaches in Social- and Health Sciences there and a researcher at the Institute of Sociology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. As part of his dissertation at Humboldt University in Berlin, he conducted a participatory study together with BIPoC with experiences of disability, examining the colonial intersections between racism and ableism.