Pedagogical partnership

In higher education, a hierarchy exists: teachers and researchers, students, and subjects.Deconstructing this system is long overdue; it's time to promote co-creation and strive for equity.This paper provides reflections on pedagogical partnerships and discusses recommendations arising from my experience as an undergraduate student designing an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI)-conscious study.The study aims to promote EDI in an institution (the McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging) by understanding the experiences of its older adult and caregiver advisors (herein, advisors).Study insights will be used to improve the institution's approach and practices to promote diversity in representation of advisors and research team, the inclusion of different advisor lived experiences and equity in the Collaborative's activities and operations.Further, the study aims to achieve EDI through its objectives, processes, and methodologies through the partnership between (a) the student researcher (myself) and the research supervisor (the Collaborative's managing director), who make up of the research team and (b) the research team and advisors.We recognize that the partnership model itself is founded upon Freirean principles.We aim to display how awareness of such essence can guide the process and objectives of a project conducted in partnership (Peters & Mathias, 2018).This paper explores the adoption of Freirean-informed approaches to partnership and research, aiming to demystify and provide an example of promoting EDI in research by prioritizing accessibility, equity, and community involvement in study design and development.Ultimately, the goal is to redistribute power in higher education and research. BACKGROUNDThe partnership revolved around developing a study that explores the experience and engagement of advisors within the McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging (herein, the Collaborative).These advisors come from a variety of different backgrounds (e.g., healthcare providers, caregivers for relatives, etc.).In the Collaborative, the role of the advisors includes but is not limited to consulting on study design in aging research and mobilization of knowledge from research findings.The advisors were both co-designers and participants in this study, which this paper reflects on.The advisors were included as co-designers as this helps ensure that study objectives align with the priorities of those the research aims to serve.This study may promote EDI in its partnered procedures and goals, as study insights will promote changes in practice.The Collaborative aims to further Ontario's capacity in patient-oriented research and improve health