A Parallel Space of Care: Reflecting Together on Academic Conferencing in Co-Research

Abstract Co-research brings young people’s lived experiences into dialogue with the structured norms of academic practice, often producing tensions around how research is authored and presented. This article explores opportunities and tensions of presenting co-produced research on young rural citizenship with a young co-researcher at an academic conference in Aotearoa New Zealand. Conferencing as an interactive mode of pre-publishing, where research is tested, shared, and positioned within scholarly conversations, offers unique opportunities for young co-researchers to participate in the academic publishing industry. Despite growing involvement of young co-researchers in academic conferences, their experiences of participating in these spaces are rarely explored which is addressed in this paper. Through a collaborative auto-ethnography project including joint focus group conversations and pieces of art created by the authors of this paper (two early career academics, a research assistant and a secondary school student), we reflect on our roles, power dynamics, and the meaning of participating in an academic space. The article examines how each author experienced the preparation and presentation process and considers what aspects of the academic conference were valuable, challenging, or alienating from both youth and adult researcher perspectives.