Partnerships and 'Knowledge Exchange' between academia and community as a way of building a sustainable world: an interview with Dr Emma McKenna, Science Shop Coordinator at Queen’s University Belfast

This interview was conducted by Chrysi Kyratsou and discusses the experience of the QUB Science Shop in facilitating partnerships across academia and community and making sure that they are mutually beneficial and sustainable through time. In the core of the initiative is the 'Knowledge-Exchange' between the partners at a community-engaged project, which lends its name to the initiative. Dr Emma McKenna outlines the basic principles that have shaped the work undertaken by the Science Shop. She explains how the initiative stemmed from radical ideas in the 1960s, to transform largely understandings of the role of academia in addressing current problems of community, under the scope of what the community really needs. Dr McKenna elaborates on the potentials and challenges that underpin community-engaged work. She outlines the different types of partnerships that can be shaped, how the objectives are set, and what are the criteria to deem a partnership as successful. She presents the roles of the different stakeholders that participate in a community-engaged project, and situates the activity of Science Shop between local focus and international contexts, identifying the respective potentials and challenges. Finally, Dr McKenna reflects over the contribution of Science Shop in realising Sustainable Development Goals, and sketches how further improvement and development should be understood and envisaged.

IMPACT Journal met with Dr Emma McKenna on 5 August 2021 to discuss the experience of Science Shop in ensuring sustainability in community engagement, as well as the vision of building a sustainable world and what the role of universities can be.