In this episode, host Elizabeth Ascroft invites four members of the Ibali team: Yusra Price, Katie Collins, Jennifer Agbaire and Alison Buckler to unpack the inner workings of the Ibali research team and how collaboration, culture, and communication shaped their three-year journey.

Together, they explore what it really means to do research as a team: balancing diverse roles, navigating cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dynamics, and learning from one another in the process. The conversation moves between the practical and the personal, touching on moments of insight, challenge, and growth.

From ethnographic practice to the subtle art of inclusive teamwork, this episode offers an honest reflection on what it takes to collaborate meaningfully — and what happens when research becomes a shared story.

Find out more about the⁠⁠ Ibali project here.⁠⁠

⁠Click here for a free online guide for storytelling ⁠

Keywords: Ibali project, ethnography, storytelling, inclusion, education, team dynamics, research culture.

Speaker Biographies

Alison Buckler is a Professor of International Education at The Open University. She has been working and researching in the area of educational inclusion for 15 years. She is a founding member of the Ibali/Story Research Network. She is Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Development (CSGD) at The Open University, and Chair of the British Association for International and Comparative Education.

Jennifer Jomafuvwe Agbaire is a Lecturer in Education at The Open University, UK. She is the Learners and Learning Hub Lead for the OU’s CSGD and the Postgraduate Research Convenor for Global Development for Education and Wellbeing. Her interests include social identities, social justice and inclusion in/through education as well as creative and co-creative approaches. She is a core member of the Ibali/Story Research Network, Executive Secretary and Trustee of the British Association of Comparative and International Education and co-Editor of the British Educational Research Association Blog.

Dr Katherine Collins is based at the University of Oxford and specialises in Life Writing and the creative practice of story-making.

Yusra Price is an independent anthropologist, facilitator and qualitative researcher working across many interrelated practices. She holds a Master's in Anthropology from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is currently a PhD candidate. Her doctoral research is interested in what success means to people studying or working at university and what purpose higher education plays in people’s lives, and in South Africa more broadly. In a consulting capacity, her practice centres on designing and facilitating participatory, arts-based workshops and processes that foster collaboration, strengthen strategic alignment, and embed collective learning.

Elizabeth Ascroft is a PhD candidate at The OU. She specialises in arts-based creation with young people. Research is her chosen form of activism, and she produces podcasts as a means to bring academics, practitioners and activists to discuss social justice issues.