[Roles and their dynamics in participatory research communities]

The participatory research approach results in changes in roles and relationships for researchers and coresearchers compared to traditional research concepts. In the form of a workshop report, this article describes reflections and findings on the question of how roles are perceived and filled in participatory health research (PHR). Researchers and practitioners from two subprojects in the research consortium PartKommPlus evaluated their experiences from several years of cooperation and developed insights into which dynamics were important for the design of roles and what should be considered for a productive development of roles.Five important elements were identified: the significance of the scope for action resulting from the ties of the participants to their respective institutions; the change of roles and relationships over the course of the project time; the significance of trust for functioning cooperative relationships; the problem of information confidentiality for scientific exploitation; and the political character of the cooperation, which is based on the claim for change of participatory research and which presupposes shared basic attitudes and goals. Finally, the importance of joint reflection on role design, which contributes to the success or failure of participatory research cooperation and the quality of its results, is highlighted.