Action Research At Home and Abroad: An Interview with Dr. Felix Bivens, S2 Ep1

We thought it might be interesting for our listeners to know a bit more about Dr. Felix Bivens – Skip – who is co-host for the AR+ Yes/And podcast with Hilary Bradbury. Here Skip talks with Hilary about what he’s bringing to the second season of the podcast, informed by his own extensive work and experiences in the world of participatory social change. Dr. Felix (Skip) Bivens is a writer and participatory researcher based in rural Tennessee, USA. He leads Empyrean Research, a community-based consultancy dedicated to enhancing the knowledge generation and learning capacities of change-oriented organizations. From 2015-2025, he served as a technical advisor in participatory action research (PAR) to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), where he designed PAR processes for post-conflict contexts, e.g., most recently in Colombia. Skip has been an associate editor for the Action Research Journal since 2020 and supports the Action Research Plus Foundation as co-host for the Yes/And podcast. He is a member of the AR+ Foundation community. Skip holds a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and an MSc from the London School of Economics. Skip’s research, teaching and facilitation experience span five continents over two decades. We discuss what it means to be an Action Researcher at this moment in life… we use the metaphor of a train and participative action researcher as one who helps the passengers learn also to influence their destinations. Rather than merely be passengers on someone’s journey, Skip helps people to define their destination and to travel together. We highlight his peace work with USIP and his board leadership at Highlander. In both he brings his expertise with PAR. Show notes: More on Highlander Research and Education Center Scott, S. L. (2009). Discovering what the people knew: The 1979 Appalachian Land Ownership Study. Action Research, 7(2), 185-205. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750309103257 (Original work published 2009) More on John Gaventa's new book. John is key, in the histories of action research, to linking global south and north perspectives. His upcoming book revisits power and powerlessness in what is now Trump country. Skip and Gaventa share history at Highlander and the Institute of Development Studies. Gaventa's book may be pre-ordered (and we'll hope Skip can interview him when it's out!: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p009853 In appreciation: As always, thanks to the Action Research Yes/And Podcast Team for these recordings: Dr. Tomás Boatwright: Interviewee Preparation and Interview Support Dr. Kristen Goessling: Content Analysis Dr. Ruth Förster: Mixing and Audio Editing Dr. Carol Gorelick: Transcript Editing Dr. Felix Bivens: Co-host Dr. Hilary Bradbury: Co-host