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Short abstract:

By drawing on findings and experiences from an ongoing collaborative project with public health professionals, this paper critically explores how researchers' identities, institutional and disciplinary hierarchies shape and influence the dynamics of collaborative research processes.

Long abstract:

This paper critically examines the concept of collaboration through research experiences in the project "In the Frictions of Social(ised) Medicine: A Collaborative Ethnography of Public Health Institutions in Croatia and Serbia," funded by SeeFField at the University of Regensburg. Currently ongoing, the research aims to establish "epistemic partnerships" (Marcus) with public health professionals in Croatia and Serbia, laying the groundwork to expand the study into social(ised) medicine in other ex-Yugoslav countries and beyond professional communities.

Recent decades have witnessed significant shifts in public health systems in Croatia and Serbia, introducing neoliberal reforms and logics that replaced the previous socialised approach (social self-management) based on the principles of social medicine, a unique version of Yugoslav social medicine. Through the project, we explore the boundaries for collaborative research, seeking a better understanding of the role of social medicine and the frictions arising from translational work during this transition.

During this presentation, we will delve into our own partnership as researchers, reflecting on how our gender and ethnic identities, along with institutional and disciplinary hierarchies and responsibilities, shape the ways in which we pose questions, build relationships and partnerships, and conduct our fieldwork.