This paper explores the role of collaborative educational research in addressing societal challenges related to social and educational inclusion and exclusion. The changing priorities of major funders of UK educational research are encouraging universities to focus research on ‘excellence with impact’ and ‘genuine engagement with the public and .....stakeholder communities’ (Wright, 2011, p2). To address this issue, Newcastle University in the north of England is profiling a significant number of its research areas under ‘Societal Challenge Themes'  so that research that addresses key challenges within society can be made accessible and meaningful to non-academic audiences. This can be considered to be an important aspect of the role of the civic University. However Wright (2011, p.1) notes for some disciplines that the connections between academic research and practical problem solving are often tenuous: ‘These problems stem from both sides. For those grappling with pressing issues, it may seem just too difficult to transform conventional academic thought into something more practical’.

In contrast, Carr (2006) argues that there is tacit agreement among educational researchers that  educational research makes an important contribution to the formation of educational policy and practice and is ‘inextricable from the local and parochial contexts within which it is produced and always embedded in, and dependent on, the kind of contingent norms, values and beliefs that it claims to examine and assess in the practice of others (Carr,2006, p146). This is reflected in Newcastle University educational research community’s response to the societal challenge theme 2011-2012 of ‘Social Renewal’.

Social renewal, as conceived within the research community at Newcastle, is a response to the question: ‘how can societies and communities (local, regional, national and international) thrive when faced with rapid, transformational change?’ (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/socialrenewal/nisr/). The research events and projects organised by educational researchers under this theme are brought together under the title ‘Learning for Change’. The focus is on ways educational researchers can work in partnership with teachers, learners, families and communities in both formal and less formal spaces for learning, to share and build knowledge and address issues of common concern. These include learner needs in specific contexts and the broad range of inequities (Glass and Wong, 2003) that impact on their education and aspirations and contribute to social inclusion or exclusion.

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