University-Community Engagement:

want to reflect on the nature of Community-University engagement, its role, challenges and achievements. In this I start with ‘engagement ’ and what that might mean in the context of a university-based research centre. There are, of course, many forms of engagement, but I wish to focus specifically on engagement as co-production of knowledge. In this, our partner in the co-production of knowledge is the community, or rather civil society. I re-examine the nature of community, and the role of civil society in today’s society. The article then outlines one significant research programme that emerged from the work of a university research centre, the Centre for Australian Community Organisations and Management (CACOM), at the University of Technology, Sydney. This research – namely the story of social capital research – was initiated by a request from community partners and was carried out in collaboration with them.