Established in 2017, The NABP Network aims to address implicit conflicts between norms of belief (like those underpinning evidence-based guidelines) and norms of action (like those underpinning shared decision-making). Our guiding thought is that these conflicts often remain unacknowledged, giving rise to such recurring challenges as ignoring guidelines as irrelevant to practice (where norms of action trump norms of belief) or forsaking practice-based judgment for formal compliance (where, by contrast, norms of belief override norms of action).

Through collaborative and participatory research informed by engaged philosophy and scholarship grounded in lived experience, our Network develops new strategies for identifying and reconciling such conflicts in practice while also contributing to wider theoretical debates on the ethics of knowledge and inquiry, epistemic justice and what counts as success in co-creation.

Our two main objectives are:

• raise awareness of underexplored tensions between norms of action and norms of belief in practice
• develop collaboratively a conceptual and normative framework for constructively engaging with such conflicting demands, through co-creation grounded in lived experiences, academic research, health and social care practice, and policy work.

The Network currently supports two complementary collaborative initiatives:

• Knowledge Co-Creation and The Values of Inquiry: How does knowledge co-creation differ from other collective approaches to knowledge, and what counts as success in this context? Does it require shared ownership of processes and outcomes, across diverse or diffuse collectives? Can participants contribute productively while pursuing different agendas, rather than shared objectives? How should differences in expertise and values – particularly between experts by experience and experts by training – be recognised and supported in practice?
  
• Identifying and Overcoming Epistemic Injustice in Health and Social Care: Could unrecognised conflicts between norms of action and norms of belief account for central cases of epistemic injustice? How might acknowledging such conflicts reshape current understandings of epistemic injustice and strategies for addressing it in practice? Is the language of shared virtues and vices better suited to expressing concerns about epistemic injustice than that of norms and obligations? Could recognising lived experience as a ground for expertise help address imbalances of credibility and power in institutional contexts?

Online resources:

• Lee, R. Radoilska, L. Fulford, KWM, Handa, A. (2018). A Novel Theoretical Framework to Address the Gap between Universal Guidelines and International Variations in the Threshold for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Surgery. Annals of Vascular Surgery 53: 275-277.
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avsg.2018.05.046
  
• Radoilska, L., Foreman, D. (2023). Epistemic Justice is both a Legitimate and an Integral Goal of Psychiatry: a Reply to Kious, Lewis and Kim. Psychological Medicine 53(14): 6939 – 6940 https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172300082X
  
• Radoilska, L. (2023). Moral Competence and Mental Disorder. In M. Kiener (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Responsibility (pp. 287-298). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003282242-31
  
• Radoilska, L. (2017). Aiming at the Truth and Aiming at Success. 2017. Philosophical Explorations 20: sup1: 111-126
  https://doi.org/10.1080/13869795.2017.1287297

Network event recordings include:

• Foreman, D. (KCL) The Role of Co-Creation in the Creation of Enduring Perinatal Mental Health Services
  
• Fulford, KWM, Handa, A. (Collaborating Centre, St Catherine’s College, Oxford) Values Based Practice
  
• Radoilska, L. (University of Kent) New Conceptual Resources for Identifying and Overcoming Epistemic Injustice
  
• Robertson-Ritchie, H. (University of Kent) Values-Based Practice Can Enhance Epistemic Justice in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  
• Sakakibara, E. (University of Tokio) Epistemic Injustice in the Therapeutic Relationship in Psychiatry
  
• Singaïny, E.J-D. (University Hospital of Reunion Island) The Therapeutic Encounter with the Alcoholic: an Epistemic Injustice?

Talks given at the Advanced Studies Seminar on Identifying and Overcoming Epistemic Injustice in Health and Social Care (18 January 2023). Recordings available here.

Future plans

We would also welcome the opportunity to contribute to further projects in such areas as person-centred care, co-creation design, policy review and continuous professional development.

The Network’s e-mailing list aims to offer regular updates regarding events, publications, policy and practice, collaborations and funding.

Contact and further information

To propose collaborations, contribute to the Network seminars, announce related events and initiatives, or request additional information, please contact both Lubomira Radoilska at L.V.Radoilska@kent.ac.uk and Elliot Porter at e.porter.1@bham.ac.uk