Learning through action and research

The changing nature of funding for research groups operating within the higher education sector has forced many such groups to transform themselves into more responsive and effective organizations. Academic research, allied to learning organization concepts creates the potential for action research‐based research units working effectively through integrative relations with their research communities. This short case study paper describes the historical development of CENTRIM (the Centre for Research in Innovation Management), based at the University of Brighton, charting the group’s development as it tries to identify a learning agenda to form the basis of its research and development activities. Highlights some of the key mechanisms for organizational learning which the centre has developed, some of the enablers and barriers, and the challenges for developing the centre as a learning organization.