Research Methodology Services

A crucial part of our work lies in developing, with researchers, community groups and organisations, research methods that respond to particular contexts, questions and curiosities. To this end RAPT has over the years provided assistance to activist collectives, organizations and research institutes in designing research projects, as well as provided support and mentorship to individual researchers. We work with a range of actors in various research ecologies, and at a range of scales – from individuals to multi-country projects - right from conceptualisation of research questions, through to analysis, performance and publication, as companions.

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What our collaborators say

"...The approach that RAPT has brought forward under their leadership holds powerful potential for authentic, people-centered research across contexts."
Working with Akshay and Effie through SuPWR research in Nepal was deeply enriching. Together, we explored the layers of backlash women’s movements face, along with the strategies and resilience that carry them forward. Through the forum theatre approach RAPT/they introduced and trained us in, research became a lived, collective experience. Moving beyond conventional tools, the process opened space for expression through stories, sound, and movement—allowing participants to share pain, strength, and strategy with honesty and depth. It not only surfaced experiences of backlash—from state, community, and family—but also fostered connection, solidarity, and collective thinking for action. The approach that RAPT has brought forward under their leadership holds powerful potential for authentic, people-centered research across contexts. Grateful for their guidance and for creating such meaningful spaces.
- Mona Sherpa

Country Director of CARE Nepal and lead researcher of SuPWR research in Nepal
"...Our project would simply not be the same without their expertise, creativity, and genuine commitment to this work."
Working with RAPT was truly transformative for our project. Their innovative use of theatre as a research methodology opened up something we had no idea how to capture using traditional research methods. These included the emotions ever-present in the processes of fighting for women's rights, and the reflections that activists themselves have so little time for yet need in order to develop stronger strategies for the future. akshay and Effie designed the methodology, trained our team of researchers, helped them find their own voice in the project, and supported us and the women's rights activists in our project's accompaniment of 16 women's movements in the most thoughtful and incredible way. Our project would simply not be the same without their expertise, creativity, and genuine commitment to this work.
- Prof. Deepta Chopra

Institute of development studies
"...using this methodology allowed knowledge production to become a site of building community..."
I encountered RAPT's work on using Theatre as a research methodology early in my career as a feminist researcher and it cracked open the possibilities of knowledge production for me. By being embodied and embedded, rather than extractive, using this methodology allowed knowledge production to become a site of building community, creating shared knowledge and languauge, and a space for truth-telling unlike any other mode of research. My practice as a theatre and arts based facilitator and researcher is shaped by this thinking.
- Apeksha Vora

Independent researcher, theatre practitioner, and writer

For more information related to these services, please reach out to us.