There is a growing recognition that needs more to be done to ensure that research contributes to better health services and patient outcomes. Stakeholder engagement in research, including co-production, has been identified as a promising mechanism for improving the value, relevance and utilization of research. This article presents findings from a prospective study which explored the impact of stakeholder engagement in a 3-year European tobacco control research project. That research project aimed to engage stakeholders in the development, testing and dissemination of a return-on-investment tool across five EU countries (the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Germany and the UK). The prospective study comprised interviews, observations and document review. The analysis focused on the extent to which the project team recognized, conceptualized and operationalized stakeholder engagement over the course of the research project. Stakeholder engagement in the European research project was conceptualized as a key feature of pre-designated spaces within their work programme. Over the course of the project, however, the tool development work and stakeholder engagement activities decoupled. While the modelling and tool development became more secluded, stakeholder engagement activities subtly transformed from co-production, to consultation, to something more recognizable as research participation. The contribution of this article is not to argue against the potential contribution of stakeholder engagement and co-production, but to show how even well-planned engagement activities can be diverted within the existing research funding and research production systems where non-research stakeholders remain at the margins and can even be seen as a threat to academic identify and autonomy.

中文翻译：

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在研究中强调利益相关者的参与和共同生产对学术认同和自主性构成了多大的威胁？一项跨越五个欧洲国家的前瞻性研究

人们越来越认识到需要做更多工作以确保研究有助于更好的卫生服务和患者结果。利益相关者参与研究，包括合作生产，已被确定为提高研究价值、相关性和利用的一种有前途的机制。本文介绍了一项前瞻性研究的结果，该研究探讨了利益相关者参与一项为期 3 年的欧洲烟草控制研究项目的影响。该研究项目旨在让利益相关者参与到五个欧盟国家（荷兰、西班牙、匈牙利、德国和英国）的投资回报工具的开发、测试和传播。前瞻性研究包括访谈、观察和文件审查。分析的重点是项目团队认可的程度，在研究项目过程中概念化和操作化的利益相关者参与。利益相关者参与欧洲研究项目被概念化为他们工作计划中预先指定空间的一个关键特征。然而，在项目过程中，工具开发工作和利益相关者参与活动脱钩了。虽然建模和工具开发变得更加隐蔽，但利益相关者参与活动从共同生产到咨询，再到更容易被识别为研究参与的活动。本文的贡献不是反对利益相关者参与和共同生产的潜在贡献，