This paper draws on our experience of a collaborative research project. We suggest that collaborative research projects can promote quality research outputs and assist in developing a research culture - even for heavily loaded new teaching academics. Collaborative research can enhance research skills in this time of ’unknowns’ especially as the New Zealand Tertiary sector acts upon reforms such as PBRF. As a framework to reflect on and to analyse our lived experience as co-researchers we have used a qualitative design based on McDrury and Alterio’s Learning through Storytelling model (2002). From the evidence presented in our stories, we have made some suggestions for developing successful collaborative research partnerships.

Keywords: collaborative research, reflective practice