Description
Participatory and action-oriented research approaches are increasingly recognised as a means of producing knowledge in conflict settings. Less attention, however, has been paid to whether the research process itself can function as a conflict transformation intervention. This paper explores that question through Facilitative Listening Design (FLD), a community-led action research methodology implemented among Cambodian and Thai participants investigating online conflict between the two countries. During the research process, escalating tensions culminated in armed conflict, resulting in more than 100 deaths and the displacement of over half a million civilians across both countries. Drawing on longitudinal focus groups, interviews, participant observation, and reflective accounts, the paper examines the experiences of twenty Cambodian and Thai community researchers who engaged in a structured process of intergroup contact, collaborative fieldwork, collective analysis, and sustained reflection. The findings demonstrate that transformation emerged through multiple pathways, including shifts from suspicion to solidarity, greater critical awareness of competing narratives, deeper empathy through listening, and the humanisation of perceived adversaries. Importantly, these changes did not emerge through dialogue alone, but through participants jointly researching the conflict and engaging with community perspectives from both sides. The paper argues that action research can serve not only as a mode of knowledge production but also as a process of conflict transformation. In doing so, it contributes to emerging conversations between participatory and action-oriented research and peacebuilding by repositioning inquiry itself as a site of intervention.