This article gives accounts of differing experiences of self-advocate partnerships in research with universities in England and Flanders. In England the partnership grew up within a local People First group built upon a personal working relationship with one support person. It is focused almost exclusively on empirical research and, because it is aimed at influencing policy and practice, questions of funding and control are to the fore. In Flanders the partnership is closely linked with the development of a national movement of self-advocates in which the university was a close ally. Research is important in both contexts but in Flanders the university is more clearly identified with the wider movement. Partnerships have their ups and downs but in both countries researchers with the label 'learning difficulties' wish to set their own agendas and place great importance on trust in their work with their support worker (England) or ally (Flanders).