This article presents participatory action synthesis as a new approach to qualitative synthesis which may be used to facilitate the promotion and use of qualitative research for policy and practice. The authors begin by outlining different forms of qualitative research synthesis and then present participatory action synthesis, a collaborative approach to data analysis, synthesis, interpretation and knowledge construction, enabling individual data generation and its analysis to be offered for communal analysis. The principles and practice of participatory action synthesis are presented prior to a short case study which illustrates how it has been used to date. The final section of the article outlines the challenges and opportunities of this approach, suggesting that it can facilitate the raising of the profile of qualitative synthesis among the disciplines. (Contains 2 figures.)