This article introduces an overview of the relationships among universities, researchers, and social movements in Colombia. Based on a periodization of the different modes of articulation or estrangement among these 3 social actors, the study reflects on two significant experiences of collaborative research between researchers and social movements. One of them was led by Orlando Fals Bordad from the La Rosca Foundation in the 1970s with peasant movements from the Atlantic Coast, which gave rise to Participatory Action Research, and the other was carried out by the Subjects and new narratives in research and teaching of the social sciences of the National Pedagogical University research group. The latter was based on the systematization of practices with popular organizations. Finally, there are some challenges about joint research between social and collective movements of researchers linked to universities.