UKRI has announced a groundbreaking public engagement investment in nine community research networks across the UK.
The five-year £9 million programme will enable communities to set research agendas and develop the knowledge, skills and tools to act on issues that matter to them.
The investment will reach all four nations of the UK and deliver on UKRI’s mission to transform tomorrow together by placing R&I at the heart of society and the economy.
Cross-sector, community networks
The networks are led by community organisations and are deliberately cross-sector.
Novel combinations of charities, local authorities and research organisations will work together to build capacity and capability for community-led research.
For example, in Scotland, the Moray-based Collaboration for Mental Wealth will mobilise community knowledge to create and sustain mental health across the region.
In Wales the Eryri-based Dolennu, which means ‘to link’ in Welsh, seeks to use action research in the areas of tourism, culture and heritage for community benefit.
Elsewhere, the Know Your Place Network aims to empower young people to undertake evidence-based community research that makes Staffordshire a better place for young people to live and thrive.
Tackling issues that matter to communities
UKRI Chief Executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser said:
I am delighted to see the launch the second phase of UKRI’s Community Research Networks programme, in partnership with The Young Foundation.
At UKRI we strongly believe that R&I should be by everyone, for everyone, everywhere.
This programme offers a step-change in the way UKRI funds R&I to reflect this priority.
We are putting money into the hands of communities to tackle the issues that matter most to them.
I am excited to see how these nine networks will enhance connectivity within and between the UK’s regions, contributing to an R&I system that benefits from diverse expertise and understanding.
Driving change
As part of the investment, UKRI has partnered with The Young Foundation, a not-for-profit conducting community research and driving social innovation.
Over the next six years, The Young Foundation will support the networks to drive change, capture their learning and convene people from across the sector to support, champion and build on this work.
This announcement follows an initial phase of funding that helped 25 local networks develop plans for a community research network in their area.
Phase one projects varied from focusing on anti-poverty provision in Manchester to tackling the challenges faced by unpaid carers in Gateshead.
New and evolving national infrastructure
Helen Goulden OBE, Chief Executive of The Young Foundation, emphasised the significance of this initiative:
We know that local communities and citizens understand local needs best and are fundamental to tackling complex societal issues.
Which is why the Community Research Networks programme is so important as we hope to actively contribute to a new and evolving national infrastructure to support community research across the UK.
This is core to The Young Foundation’s strategy, and as delivery partner we are proud and pleased to be working alongside UKRI to support this work over the next five years – and beyond.
Leading the way
Karen Salt, Professor of Culture, Place and Communities at Manchester Metropolitan University said:
It is fantastic to see community organisations lead the way in this programme.
Communities hold knowledge, work hard to transform their worlds and contribute amazing innovations to the people and structures that surround them.
This programme shines a light on this work and amplifies the role of communities in solving some of the major challenges in society.
More broadly, I am hopeful that this programme will transform how research funding is administered in the future by centering communities not as an element but as the core of knowledge production.
A significant investment
Paul Manners, Co-director of the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement said:
It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the significance of this new UKRI investment.
It is the latest example of UKRI’s long commitment to re-balance how decisions are taken about what is researched, and to open up the process of research to many more people.
It builds on decades of work to develop participatory approaches to research, and complements other developments like REF 2029, which is encouraging much more open, engaged and responsive methods.
We warmly welcome all of the new networks, and look forward to learning alongside them as they put their plans into action.
Further information
The successful networks are:
Belfast Community Research and Innovation Network
This network aims to transform urban innovation in inner-city Belfast through a collaborative, community-driven approach that prioritises the knowledge and perspectives of communities experiencing multiple forms of disadvantage.
The network encompasses six inner-Belfast communities of:
- Market
- Sandy Row
- Donegall Pass
- Shankill
- Grosvenor
- New Lodge
This represents over 30,000 citizens and is the first cross-community collaboration of its type in more than five decades.
Collaboration for Mental Wealth in Moray
This network aims to mobilise knowledge held by Moray’s diverse rural community to create and sustain mental wealth for all.
By connecting, empowering and supporting collaboration across the network, they will explore, test and assess new approaches which will stimulate community engagement in research.
Dolennu
Dolennu is a Welsh word that means ‘to link’ and this network is based around Llwybr Llechi Eryri (the Snowdonia Slate Trail, North Wales) and includes communities across:
- Ogwen
- Ffestiniog
- Nantlle
- Conwy
The network seeks to empower local communities by enabling them to use action research methods as levers for achieving community benefit, with a particular focus on tourism, culture and heritage.
East Marsh Community Research Network
This network is based in East Marsh, a ward in Grimsby with a mix of industrial, retail and residential property.
The area has suffered from social deprivation due to the decline of the fishing industry and associated businesses, leading to high rates of drug dealing, anti-social behaviour and vandalism.
The network aims to empower, train and upskill community members to be leaders in shaping the future of East Marsh.
It will do this through addressing the social, economic, environmental and health challenges impacting a disadvantaged and stigmatised neighbourhood.
Isles of Scilly Community Research Network
This network is based on, and will serve the community of, the Isles of Scilly, a remote archipelago of 150 islands (five of which are inhabited) 30 miles off the coast of Cornwall.
The network is engaging a diverse cross-section of Scilly’s community.
It will identify the research topics and questions they see as most pressing and enable them to make these research and discovery ambitions a reality.
Know Your Place Network
Staffordshire is a mixture of medium-sized towns, each with their own unique demographics and heritage, dotted across rural areas with smaller villages.
This network aims to empower young people to undertake evidence-based community research.
It will drive influence and change to local policy and decision-making, and make Staffordshire a better place for young people to live and thrive.
Newham Citizen Research Network
Compost London is leading a ‘network of networks’ based in various wards across the ethnically diverse and innovative London borough of Newham.
The three recruited networks cover special educational needs and disability young people, marginalised women, and migrants and refugee communities who live, work and go to school in Newham.
Together, they aim to transform the research landscape in these areas by upskilling marginalised communities to identify and address their own research needs.
Through this work, they seek to:
- foster agency over the research process
- create a shift in power to the community
- reverse traditional research dynamics
Rural Durham Community Research Network
This network supports community-led research in Weardale, Teesdale and Derwent Valley within County Durham.
It will address rural challenges around access to health and social care, and critical public services, and opportunities for young people.
At a local level, the network’s projects will:
- build confidence, capability and capacity for community-led research within rural communities
- integrate community research and findings into the practice and policies of local and regional organisations
- mobilise knowledge for future community-led research
South West Race Equity Research Network (SWRERN)
SWRERN aims to counteract power imbalances in traditional research ecosystems and to re-imagine the role of knowledge-production through an anti-racist lens.
It places Black and minoritised people at the heart of its work and seeks to bring tangible positive change to their lives.
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