Civil Society & Social InnovationLeapfrog – transforming public sector consultation by design
Principal Investigator: Dr Leon Cruickshank, Lancaster University
From 2015 to 2017
The Leapfrog project will be a close collaboration with public sector and community partners to design and evaluate new creative approaches to consultation. Read more
Imagine: Connecting Communities Through Research
Principal Investigator: Professor Kate Pahl (University of Sheffield)
The Imagine Project Working in partnership with local communities, we are exploring the social, historical, cultural and democratic context of civic engagement to imagine better futures and make them happen. This five-year project, running from 2013 – 2017, brings together a range of different research projects working together across universities and communities. Read more
Connectivity and conflict in periods of austerity: What do we know about the middle class political activism and its effects on public services?
Principal Investigator: Annette Hastings (Glasgow University)
2011
Our project was a scoping review of middle class community activism – research evidence of the taken-for-granted fact that the middle classes shout louder and get more. Our review identified four causal mechanisms that explain how and why the middle classes benefit disproportionately from the state as individuals and as community groups of activists. Read more
Reframing state-citizen relationships in a time of austerity
Principal Investigator: Professor Joe Painter (Durham University)
From 2012 to 2013
This project examines how the different policy stances of the Scottish and UK public sectors are being rolled out in a time of austerity. It will identify and examine the mechanisms through which the role of the state is being changed in light of the ‘Big Society’ and ‘Localism’ agenda in England and the Community Empowerment Bill in Scotland. Read more
Places for all? A multimedia investigation of citizenship, work and belonging in a fast changing provincial city
Principal Investigator: Professor Ben Rogaly (University of Sussex)
From 2011 to 2013
With residents of Peterborough as its focus, Places for All? explores the multiple and diverse place attachments and work and migration histories of people of all ethnic backgrounds, from people born in the city to those who arrived very recently. Read more
Tackling ethical issues and dilemmas in community-based participatory research: a practical resource
Principal Investigator: Professor Sarah Jane Banks (Durham University)
2012
This project brought together community partners and academics from four previous Connected Communities projects to work on developing ethical guidelines for community-based participatory research (CBPR). After two rounds of consultation, a guide was developed and published by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement in November 2012. Read more
Active citizenship, public engagement and the humanities: the Victorian model
Principal Investigator: Prof Eugenio Biagini (University of Cambridge)
2012
This project sought to give historical perspective to contemporary debates surrounding the role of the humanities in civil society. Read more
Volunteer sport coaches as community assets
Principal Investigator: Dr Mark Griffiths (University of Birmingham)
2011
Community-based sport is an extensive social enterprise run, almost in its entirety, by volunteer sports coaches. A number of recent studies have suggested that participation in community sport has the potential to deliver a wide range of individual and social benefits. It is in this context that volunteer sports coaches might be viewed as valuable ‘community assets’. Read more
Community gardening, creativity and everyday culture
Principal Investigator: Prof Andrew Church (University of Brighton)
From 2010 to 2011
This project seeks to demonstrate the potential, challenges and capacity of innovative shared creative activities for developing community connections and identities through transformative experiences. It does so in the context of the everyday cultural practice of community farming and gardening. It works with communities that are involved in communal food growing in Sussex, Manchester, and inner London. Read more
Maintaining a faith community: the role of the law
Principal Investigator: Dr Ruth Gaffney-Rhys (University of Wales, Newport)
From 2012 to 2013
Legal rules may have a unifying or a divisive effect and dispute resolution mechanisms may dissipate problems and divisions or reinforce them. Furthermore, faith communities are sometimes confronted with incompatibility between their own religious laws and the secular legal system within which their community is required to operate. Read more
