Civil Society & Social InnovationUnearth Hidden Assets through Community Co-design and Co-production
Principal Investigator: Dr Busayawan Lam, Brunel University
From 2013 to 2014
We believe that each community has many valuable assets, for example people and spaces. However, many assets may not be visible to the majority of community members. This collaborative project works with communities to uncover hidden assets and unlock their potential. 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
Measuring big society
Principal Investigator: Professor Richard Mitchell (University of Glasgow)
From 2010 to 2011
Big Society is a core element of the coalition government’s policy and ideology. It is not easy to define, but in essence a Big Society is one in which citizens and communities take a vastly increased role in managing shaping and delivering public services and the social and physical infrastructure of society. Read more
The university of the village: universities connecting with rural communities
Principal Investigator: Professor Michael Wilson
From 2011 to 2012
This pilot project explored new modes of delivery, enhanced through Next Generation Access Broadband, and was interested to redraw the relationship between universities and rural communities and grant access to university outreach services for those communities. The project in St Agnes resulted in delivering a short film course to the participants who collaboratively made a film about their village. Read more
Cultural Activism in the Community
Principal Investigator: Michael Buser
2012
This scoping study explored literature and debates on cultural activism and communities of place. Cultural activism is defined as a set of creative practices and activities which challenge dominant interpretations and constructions of the world, while presenting alternative socio-political and spatial imaginaries in ways which challenge relationships between art, politics, participation and spectatorship. Read more
Understanding everyday participation – articulating cultural values
Principal Investigator: Dr Andrew Miles (University of Manchester)
2011
This project proposes a radical re-evaluation of the relationship between participation and cultural value. We are used to thinking about the benefits of the arts as a traditional way of understanding culture and its value but what about the meanings and stakes people attach to their hobbies and pastimes? Read more
Cultural intermediation: connecting communities in the creative urban economy
Principal Investigator: Dr Phil Jones (University of Birmingham)
From 2012 to 2016
Cultural intermediation is a set of processes that seek to get people involved in activities within the creative and cultural economy. This can encompass a wide range of activities from poetry coaching through training people with new IT skills, to outreach activities by a local museum. Read more
Starting from Values – Evaluating Intangible Legacies
Principal Investigator: Prof. Marie Harder, University of Brighton
From 2014 to 2015
The project brings together partners from the University of Brighton and two Connected Communities project: The Authority Research Network and Scaling-Up Co-Design. Read more
Creative participation
Principal Investigator: Antonia Layard (University of Birmingham)
From 2011 to 2012
Creative Participation was a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of its Connected Communities programme in 2011-12. The project explored how three ‘pioneer communities’ in Newcastle, Cumbria and Bristol use creativity to involve themselves in place-making and planning practices after initial struggles to have a voice in the process. Read more
