Health & Well-beingCommunity hacking
Principal Investigator: Chris Speed (Edinburgh)
From 2010 to 2011
Based in the Edinburgh suburb of Wester Hailes, the team of academics, community organisations and local activists have been exploring the affordances of social media to construct ‘bonds’ and ‘bridges’ between and across existing people and groups. Read more
Taverns, locals and street corners: cross-chronological studies in community drinking, regulation and public space
Principal Investigator: Dr Fabrizio Nevola (University of Bath)
From 2012 to 2013
This pilot study on tavern culture ranges from early modern Europe to the present day. It investigates whether today’s real and imagined patterns of drinking – people congregating in public spaces at night, sold alcohol and revelling – are recurring practices and representations of drinking and of competing communities. Read more
Participatory Arts and Well-being: Past and Present Practices
Principal Investigator: Dr Jane Milling
2011
This project aimed to examine diverse definitions of communal well-being and the complex ways in which participatory arts, past and present, have contributed to and sustained community well-being. We set out to study examples of best practice in content, process, outcome and impact, of historic and contemporary participatory arts activity. Read more
Representing Communities: Developing the creative power of people to improve health and well-being
Principal Investigator: Prof Gareth Williams
From 2013 to 2017
The aim of this project is to establish how community representations produced through creative arts practices (e.g. story-telling, performance, visual art) can be used as forms of evidence to inform health-related policy and service development. This study will develop methods for using creative art forms as a mode of communication and knowledge exchange. Read more
Alcohol and Performing Community: Mapping representations of binge drinking and community health
Principal Investigator: Dr Jane Milling
2011
Public and media concern over excessive episodic public drinking among young people, dubbed binge drinking, has increased since the 2000s (Nicholls 2009; Berridge, Herring, Thom 2009). Read more
Connected lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities? A scoping study to explore understandings and experiences of ‘community’ among LGBT people
Principal Investigator: Eleanor Formby
2012
This study examined understandings and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities, and assessed implications for health and wellbeing. It was based on a review of existing literature, an online survey (627 respondents), and in-depth interviews and discussion groups with (44) LGBT people. Read more
In Harmony Liverpool Research Network
Principal Investigator: Kerry Wilson, Liverpool John Moores University
From 2012 to 2013
The In Harmony Liverpool Research Network brought together an international community of interest to consider and debate the impact and value of the In Harmony Liverpool programme, led by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (RLP). Read more
Creating cultural citizenship? Understanding the impact of participatory arts on community health and wellbeing
Principal Investigator: Professor Norma Daykin (University of the West of England)
2012
This research development project emerged from the 2011 workshop ‘Communities, Cultures, Health and Well- Being’. It is focused on arts and health, an emergent field that encompasses diverse art forms, genres and settings. The starting point for the study was the need to develop understanding of practice excellence in this interdisciplinary field. Read more
Connecting communities through food: the development of community supported agriculture in the UK
Principal Investigator: Professor Neil Ravenscroft
From 2010 to 2011
There is a convergence of the cultural and material worlds occurring in farming, driven by communities making connections between the production and consumption of food. This new civic agriculture is experienced in multiple ways, from small groups of allotment holders, to large groups owning substantial farming businesses and land. Read more
Living Together: Re-Thinking Social Unity for a Multi-Faith Society
Principal Investigator: Dr Derek Edyvane, University of Leeds
2011
The ‘civic health’ discourse in contemporary politics presupposes an analogy between the lives of communities and the lives of individuals that is often overlooked. This report examines two prominent philosophical conceptions of the life of an individual – the ‘episodic’ and the ‘narrative’ – and considers what they can tell us about the lives of communities. Read more
