Opportunity to attend the Connected Communities ‘Co-creation and Co-design’ Workshop – 3rd July, at the St David’s Hotel and Conference Centre, Cardiff.
An introduction from Paul McWhirter, AHRC Portfolio Manager, Connected Communities Programme:
The ‘Co-creation and Co-design’ strand of the Connected Communities Programme is at the leading edge of testing new ways of supporting co-creation and co-design of research activity with communities, and the projects funded under this strand have explored both the challenges and opportunities this involves. This workshop is a great opportunity to share in the learning these projects have to offer both to the wider Programme, and beyond.
An overview from workshop lead Dr Robin Durie (Exeter):
The nine research projects supported by the Connected Communities “Co-creation and Co-design” stream have a multi-phased funding model which is unique both within UK Research Council funded research, and, to the best of our knowledge, in international research as well. The initial phase of the funding was aimed at supporting the development of research relationships between academic and community partners, the exploration of potential areas for collaborative research, and the initial co-creation of research projects. The second phase of the funding supported the co-delivery of these co-designed research projects.
In this way, the Co-creation and Co-design funding model offers a novel means to support what research and anecdotal evidence suggest remains amongst the most challenging aspects of undertaking research involving significant collaboration between community and academic partners, namely the development and maintenance of relations between the participants.
Given that this has been recognised as a unique model of funding, the project teams have also been supported in collaboratively exploring the extent to which they have been able to undertake research that wouldn’t have been possible on the basis of traditional funding models, and to deliver research outcomes that make a significant difference to both community and academic partners. One of the main areas on which this collaborative work has focused has been the distinctive dynamics underpinning the processes of co-created and co-designed research.
This whole day session, which will be of interest to anyone who has participated in, or who is interested in participating in, research involving collaboration between community and academic partners, will consist in a mixture of performances, exhibitions, discussions and participation. A number of the Co-creation and Co-design project teams will host events within the session, in which they will seek to show how they have gone about developing their research partnerships, and what novel ways of working together they have employed in their project teams. The aim of these events is to show how high quality and distinctive research can be achieved through novel practices of engagement. The session will also offer space for participants to reflect on and discuss their own experiences of co-creating research, and their responses to the events during the session.
If you would like to register your interest in attending this workshop please contact Workshop Coordinator Dr Lindsey Horner (L.K.Horner@bristol.ac.uk) by 12:00 pm Thursday 12th June.
To find out more about the Co-creation and Co-design projects please refer to the list of awards on the AHRC website (awards listed in the first section of this list). Further information on many of the projects can then be found on the Connected Communities Leadership Fellows’ websiteconnected-communities.org.
Please note: this workshop is linked to the Connected Communities Festival, and is taking place at the same venue, but has a separate registration process. Enquiries about the ‘Co-creation, Co-design’ workshop should be directed to workshop coordinator Dr Lindsey Horner, and not in reply to this email.
To find out more about the Connected Communities Festival 2014 and how to register please go to the AHRC website:http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funding-Opportunities/Research-funding/Connected-Communities/Events/Pages/Connected-Communities-Festival-2014.aspx
