The Connected Communities Festival in 2015 will provide an opportunity to explore creative ways to widen and deepen community engagement with the exciting and innovative research being undertaken by the Connected Communities Programme and the AHRC. It will take place across the UK over two week period [rather than in a single location over a small number of days]. The Festival will focus on widening and extending community engagement with Connected Communities and AHRC-funded research through the co-production by researchers, research organisations and community partners of interactive outreach activities at a regional / local /community level. Collectively these locally organised activities will contribute to a UK-wide Festival programme of events and digital activities held as a part of a ‘Festival Fortnight’ between 15th and 29th June 2015. 
The 2015 Festival forms a part of AHRC’s 10 year anniversary programme of activities and this call is therefore being extended to AHRC-funded researchers outside as well as within the Connected Communities Programme.
In addition, to complement the community-engagement focused activities of the Festival, the Programme Leadership fellows will be organising a Connected Communities Research Conference to be held in Norwich during Summer 2015 and a separate call for papers for this conference will be issued for this shortly.
Expressions of interest are now invited to contribute to the Festival. These can be to undertake a wide range of community engagement activities which are co-produced between researchers, communities and other partners and which seek to deepen and/or widen engagement and interaction between academic researchers and communities and other non-academic partners linked to past or present Connected Communities and/or AHRC-funded research. Proposals involving innovative or experimental approaches to engagement will be welcomed. Events could aim to enhance collaborative reflection with wider community groups on the outcomes, and translation into policy or practice, of AHRC / Connected Communities research conducted in the past and/or to widen or diversify community engagement with current /on-going AHRC/ Connected Communities research. In addition to support from community and other non-academic partners, as a part of the 2015 Festival we are looking for evidence of significant support / co-sponsorship from research organisations for researchers in undertaking community engagement activities as a part of the festival. We are also are keen to encourage opportunities for early career researchers to gain experience of community engagement activities. We will be happy to consider EOIs for activities to be included within the Festival programme which do not require funding from the AHRC through this call, provided that the activities would meet the aims and objectives of the call.
Full information is available here. Deadline for submission of expressions of interest is 11 March 2015.
