Meet the networks

Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Belfast Community Research & Innovation Network (BCRIN) aims to transform urban innovation in inner-city Belfast through a collaborative, community-driven approach that serves as a counter-infrastructure to conventional urban innovation frameworks, prioritising the knowledge and perspectives of communities experiencing multiple forms of disadvantage.

BCRIN encompasses six inner-Belfast communities of the Market, Sandy Row, Donegall Pass, Shankill, Grosvenor and New Lodge. This represents over 30,000 citizens and is the first cross-community collaboration of its type in more than five decades. The network includes:

• Market Development Association
• Donegall Pass Community Enterprises
• Belfast South Community Resources
• Roden St Community Development Group
• Greater Shankill Alternatives
• Ashton Community Trust
• Queens Communities and Place (QCAP)  (academic partner)

“We were delighted to secure the UKRI investment into the Belfast Community Research Network. This will be the first time in over 50 years that such an ambitious project has taken place in Inner City Belfast, linking together some of the oldest working class communities to look at commonalities in experience, challenges, and developing innovative solutions to meet those challenges. Our academic partner, Queen’s University’s Queen’s Communities and Place (QCAP) initiative, brings a wealth of experience, talent and insight to compliment that which already exists within the community. We look forward to growing the network in the time ahead, and to include those not in the development phase in it’s wider work, as well as developing solutions with Queen’s, statutory partners, and, most importantly, our residents.”

Fionntán Hargey, Director, Market Development Association, on behalf of BCRIN

Website coming soon!

Location: Moray, Scottish Highlands and Islands

The Collaboration for Mental Wealth in Moray network includes the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), Networks of Wellbeing (NOW), Moray Art, Development Engagement (MADE), tsiMORAY, Science Ceilidh, Arrows and The Three Kings Cullen Association, with the aim to attract more over the coming months.

This network aims to mobilise knowledge held by Moray’s diverse rural community to create and sustain mental wealth for all. By connecting, empowering, and supporting collaboration across the network, they will explore, test and assess new approaches which will stimulate community engagement in research.

“This partnership approach with other local organisations, who can provide and empower differing perspectives and voices from the community, gives an opportunity for lived and living experiences to be heard through research and collaboration.”

Heidi Tweedie, Social Movement & Enterprise Lead, Moray Wellbeing Hub CIC

Lleoliad: Eryri, Cymru / Location: Eryri (Snowdonia), Wales

Lleolir y rhwydwaith hwn yn ardal Eryri, yn benodol o amgylch Llwybr Llechi Eryri, gan gynnwys cymunedau o ddyffrynnoedd Ogwen, Ffestiniog, Nantlle a Chonwy. Mae rhwydwaith Dolennu yn ceisio grymuso cymunedau lleol trwy eu galluogi i ddefnyddio dulliau ymchwil gweithredol ac offer eraill fel ysgogiadau ar gyfer sicrhau budd cymunedol, gyda ffocws penodol ar dwristiaeth, diwylliant, treftadaeth a gweithgareddau cysylltiedig.

Mae partneriaid rhwydwaith Dolennu yn cynnwys Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog, Cynghrair Economi Sylfaenol Cymru Cyf (FAW), Foundational Economy Research Ltd, Llwybr Llechi Eryri, Partneriaeth Ogwen, People’s Economy a Siop Griffiths, ac Ymchwilwyr Llechi o ddyffrynoedd Eryri, Ogwen, Ffestiniog, Nantlle a Chonwy.

Dolennu is a Welsh word that means ‘to link’ and this network is based in the Eryri region, specifically around Llwybr Llechi Eryri (the Eryri/Snowdonia Slate Trail), including communities from the valleys of Ogwen, Ffestiniog, Nantlle and Conwy. The Dolennu network is seeking to empower local communities in the Eryri region by enabling them to use action research methods and other tools as levers for achieving community benefit, with a particular focus on tourism, culture, heritage and related activities.

This network includes Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog, Foundational Economy Alliance Wales Ltd (FAW), Foundational Economy Research Ltd, Llwybr Llechi Eryri (the Snowdonia Slate Trail), Partneriaeth Ogwen, People’s Economy and Siop Griffiths, and Slate Researchers from the valleys of Ogwen, Ffestiniog, Nantlle and Conwy.

“Bydd y Rhwydwaith Ymchwil Cymunedol yn dod â dinasyddion, mentrau, rhanddeiliaid ac arbenigwyr lleol ynghyd, gan feithrin ymchwil ac arloesi cydweithredol. Arweinir yr ymchwil gan ein timau o ymchwilwyr llechi lleol a thros gyfnod y prosiect byddant yn datblygu eu sgiliau eu hunain, yn rhannu eu dysgu ag eraill ac yn hwyluso sgyrsiau agored o fewn eu cymunedau.”

Jo Quinney, Arweinydd Dolennu, Cynghrair Economi Sylfaenol Cymru Cyf

“The Community Research Networks will bring together local citizens, enterprises, stakeholders and experts, fostering collaborative research and innovation. The research is led by our teams of locally-based slate researchers and over the course of the project they will develop their own skills, share their learning with others and facilitate open conversations within their communities.”

Jo Quinney, Dolennu Lead, Foundational Alliance Wales Ltd

Location: Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire

This network is based in East Marsh, a ward in Grimsby with a mix of industrial, retail, and residential property. It has suffered from social decay and deprivation due to the decline of the fishing industry and associated businesses, leading to high rates of drug dealing, anti-social behaviour, and vandalism. Through this programme we are seeking to empower, train and upskill community members lead and shape the future of the East Marsh through addressing the complex web of social, economic, environmental and health challenges impacting the lives and spaces of a disadvantaged and stigmatised neighbourhood.

This network includes Foresight North East Lincolnshire, East Marsh United, North East Lincolnshire Council, NSPCC, University of Lincoln, Learning4Life-Gy, Our Future and NEL Health and Care Partnership.

“We believe that community-based research is essential for understanding and addressing complex challenges. We’re honored to be part of the Community Research Networks and look forward to contributing our expertise and resources to this important work.”

Website coming soon!

Location: Isles of Scilly, Cornwall

This network is based on, and will serve the community of, the Isles of Scilly, a remote archipelago of 150 islands (five of which are inhabited) 30 miles off the coast of Cornwall. This network is a being delivered by a partnership between the Isles of Scilly Community Venture CIC, the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, Five Islands Academy and the University of Exeter.

During the first phase of the programme this network engaged a diverse cross-section of Scilly’s community to understand their views on the need for locally led research, the research topics and questions they see as most pressing, and their appetite for making that research a reality. In phase two, we will enable our community to make these research and discovery ambitions a reality.

“This funding and support from UKRI and The Young Foundation is a fantastic chance to develop the skills and opportunities for Scilly’s community to take the lead in setting and delivering a research agenda that is firmly anchored in local needs and perspectives. We are excited to be part of the Community Research Networks programme and look forward to driving meaningful, lasting, locally informed change.”

George Goldberg, Isles of Scilly Community Venture

 

Location: Staffordshire, West Midlands

Staffordshire is a mixture of medium sized towns, each with their own unique demographics and heritage dotted across largely rural swathes with smaller villages. This network aims to empower young people to undertake evidence-based community research, driving influence and change to local policy and decision-making, and as a result make Staffordshire a better place for young people to live and thrive.

This network includes a young people’s steering group, Staffordshire County Council, the University of Staffordshire and Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services, which has a membership of 200 organisations working with children, young people and families in the region.

Location: Newham, London

Compost London is leading a ‘network of networks’ based in various wards across the ethnically diverse, and innovative London Borough of Newham. The three recruited networks cover SEND young people, marginalised women, and migrants and refugee communities who live and work and go to school in Newham. Together, they aim to transform the research landscape in these local areas by upskilling marginalised communities to identify and address their own research needs, fostering agency over the research process and creating a shift in power to the community and reversing traditional research dynamics.

Compost London will work in partnership with University College London (UCL) and its Institute of Global Prosperity, and Newham Council’s policy, research and partnerships team. Eight voluntary sector groups will join the project, focusing on three different marginalised communities in the area:

Migrant and refugees

• Newham Community Project
• Care 4 Calais
• The Centre for Theology & Community (CTC)

Marginalised women

• ELBWO
• Deep Boroughs Network CIC

SEND young people

• Distinctive Solutions (Lead)
• The 5E’s
• Race and Equality In Newham

Location: County Durham

This network aims to enable and support community-led research in Weardale, Teesdale and Derwent Valley within County Durham to address rural challenges of accessing health and social care, opportunities for young people and access to critical public services. The projects at a local level will develop the skills and confidence of cohorts of community researchers, integrate community research and findings into the practice and policies of local and regional organisations, mobilise knowledge for future community-led research, exchange community-led research into actionable policy insight and change, and build confidence, capability and capacity for community-led research in rural communities within County Durham.

Network partnerships include the Rural Design Centre, Durham Community Action, Durham University, Durham County Council, Newcastle University, Insights North East and Point North.

“We are delighted to be part of this opportunity to support communities to be truly in the lead of research development and to support them to influence positive change for those living in rural County Durham.”

Kate Burrows, Executive Director, Durham Community Action

Location: Across the South West

The South West Race Equity Research Network’s (SWRERN) ultimate objective is to counteract power imbalances in traditional research ecosystems and to re-imagine the role of knowledge-production through an anti-racist lens, which will locate Black and Minoritised people at its heart and bring tangible positive change to their lives.

SWRERN includes 15 partners across the South West of England:

• Black South West Network (BSWN)
• Bristol Black Carers (BBC)
• Bristol Somali Resource Centre (BSRC)
• Chinese Community Wellbeing Society (CCWS)
• BeOnBoard
• Black Families Education Support Group (BFESG)
• Race Equality North Somerset (RENS)
• Voluntary Action North Somerset (VANS)
• Changing Suits
• Dorset Race Equality Council (DREC)
• Ubuntu Counselling Services (UCS)
• Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council (PDREC)
• Black Voices Cornwall (BVC)
• Bath Spa University
• University of Bristol

Please contact chiara@bswn.org.uk to learn more about the network or discuss engagement.

“The creation of the South West Race Equity Research Network is a groundbreaking opportunity for the Racial Justice sector and racialised communities across the South West of England. Being funded £1m directly from the UKRI, the Network will invest in building the sector’s capacity, ownership and leadership of knowledge-production. It will unlock a whole new level of exploration around the meaning of research and the role that community knowledge can play in dismantling racial inequalities.”

Sado Jirde, Director, BSWN