Blog
‘Let’s seize the optimism of this moment’
5 December 2022
Advisory Board member Page Nyame-Satterthwaite reflects on her recent visit to Parliament to discuss the youth-led Civic Journey programme.
Webinar: Looking back, moving forward: how to fund and support community businesses
29 November 2022
This panel event explored what we have learned about supporting community businesses.
£3.7m award will support universities to maximise their local impact
30 September 2022
An ambitious, three-year programme will support universities to maximise their local social and economic impact.
Civic Journey documentaries
28 September 2022
Join us at locations around the UK, where we’re screening short films made by young people exploring their civic journey At the Institute for Community Studies, we have been working across the UK to support young people aged 16 to
Research on youth volunteering discussed on the Third Sector podcast
27 September 2022
Emily Morrison discusses new research from Institute for Community Studies on the Third Sector podcast.
Talking transitions: the road to net zero
22 September 2022
This short film hears from members of the public, to gain a greater understanding of their concerns, and find out just how much – or how little – people understand about the challenge we face on the road to net zero.
Navigating the ‘postcode lottery’ of volunteering opportunities
15 September 2022
Lack of opportunity, patchy citizenship education, and an outdated view of why young people engage hinder volunteering, finds a new report.
Research Digest: What can quantitative approaches learn from The Beatles?
22 August 2022
I’ve written before about the growing use of more rigorous quantitative approaches to community and third sector research. A great example is the way the School for Social Entrepreneurs used control cohorts to evaluate its pioneering Match Trading programme. By doing
Building meaningful relationships between researchers and society
9 August 2022
Our evaluation of UKRI-funded research projects seeks to better understand the value and scope of ‘citizen science’.
Research Digest: ‘Knowledge is NOT power’
30 June 2022
Over coffee last month with Professor Rebecca Madgin, Director of the AHRC’s Place-Based Research Programme, I was introduced to the concept of ‘felt experience’. I had been talking about the mysterious way that successful community businesses taking over pubs, shops, libraries
Research Digest: Enough of the ‘grands projects’
24 May 2022
Hang around the ‘community development scene’ for more than a few years and you’ll probably develop a weary resignation about the endless cycling and recycling of well-meant policy interventions. I last saw this at the recent Local Trust levelling up conference
People shaping places, places shaping people: Community asset ownership
16 May 2022
Catch up on this roundtable that brought together policymakers, community business leaders, researchers and sector experts to explore how asset ownership encourages communities to become more effective stewards in their places.