Blog
‘It is time to connect the “civic journey” for our resilient generation’
29 July 2021
Dr Andy Mycock says empowering young people to become life-long engaged, active citizens must be a key ambition for any democratic society.
Embarking on a civic journey
21 June 2021
Today, we are announcing a transformational two-year research project, with generous support from the National Citizen Service CIC. Rooted in a powerful belief in community activism, entrepreneurial spirit and the civic potential of young people, we will be working with Huddersfield and
Levelling up and achieving an Upswing – Part III
22 April 2021
Matthew Flinders explains how a journey-based approach to youth engagement can have transformative potential.
Levelling up and achieving an Upswing – Part II
15 April 2021
Matthew Flinders calls for a ‘civic journey’ that’s focused on nurturing and understanding how and why people move in and out of civic spaces throughout their lives.
Meet our Inaugural Civic Scholars
8 April 2021
Meet the Scholars: Alice Lemkes Alice is a PhD student at the University of Leeds and is looking at the powerful role of narratives in regulating the lives and livelihoods of people experiencing ‘severe and multiple disadvantage’. Before starting the
Levelling up and achieving an Upswing – Part I
8 April 2021
For all its sweeping prose and upbeat analysis, Robert Putnam’s ‘The Upswing’ left Matthew Flinders downbeat. What’s needed, he suggests, is an ambitious vision for a new ‘civic journey’.
Re-building trust for the COVID decade
26 March 2021
Public trust in national government has declined over the last year, amid a perceived mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic across the UK. Britons have instead looked to experts and local leaders for information and advice about the virus, with trust
Understanding local patterns of volunteer activity during COVID-19: three ways to contribute your perspective
3 March 2021
Together with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), The Young Foundation and The Institute for Community Studies are conducting new research to understand the various ways in which volunteers have been (and continue to be) active within local authority
Undisciplined Spaces
5 February 2021
Students have been partnered with community researchers drawn from across the UK and together, are identifying issues of marginalisation or exclusion in a local area to tackle, deploying creative research approaches (e.g. digital diaries, visual arts, storytelling etc) to do
The Need for Digital Skills
19 January 2021
Inevitably the current health crisis has dramatically increased the importance of us all being digitally connected. How we work, learn, play and connect with friends, family and our communities, relies on us being digitally included. 2020 will forever be the
Torquay: the Covid challenge to a coastal community
29 September 2020
A recent report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies names Torbay – alongside the Isle of Wight – as the most vulnerable in England because of deprivation, an elderly population, and the high number of tourism and hospitality businesses. My
The problem of language in collective evidence with communities
25 September 2020
The Institute for Communities model is challenging and inventing a new way of expanding what counts as evidence; bringing together: A rapid evidence assessment of the academic and grey literature A call for evidence of examples of innovative or unpublished practice,