Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications from the Institute for Community Studies and other organisations.
Civic universities and climate education
Published: 2025
A review of literature and evidence, alongside case study examples, to understand the state of climate education in England.
Civic universities and green spaces
Published: 2025
A review of evidence on the relationship between green space, health and wellbeing in the context of universities.
Civic universities, skills gaps, and university-FE collaborations
Published: 2025
A review recognising the potential for greater collaboration between universities and colleges and identifying a lack of evidence on this topic.
Civic universities and their neighbours
Published: 2025
This review brings together literature and evidence to explore sites and practices of meaningful engagement between university students and local communities.
Understanding Communities: Final insight report
Published: 2025
The Understanding Communities research programme was a collaboration between the British Academy and the Nuffield Foundation, exploring how local communities function and can improve people’s lives.
Finding and using data to understand university impact
Published: 2025
This synthesis of articles shares our user-centred approach to co-designing dashboards with universities to support their civic activities.
Civic universities and green spaces: mapping report
Published: 2025
This research begins the work of mapping university green space in relation to underlying mental health and wellbeing data, and showcasing some of the good work already taking place in universities across the country. It also explores the potential to scale the methodological approach taken to other universities and places across the UK in futu…
Meaningful engagement between students and local communities
Published: 2025
This research explores the question of what sites and practices of meaningful student community engagement look like, particularly from much-needed student and community perspectives. The report presents five case studies which showcase varied examples of student community engagement practices across England, and explores factors that make enga…
Purpose through data
Published: 2025
From 2022 to 2025, the Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation carried out primary and secondary research in support of the National Civic Impact Accelerator (NCIA) programme. This included exploring, with a range of academic and NCIA partners, how to create practical resources and guidance to help universities use data to under…
Civic approaches to climate education
Published: 2025
This report focuses on the question of what a civic climate higher education might look like, and what resources and approaches are needed for its successful delivery. To answer this question, a series of case studies are presented, which showcase different aspects of civic climate education and highlight the success factors behind each approac…
Community ownership: A better form of business 2024
Published: 2024
‘A Better Form of Business’ is a series of research reports on community-owned businesses that have been completed annually by the Plunkett Foundation since 2011. The reports offer evidence on the needs and health of the community business sector, trends in growth and services, and the important social, economic and environmental impact tha…
Healthy universities, people and places
Published: 2024
A review exploring how universities can contribute to student, staff, and local community wellbeing.