Search Results

Research on youth volunteering discussed on the Third Sector podcast

Blog 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

Blog 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

Blog 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Lack of opportunity, patchy citizenship education, and an outdated view of why young people engage hinder volunteering, finds a new report.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?

Blog 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

Valuing and enabling citizen science: lessons from the Citizen Science Exploration Grant programme

Publication 14 August 2022

Exploring UKRI-funded projects, this report makes recommendations for future ‘citizen science’ research and funding design. 

Building meaningful relationships between researchers and society

Blog 9 August 2022

Our evaluation of UKRI-funded research projects seeks to better understand the value and scope of ‘citizen science’.

‘Sustainable and equitable’ engagement in research supported by new funding opportunity

News 20 July 2022

Project with UKRI brings £4m for Community Research Networks.

Research Digest: ‘Knowledge is NOT power’

Blog 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

New research programme explores the role of ‘social infrastructure’ in levelling up

News 25 May 2022

A collaborative project, funded by the British Academy and Power to Change, and led by the Institute for Community Studies and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

Research Digest: Enough of the ‘grands projects’

Blog 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

Blog 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.

Research digest: ‘Lessons in navigation’

Blog 29 March 2022

Nearly a quarter of a century after Google introduced the world to the joys of online searching (and the dangers of the filter bubble), user experience is all – and as we add ever more material to the Institute for