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Centre for Social Justice and Community Action

Past events and resources

Ethics in community-based participatory research - A Workshop

Monday 11thMarch, 2013, 10.30 to 15.30, The Wellcome Collection Conference Centre, 183 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE

This workshop will provide an introduction to CBPR, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of this approach and considering some of the ethical challenges it raises. We will introduce the newly-developed guide, Community-based participatory research: A guide to ethical principles and practice, and an accompanying set of case materials and exercises, Ethics in community-based participatory research: case studies, case examples and commentaries. These materials were produced by a group of community partners and academics, coordinated by Durham University’s Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, published by National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council under the Connected Communities programme (see: www.durham.ac.uk/beacon/socialjustice/ethics_consultation). We will work with case studies and examples drawn from these materials, alongside examples from the Wellcome Trust’s International Engagement Scheme relating to biomedical research. The workshop will use participatory methods to discuss and record experiences, reflections and recommendations.

For more information and booking form please download this document.

Please note that this workshop is now full. However if you wish to be added to our waiting list please return your form as soon as possible.

Responsible Science and Public Engagement: A Dilemmas Café

Thursday 7th March 2013, 16.00-18.00, Holgate Centre, Grey College, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LG. Phone: 0191 334 5900

This event follows on from a very successful Institute of Advanced Study-sponsored series of activities in 2012: ‘New storylines for living with environmental change: citizens’ perspectives’. During this series, a Citizens’ Panel was formed with the overall aim of developing an approach to public engagement with science - exploring the social and ethical implications of different emerging and potentially contested technological responses to ‘living with environmental change’. This event is organised by current members of the Citizens’ Panel, who are keen to expand its membership.

Conference: Tackling ethical challenges in community-based participatory research

Thursday 28th February 2013, 10.30 – 16.00pm, Holgate Conference Centre, Grey’s College, Durham University.

For more information and to book a place please email Gail Rendle socialjustice@dur.ac.uk

Please note this event is now fully booked. However, you may still send a booking form to be placed on a waiting list should any further places become available.

Materials from the Conference

Conference overview

Conference overview

Views: 12

Participatory Action Research 2:

Embedding participation in research practice

18th May 2012, 10.00 - 16.00, Joachim Room, College of St Hild and Bede

Led by Professor Rachel Pain

This workshop is designed for those who have taken the previous workshop "Participatory Action Research 1: Introduction". It aims to expand participants' understanding of using PAR, and examine strategies for extending and embedding participation in research practice in different contexts. The workshop is relevant to new and established researchers in universities, the voluntary and public sectors who have existing understanding of participatory principles, techniques and research approaches.

The workshop will cover:

  • Working "with" not "on": engaging participants throughout research processes
  • Widening the repertoire of participatory methods
  • Ethical issues in participatory research
  • Analysing the results of participatory research
  • Turning research into action

Teaching and learning methods in the workshop include plenary presentation, group discussion and hands on-practical exercises. By the end of the day participants should feel confident in extending participatory approaches to research within the context they work in.

Developing policy and practice through participatory research

15th May 2012, 14.00 - 16.30pm, Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan's College

Led by Dr Andrew Orton

This workshop is designed for researchers who want to find ways to involve policy-makers and practitioners in research that helps to develop policy and practice.  Developing participatory approaches which involve policy-makers and practitioners can be an effective way of both carrying out and improving the impact of research.  However, it can also involve negotiating significant methodological, ethical and practical challenges when trying to use such approaches as the basis for developing policy and/or practice.  This workshop will draw on the experience of researchers who have negotiated these challenges, providing case studies as examples to stimulate reflection on what can help improve the effectiveness and impact of such approaches, and the barriers it can face, as well as exploring how these might be overcome.  It will also provide opportunities to reflect on learning that may improve any projects of this nature that you are considering, planning, designing or carrying out. 

This session is designed to complement the session on Participatory Action Research 2, by providing a specific focus on the relationship between participatory research, policy-making and practitioner development processes.  Staff are welcome to attend either or both sessions; they will include different content, but neither is a pre-requisite for the other.  A basic prior understanding of participatory research approaches may be helpful to those attending this session (e.g. from participants previously attending the session on Participatory Action Research 1), but this is not essential.

Seminar Presentation, School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University 

21 January 2011

"'The burqa ......is good for you, for your religion': the ethics and methodology of participative research with children"

By Lexie Scherer, PhD student, University of Surrey

This was a lively seminar involving colleagues from different departments and institutions. Lexie talked about her doctoral research with year 2 and year 6 primary school children reading picture books. Lexie's presentation represents a work in progress and the seminar was about sharing experiences.

If you would like to contact Lexie about her research her email is: A.Scherer@surrey.ac.uk

Community Organising Training Workshop

Friday 26 February 2010, Thornaby Methodist Church, TS17 9DZ

This Centre for Social Justice and Community Action event was a unique opportunity to learn about community organising in the UK. The training was led by Mark Waters from Church Action on Poverty in Manchester and Greg Brown from Thrive in Thornaby on Tees who are developing community organising in the UK context. Mark and Greg have worked with Greg Galluzzo of the Gamaliel Foundation who trained Barack Obama as a community organiser

Community organising is about developing the capacity of local people to take part more effectively in public life.  This training workshop challenged people to put their passion and energy at the service of their community - it was about developing power and the ability of people to act effectively together.

The training was for those:

  • wanting to play a more active role in their organisation, community group, school, congregation, or trade union;
  • keen to develop their leadership skills and those of others;
  • interested in understanding how to make an organisation more effective and inclusive;
  • inquisitive about who makes decisions which impact on our lives, families and organisations and how we can influence those decisions;
  • eager to learn better 'people' skills and how to work as a team;
  • willing to work for the things they believe in.

 The workshop covered:

  • new leadership techniques;
  • how to connect your values and faith to practical action
  • the role that power and self-interest have in holding a group together and in making the world work. 

Young People as Co-Researchers seminar

Saturday 23 January 2010, Collingwood College

A Centre for Social Justice and Community Action event in association with Investing in Children, Durham & Gateshead Borough Youth Organisations Council

This event drew on the experiences of young people who are leading their own research and the experiences of academics and practitioners who have undertaken research with young people, in order to explore how young people make the move from participating in adult-led research to proposing, owning and controlling research, and achieving change to their own agendas.

Gillian Allnutt on writing by asylum seekers and refugees

10th May 2010 at 7.30 pm in St Chad's College.

This was a co-sponsored event between St Chad's College and the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action.

The poet, Gillian Allnutt, who has been writer in Residence at the North East Centre for the Medical Foundation for the Care of the Victims of Torture, along with Margaret Bird, a counsellor with the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (North East) based in Newcastle, gave accounts of their work with asylum seekers and refugees.Their clients at the Medical Foundation are all torture survivors and asylum seekers. They talked from their respective viewpoints as counsellor and writer,  and about the effect this often difficult work has had on their own lives.

A particular focus of the evening was the beautiful, moving slim volume of writing from clients, staff and volunteers - the Galloping Stone (http://www.newwritingnorth.com/shop/shop.php?section=1 ).

The evening started in St Chad's College Chapel with a discussion entitled 'The Galloping Stone: reflections on creative work with victims of torture'.

Conference

'Community-University Collaborations: Exploring Models, Sharing Good Practice'

9th and 10th September 2010, Holgate House, Grey College

Effective community or public engagement  is increasingly recognised as vital for the future of the higher education sector.  Durham is one of a number of universities working collaboratively with others to tackle this agenda in new and imaginative ways, with the aim of enhancing the positive benefit of universities to society - economically, socially and culturally.  There are many different forms of engagement and this two-day conference aims to articulate and explore the models and assumptions underlying some of these.  It will bring together university and community representatives to showcase and share examples of good practice and to inform and foster new ones.  In the process, we shall reflect on the changing nature of the relationship between universities and wider society - regionally, nationally and internationally.

Keynote Speakers:

Day 1 - Alison Mathie, Coady Institute / St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia

Day 2 - Angie Hart, University of Brighton

Day  1 - Thursday, 9th September 2010

Hosted by Durham Phoenix, the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, and the Community and Academic Action Panel (CAAP) of BeaconNE, the first day will set the scene, focussing on national and international dimensions and perspectives on community-university collaboration.

Day 2 - Friday, 10th September 2010

Hosted by Durham University's Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, with support from the Wolfson Research Institute, this day will focus specifically on the topic of community-based well-being research.  It aims to bring together academics and community partners from the north east region and beyond to stimulate critical reflection, and to inform and foster current and future research collaborations and practices. 

Community organising

Saturday October 16th 2010, 10.00 - 16.00, Ustinov Room, Van Mildert College, Durham University

Community organising is about developing the capacity of local people to take part more effectively in public life.  This training workshop (the second to be offered through the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action) was a free event, open to University Staff and postgraduates and community partners and it generated a lot of interest and was fully booked.  The training led by experienced community organiser Greg Brown (Thrive/Changemakers Teesside) with Christina Gonzales (Gamaliel Foundation/Changemakers Manchester) and Kathleen Carter and Maurice Clarkson, both community leaders/activist with Thrive/Changemakers Teesside covered some key aspects of developing a community organisation. The event also saw the introduction by Jonathon Reeve (LADDER, Ferryhill) of Changemakers Co Durham. If you are interested in Changemakers Co Durham please see the website http://www.changemakersmanchester.org.uk/?page_id=704 and email changemakerscodurham@gmail.com

Participatory Action Research 1:  Introduction to PAR

11th March 2011, 10.00 - 16.00, Ustinov Room, Van Mildert College

This workshop provided an introduction to Participatory Action Research and some of the techniques associated with it. It was aimed at new and established researchers in universities, the voluntary and public sectors, who are interested in expanding their repertoire of research skills and finding new ways to work with sections of the community, particularly those who are often ignored in research and policy. The workshop also raised awareness of the shortcomings and dangers of the 'participation' agenda.

Participatory approaches involve research in collaboration with rather than research on people. Key stages of research - from problem definition right through to dissemination of findings - are conducted jointly, and research skills and outcomes are shared, increasing participants' ability to bring about positive changes on a range of social issues. A toolkit of participatory techniques exists that provides more inclusive and accessible tools for exploring, developing and communicating research topics. Because Participatory Action Research works on the basis of knowledge co-production, it provides one model for two-way University-public engagement. It is also widely used outside academic settings.

The workshop covered:

  • The limits of traditional models of research
  • What participatory research is and where it came from
  • When, where and how it might be appropriate to employ participatory approaches and methods
  • Strategies for accessing and engaging people in participatory research
  • Developing and using participatory techniques such as diagramming
  • Critical perspectives on and the limits to 'participation', and some of the institutional and political barriers to using these approaches

Teaching and learning methods in the workshop included plenary presentation, group discussion and hands on-practical exercises. By the end of the day participants felt more confident using participatory methods, and understand broader issues around the use and misuse of participatory approaches.

Conversations for Change: an introduction to the Ubuntu approach to connecting communities

Friday 6 May 2011, 10.00 - 16.00

This one day workshop, led by Daniel Solle, presented an introduction to 'Conversations for Change' (C4C), the first major programme run by the Tutu Foundation UK. It was piloted in London and the North East in 2009; the programme will be delivered in the North West, East & West Midlands in 2010 / 2011. C4C consists of a series of workshops delivered to participants who share a sense of 'place' which is characterized by tensions as a result of inter-ethnic, inter-faith, inter-generational misunderstandings / misperceptions. The workshops are designed to create the conditions within which participants can have conversations to explore what might be done to overcome these tensions (hence its name) and build their capacity to identify practical actions they might undertake to build bridges within and between different groups. There is a particular emphasis on building the capacity of participants to engage more effectively with young people experiencing tensions or at risk of conflict. Once the workshops are completed, the Foundation offers participants follow-up support to enable them to implement what they have learnt and, specifically, to implement activities which are intended to build bridges within and between groups within their communities. The programme is underpinned by the ethos of Ubuntu which posits that there is intrinsic value in people and groups within communities engaging with each other. Ubuntu is therefore a positive approach to creating connections within and between people and groups. It can be contrasted with community cohesion, which is often couched negatively in terms of what it prevents (public disorder and violent extremism) rather than what it creates (good community relations) and has been used to make communities feel as if they are lacking or deficient.  

Conversations for Change Project Outline

 

Developing Community-University Research Partnerships

Speed Dating Event

14th June 2011, 4-6pm, St Chad's College

The aim of this event was for representatives from community groups and organizations to meet academic staff and postgraduate researchers from across the University to find out more about each other and explore possibilities for collaborative research on any topic.  Members of University support departments were on hand to give advice about funding possibilities and other possibilities for Community-University engagement. There was a long central table with scones, tea and coffee to fuel the interactions.  People were allowed four minutes per interaction, after which they were expected to move on or continue further discussions about potential research links at side tables.