‘Finding Out for Ourselves’:
Panel Discussion at SCVO’s The Gathering
Earlier this month, Network Coordinators Lewis and Lauren attended SCVO’s The Gathering, where Lewis and partners ran an engaging session on Community Led Research: Finding Out for Ourselves. The event, which was attended by around 90 people (with more than 150 people signed up), was chaired by David Allan (Scottish Community Development Centre) with contributions from Heidi Tweedie (Moray Wellbeing Hub), Chris Manion (British Science Association) and Lewis Hou (Science Ceilidh).
(Left to Right): Chris Manion (British Science Association), Heidi Tweedie (Moray Wellbeing Hub), Lewis Hou (Science Ceilidh) and David Allan (SCDC) speaking at SCVO’s The Gathering.
The session explored the value of community-led research and the benefits it can bring to communities, researchers, practitioners and decision-makers in achieving social impact and systemic change. With reflections from a number of different programmes supporting community-researcher partnerships over the past decade – including Knowledge is Power, The Ideas Fund, the Highlands & Islands Climate Change Community Research Grants and programme run by the Young Foundation – the panel gave insight into previous learning, including barriers and opportunities, as well examples of how people can be better supported and get involved.
The Discussion
The Scottish Community Development Centre
David Allan from the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) introduced the event, sharing reflections on the gradual change in the relationship between research institutions and communities, from traditional top-down research to more control being granted to community groups and third sector organisations in the research process. This, he emphasised, reflected the importance of community involvement in enacting positive change.
Moray Wellbeing Hub
Heidi Tweedie from the Moray Wellbeing Hub shared the grassroots community organisation's journey with research, emphasizing the importance of lived experience and community connection. Initially supported by SCDC’s Knowledge is Power programme, the organisation's initial focus was on activism and campaigns, using their stories to challenge preconceptions and influence service design and delivery. Moray Wellbeing Hub was then awarded an Ideas Fund grant to work with a researcher on a variety of projects, exploring neurodiversity and parent-infant mental health, in the process developing a series of peer researcher roles. This work with the Ideas Fund has now evolved into the creation of a Moray Community Research Network, funded by UK Research & Innovation (as part of a programme supported by the Young Foundation), aiming to better involve third sector organizations and community groups in research across Moray.
Heidi’s reflections highlighted the challenges of building trust and capacity within community-led research, emphasising the importance of peer support and confidence-building. She also discussed the broader impact of community-led research on mental health and well-being, with the aim of creating a positive cycle of empowerment and community engagement across the region.
the British Science Association
Chris Manion, Head of Grants at the British Science Association (BSA), described the development of The Ideas Fund, community-led approaches to working with research and researchers, around mental well-being. The Fund aimed to flip traditional research approaches, placing community needs and voices at the centre of the research process, and to date has supported 70 projects across four areas of the UK including the Highlands & Islands (alongside Hull, Oldham and Northwest North of Ireland). Chris shared insights from The Fund's projects, again highlighting the importance of building trust and relationships between community groups and researchers, and how this model of relational grant-making has been so successful.
Science Ceilidh
Lewis Hou carried on the discussion, sharing Science Ceilidh’s experience of promoting community-led research, as part of their wider work supporting cultural and knowledge democracy across Scotland. He outlined Science Ceilidh’s role in supporting the Ideas Fund programme to develop the model of having ‘Development Coordinators’ to support community groups in building relationships with researchers and developing research projects. As Development Coordinator for the Highlands & Islands projects, Lewis shared reflections from his experience of supporting community-led research as an ‘intermediary’ between the funders and the communities, and highlighted the importance of non-competitive funding and the development of peer networks to support community-led research. Science Ceilidh has also supported a number of other grant schemes, including the Highlands and Islands Climate Change Community Grants programme, focusing on building relationships and capacity within marginalized communities.
Reflecting on this experience, Lewis discussed the challenges and barriers to communities being able to genuinely lead on research, where they can be involved in the design and evaluation of research projects. Key challenges include ethical considerations, capacity building, and ensuring community voices are heard and respected. Echoing the insights of previous speakers, Lewis emphasised the need for flexible support, the importance of building trust and relationships and Science Ceilidh’s development of a ‘community of practice’ model to support peer learning and knowledge sharing across different projects.
Community Knowledge Matters
He concluded with a description of the need for systemic changes to support community-led approaches, introducing the ‘infrastructure’ funding from the Ideas Fund which led to the creation of the Community Knowledge Matters network in 2023. The network and its associated programme of regular events, training opportunities and resources, aims to build connections across those interested in strengthening community-led research; build capacity and confidence for communities to lead on research; and advocate for community-based knowledge to be better valued and listened to by decision makers.
To bring the discussion back full circle, the panel conducted an element of research of their own, asking audience members to share their own perspectives on and experiences of research.
Audience Input!
We also led an interactive survey of the audience at the beginning of the session to get a sense of their perspectives on research and the value it could bring to supporting communities.
What does research mean to you?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, ‘understanding’, ‘evidence’ and ‘knowledge’ came up as the most popular ways of thinking about ‘research’, suggesting that social impact may have been central in many audience members’ minds. It was also encouraging to see such a wide range of different perspectives on the term, with words like ‘evaluation’, ‘learning’ and ‘solutions’ also being prominent descriptions.
In the absence of our usual ‘community check-ins’, asking people what ‘hats’ they were coming in with, through a show of hands we discovered that over half of the audience strongly identified with the term ‘researcher’ and so seeing a varied understanding of the term was also encouraging.
This was also telling when we asked the audience to respond to the following questions, to gauge:
Their existing understanding of the benefits of research in their own work
The confidence they feel in conducting or supporting research in their community
To what extent they knew where to look for support
To what extent they felt evidence from communities is taken seriously
Interestingly the last two statements received much less agreement, with very few indicating that they had a strong idea of where to look for support around future research, or that they felt community based evidence is taken seriously. A clear demand for the Community Knowledge Matters network if ever we saw one!
How research could better support communities?
When asked how they thought research could better support communities, audience members had a lot to say! Their contributions included ideas about where it could support policy influence, funding needs, lead to real world impacts, create more ethical research, reduce inequality and help build capacity.
A big majority of the audience thought research could better contribute to connecting and engaging with communities in an ethical way and starting with their needs and what matters to them. The importance of hearing and valuing community voices was highlighted, especially to support and break down barriers to participation in research. Participants mentioned training people in the communities to do research to help them lead changes in their lives by making research more relevant for them.
To a lesser extent, people indicated research could support policy influence and funding needs by advocating for change and providing insight and knowledge to take action. From the audience perspective, it is key to ensure community voices are embedded in research from the start and in dialogue with funders and policymakers.
Overall, they identified the potential for community-based research to contribute to real world impacts and inform positive change. Through collaboration, hearing community voices and developing an understanding of their needs, research can better generate knowledge that makes a difference to them, and is truly led by them.