Community, Policy, and Power - University of Birmingham

Communities are becoming an important focus for improving wellbeing in policy and research. However, the understanding of communities, effects of spatially targeted interventions, and modes of collaboration are much debated.

The Community Policy and Power theme examines the complex ways in which wellbeing takes shape in diverse places and spaces and how relationships between communities, local authorities, third sector organisations and academics take shape.

Our guiding questions are:

What makes a strong community? How to strengthen the social fabric of communities to support wellbeing?
Who has the power to decide on the future wellbeing of communities? How is the notion of community mobilised in wellbeing policy and practice? How are communities engaged, represented and included in decision-making and research around wellbeing?
What relationships and support does community research need? Whose interests are driving collaboration and changes pursued?

Following the legacy of the Covid pandemic, we aim to identify new ways of addressing structural wellbeing inequalities within and between communities. Moreover, we aim to advance understanding of the structural changes needed in governance and academic systems to support community engaged research.

Research activities

Discussion group sessions

From February 2022 to July 2024, we have run regular hybrid discussion groups sessions about various dimensions of wellbeing and communities. The sessions used an accessible and reflective format to facilitate an organic conversation about diverse views and experiences. The sessions included presentations from leading UoB academics with expertise in wellbeing and communities and attracted a diverse audience from across and beyond the University.

The discussion groups have now merged with the regular workshops of the University of Birmingham Community of Practice for Community Engaged Research Collaborations.

Community of Practice for Community Collaborations

The Community of Practice for Community Collaborations has been co-created by the Community, Policy and Power Theme (led by Koen Bartels and Gerald Jordan), the Community Collaborations Network (led by Dr Magdalena Skrybant and Dr Steven Blackburn), and the Public and Community Engagement Team (led by Ms Lauren Deere and Ms Kerry Rickerby) We actively collaborate with two key local community infrastructure organisations: Citizens UK Birmingham and Birmingham Voluntary Service Council,

We are a growing network of colleagues across the University who are collaborating with communities through co-production, action research, participatory research, and community engagement. The aim of the Community of Practice is to facilitate accessible, consistent, and reciprocal relationships between researchers and diverse communities and organisations in Birmingham. UoB aspires to be a civic university, but, in reality, community collaboration faces fragmentation and duplication, internal barriers, and reputational problems. We aim to create an enabling environment for meaningful communication and durable relationships by growing shared knowledge, coordinating internal efforts and resources, and stimulating equity.

Shared vision

We organised an inaugural workshop in December 2023. At the workshop, participants mapped existing partners, projects and relationships, learned about existing resources, support and networks, and developed a shared vision:

to create a Community of Practice that facilitates accessible, consistent and reciprocal relationships between researchers and diverse communities and organisations in Birmingham,
to create an enabling environment for meaningful communication and durable relationships
in order to become serious about being a civic university.

Action plan

We organised an interactive workshop in March 2024 to co-produce an action plan for turning our shared vision to become a real civic university into reality. The action plan includes a range of actions on five themes:

Develop understanding of a civic university that integrates research and teaching
Internal changes to procedures
Identify and optimise what we’re already doing across the University
Community-driven change on the ground
Get recognition for the time and effort (workload) spent on (developing) community engaged research to ensure it is sustained

Implementation strategy

We organised an interactive workshop in July 2024 to agree on how to implement our action plan. Following presentations about a newly developed University of Birmingham guide and database for working with communities, community organising training, and developing a civic university, we co-produced the following strategy:

Organise regular workshops to facilitate learning and inform our strategy
Reach out to decision-makers to build a relationship and invite them along
Support with organising and promoting the annual Public and Cultural Engagement conference.
Ensure online visibility and regular communication
Develop and publish an interactive map of community collaborations
Support and promote training in community organising, community research, and cultural immersion.
Support and promote UoB resources for community collaboration.
Explore opportunities to write annual synthesis reports
Remind members of how to actively support each other and the CoP

Workshops

We hold bi-monthly workshops on Tuesdays 12-2pm at Longbridge Room in Beech House (O5 on campus map). These workshops include a presentation by one of our members, an opportunity for networking over lunch, and a strategic discussion of how to advance our shared plans.

Forthcoming dates:

Tuesday 24th June 2025

Tuesday 26th August 2025

Tuesday 28th October 2025

Tuesday 16th December 2025

Tuesday 24th February 2026

Tuesday 28th April 2026

Past workshops:

Creating a Community of Practice (12 December 2023)

Taking Action on Becoming a Civic University (13 March 2024)

Creating Shared Resources and Support for Community Engaged Research (1 July 2024)

Developing and Sustaining the Network (23 October 2024)

Cultivating Community Connections (21 November 2024)

Training and Resources for Community Collaboration (28 January 2025)

Civic Universities in Action (29 April 2025)

Resources and Support

Internal

Community Collaborations Network (Teams channel)

University of Birmingham Public and Cultural Engagement (Sharepoint)

Birmingham Public Involvement Hub (Sharepoint)

University of Birmingham Research Impact Hub (Sharepoint)

External

University of Birmingham Centre for Urban Wellbeing

University of Birmingham Public and Cultural Engagement

University of Birmingham Public and Cultural Engagement @ Linkedin

Birmingham Public Involvement Hub

Culture Forward

University of Birmingham Guide for Inclusive Research

Community Researcher Panel Just Cities Manifesto

Citizens UK Birmingham

Birmingham Voluntary Service Council

Projects and networks

The SPARC Network

The SPARC Network is a cross-institutional collaborative learning space of academic partners from the University of Birmingham, Bangor University, and the University of Strathclyde and practice partners from The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) Birmingham, Wirral ABCD Network, and Gwent Public Health. It is distinctly focused on asset-based approaches to social prescribing, addressing health inequalities, and coproducing a social model of wellbeing. It aims to be a space to share experiences, knowledge, and developments, identify opportunities for collaboration, research and change, and engage in ongoing relationship-building and learning.

Research Better Together

This project shares knowledge on participatory research, facilitates stronger connections between social care researchers and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations in Birmingham, and delivers training and support to researchers on participatory methodologies. It is led by Kelly Hall and Caroline Jackson with Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC), Co-Production Works and Communicate2U.

Find out more about the project

Mindset Revolution

Mindset Revolution is about young people creating their own spaces of participation, where they can build a collective voice that can be heard loud and clear by mental health services and policymakers. It is led by a group of young people who are empowering youth voice to better mental health services and policies for 16-25-year olds. They combine arts-based methods like Legislative Theatre and a digital participation process to test a new approach to youth participation.

'Our Bigger Story' evaluation of Big Local

Our Bigger Story is an innovative, multimedia study that has followed 15 Big Local areas over 10 years.

Find out more on the Local Trust website.

Major events legacies for disadvantaged communities and individuals

This ongoing research project examines the legacies of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games for disadvantaged individuals and communities. It is led by Dr Shushu Chen, Dr Mary Quinton, Dr Jet Veldhuijzen van Zanten and Dr Mark Lee. An Institute of Advanced Studies workshop took place on Wednesday 14th September 2022 at the University of Birmingham, and included internal and external academics in presentations and discussions to explore opportunities for wider collaborative and cross-disciplinary research.

Communities responding to COVID-19

Commissioned by Local Trust, this in-depth research explores how communities across England have responded to, and are recovering from, COVID-19. The study is being undertaken by a coalition of researchers, led by the Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC). It explores how different communities have fared during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings, alongside multiple outputs from the research, provide an insight into the impact of crisis on communities, and the factors shaping their resilience, response and recovery.

Find out more on the Local Trust website.

Mobilising UK Voluntary Action during COVID-19

The project explored voluntary action responses to the pandemic across the four UK nations.

Find out more on the Mobilising UK Voluntary Action website.

Resources

Reflections on group discussions

We have created a library of reflections on the key insights and lessons of the discussion group sessions we organised over the past years.

9DF: a nine-dimensional framework for community engagement

Following a discussion group session in April 2023 with Sara Hassan (City-REDI), this article explains how we can adopt a more community-oriented approach to evaluation of community engagement.

Community-led education on living diversity

Following a discussion group session in January 2024 with Reza Gholami and Giada Costantini (Education and Social Justice), this conversation with photographer, artist and activist Dr Vanley Burke offers insight into how photography can facilitate community-led education on migration, identity, and race.

Dudley Zoo Community Wellbeing Strategy

Presentation by Jack Williams and Eve Carter, part of the education team at Dudley Zoo, about their plans to build a Community Wellbeing Strategy. In a consultation event in May 2024, we discussed these plans and offered advice on how to develop the strategy by taking a community-driven approach to collab

Related projects

Our members offer a diversity of disciplinary perspectives and experiences from across the University, including:

If you’d like to get involved, please contact the theme leads.

Theme leads

Dr Koen Bartels (k.p.r.bartels@bham.ac.uk)

Dr Carl Stevenson (c.t.stevenson@bham.ac.uk)