CASE studentship research
Working in partnership with the National Housing Federation's Neighbourhood Audit
Housing associations deliver services and facilities which support their residents and the wider community. They deliver a range of projects in some of the most deprived neighbourhoods and provide services from community centres and children's play facilities, to energy efficiency programmes, food co-ops or savings schemes.
The Third Sector Research Centre is working with the National Housing Federation to conduct research into the value of such community activities. The research programme, 'Understanding and improving the measurement of community investment activities by housing associations' is being undertaken as an ESRC Postgraduate CASE Studentship, based in TSRC at the University of Birmingham.
It will work alongside the National Housing Federations' 2011 Neighbourhood Audit, which is attempting to identify the full range of the neighbourhood services and facilities housing associations provide.
About the research
To maximise the value of the Audit, data from the Audit is being made available on a confidential basis to the PhD student and her supervisor for analysis and validation. Housing Associations are also being encouraged to consider taking part in follow up research on use of the audit and related data to measure the impact of housing associations’ community investment activities. Participation in this research will be subject to informed consent, and agreement on confidentiality and anonymity and as part of the University of Birmingham's research ethics process.