We are actively involved in a number of projects and frequently host activities and events, including trainings, workshops, Discovery Sessions, and the showcases. Learn more about our current and past projects, and how to get involved in our activities. Events We regularly host a number of events ranging from our "discovery sessions, where you have the opportunity to delve deep into our heritage collections and archives alongside community partners, through to our showcases highlighting examples of high quality participative methods. We also host many activities alongside our PIPS and with the Participatory Research Network. Discovery Sessions Explore the interconnections between Heritage, Participation, and Research... In our discovery sessions we explore how Heritage Collections can be used to facilitate participatory research in a variety of fields. In these co-produced sessions, researchers and community members come together with collects teams to produce a one-off mini exhibition involving some part of the collections. The doors are then opened to all, to come together to hear from our impromptu co-curators about their selected materials, to share ideas and stories, and to think about new ways of approaching participatory research. In previous sessions we have asked how classified adverts in gay magazines might be used in mental health research and discussed ways in which the art collections (including "Charlie" the horse statue) might facilitate work with young people. The Heritage Collections are vast - with plenty of room to explore. Find out more about the Heritage Collections Fancy running a session? Get in touch! Keep up to date with our goings on via our:NewsletterEventbriteBlueSkyInstagramLinkedIn In our Generation Scotland event, young people involved in research selected artworks that represented "loneliness and social interaction in the digital age". Here we see one of our fabulous co-curators talking about their selection with a research attendee. © Neil Hanna Photography Showcases Learn about amazing participatory projects and try your hand as a participant... Our showcases spotlight best practice in participatory research. Our invited speaker-facilitators join us from Edinburgh and farther afield to introduce us to their innovative work in all areas of participation. With a combination of lightning talks and demonstrations, we like to get hands on - with attendees offered the chance to learn about the project by trying their hand as a participant (where possible!). If you are considering incorporating participatory methods into your research, are seeking inspiration, or are exploring ways of participating, then showcases are for you. Would you like us to showcase your work? Get in touch. Keep up to date with our goings on via our:NewsletterEventbriteBlueSkyInstagramLinkedIn Bryan Yazell from the University of Southern Denmark joined us in 2024 to showcase his work in which he studies climate anxiety through the medium of "flash fiction". Along with a fantastic lightning talk, we were invited to try our own hands at a bit of speed writing. Credit: Alice Haskell Art Participatory Research Network Events Meet and connect with other researchers and work together to make involvement better... The University's Participatory Research Network hosts both public and internal events. In addition to our regular coffee mornings at Bayes Café, the network hosts training workshops, planning meetings, and informational sessions. If you would like to be kept informed of forthcoming network activities, you can join the Teams channel: Join the Participatory Research Network Teams Channel © Neil Hanna Photography Projects Alongside our network partners and PIPs, we undertake projects to enhance participatory research at the University. This includes new and improved Library resources, collaborations to update and adapt institutional infrastructure, and larger scale projects addressing specific participatory research challenges. Community Reads Creating outputs alongside our participants for a more equitable collaboration...In Community Reads, we consider how projects can produce written outputs beyond simple journal articles and books. What can we do to ensure that a participatory research activity is a win-win; contributing to the research landscape through the publication of journal articles and manuscripts, while also producing research outputs that can have a direct, positive impact on the participants involved in the projects? Community Reads is a UKRI-Future Leaders Fellowship funded Project that offers one answer to this question. Working alongside our PIPs (Groundswell and the Binks Hub) we worked to produce two case study "community reads": A briefing report for use by communities for sharing with decision-makers, outlining the research results of the "Ripple" project.View the report: Alternative Futures: Who Decides? The honest inclusion of community voices in decision-making An infographic describing the mechanisms underpinning the "OurOutdoors" app for use in education and advocacy by active participant groups. Participants were actively involved in the direction and development of these reads, ensuring that they were tailored to their needs. The project allowed us to explore the processes behind developing these outputs, appropriate pathways of dissemination, and, importantly, the need for follow-up activities and promotion of the outputs: our work did not, and has not ceased with their production. We are currently developing resources to share that outline our key learnings and to guide others wishing to incorporate a "community read" output into their research project.Find out more about the Future Leaders Fellowships programmeView the Ripple Project's Report on Edinburgh Diamond The report was is call to action. It describes the outcomes from a research partnership between “The Ripple Project”, a Community Centre serving Restalrig, Lochend and Craigentinny, and the “Binks Hub”, a research group based at the University of Edinburgh. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2218/ED.9781836450788 Further InformationKeep up to date with our projects via our:NewsletterEventbriteBlueSkyInstagramLinkedIn This article was published on 2025-02-07
