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Research with East London Communities: Place-based Guidance and Resources Launched

After over two years in development, Queen Mary University of London’s Civic team have launched new, place-based guidance on delivering collaborative, equitable research in East London.

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People watch a presentation about East London

Alison Blunt introduced the new East London place-based guidance 

On Thursday 12th February, stakeholders from Queen Mary and across East London’s voluntary and community sector came together for the launch of this new place-based research guidance.

Development of the guidance, titled Research with East London Communities: Place-based Guidance and Resources was led by Queen Mary’s Alison Blunt, Kathleen McCarthy, Sarah Gifford and Madlen Jones. The production of the guidance, however, was a truly collaborative effort, with input throughout the process from local community members and organisations. A number of those collaborators joined the launch event to see the outcome of their work.

Introducing the guidance, Alison Blunt situated this work within Queen Mary’s broader civic work and the development of a robust civic research culture at the university. The guidance builds upon our 2022 Civic University Agreement and should be used alongside our 2025 Equitable Partnerships for Civic Engagement toolkit.

The aim of the guidance is to provide support and resources for anyone researching in the seven boroughs of East London: Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, and Waltham Forest. It currently contains information on East London; borough profiles; specific, place-based research guidelines; as well as practical resources including a place navigator and a local supplier directory. It is designed to be a living document: something to be returned to, updated and expanded upon so that it continues to reflect East London as it grows and changes.

Madlen Jones, a PhD researcher in Linguistics and co-author of the report, reflected on the particular value of the guidance for early career researchers. She spoke about how working on the project has developed her own research practice, and how the guidance gives early career researchers a framework to “learn how to listen, understand, and respond to the needs of the East London communities they are working with”.

Alison Robert, Partnerships Manager at Tower Hamlets Council for Voluntary Service, closed the presentation by sharing how she could see the guidance being used by those in the voluntary and community sector. She picked out how this guidance could be used to embed research and amplify resident voice in local authority decision making on community healthcare as Integrated Care Boards are reformed.

The session wrapped up with a lively, forward-looking question and answer section. Attendees said the guidance was “brilliant” and shared ideas about how they could embed the guidance in their work, and how Queen Mary can expand their work across all seven East London boroughs.

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If you are a Queen Mary staff member and would like to get more involved with civic work, join the East London Research Network

 

 

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