Isles of Scilly
Community Research
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What is Community Research?
Spearheaded by UKRI, community research is turning traditional academic research on it its head, by allowing local people to set the topics, ask the questions and actively participate in shaping the outcomes. Traditional research has been led by academics and enabled by communities; a Community Research Network (or CRN) empowers local people to ask questions that matter to them, and work with experts to find relevant answers.
Community research is place-based. The Isles of Scilly provide the perfect location to unlock the power of community research; not only are we geographically distinct, but our island life — from our environment to our economy — offers unique opportunities for researching relevant and useful issues, the answers of which could help our community to thrive.
Community Research on the Isles of Scilly
Since 2023, a collective of island-based organisations, including Isles of Scilly Community Venture, Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and Isles of Scilly Museum Association have been exploring an opportunity to embed community research into island life. Working in partnership with the University of Exeter, we have been funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) to develop the idea of a Community Research Network that will place academic research at the heart of our community.
The Isles of Scilly has a wide range of research opportunities that could serve our small-but-thriving island community. Wide ranging conversations with local residents and businesses have highlighted several questions, theories and ideas that, if answered, could support island life and provide opportunities for businesses, families and individuals to flourish. The next step is rooted in thinking about how these questions may be answered and how the research can take place — gathering interest and developing ideas with local people who want to see it happen.
We are looking to provide a way for local people to ask and participate in this community-relevant research, and answer the questions that matter to Scilly. Whether we're looking at the future of our environment, our economy or our community, in this forum we want to enable our community to research issues and opportunities that are important to the Isles of Scilly.
What is happening now?
The Isles of Scilly Community Venture, Wildlife Trust and Museum Association make up one of 25 partnerships across the UK that have received funding from UKRI to develop the first phase of a Community Research Network. On Scilly, we have built a relationship with the University of Exeter, who will be our central academic partner, if we are successful in setting up our CRN.
Our work so far has helped to identify the major themes for research that are important to people on the islands, which you can read about on our themes page. From the wide range of themes people have put forwarded, we've identified an overarching theme of the sustainability and viability of remote island communities. This is something that is both central the very essence of Scilly, yet broad enough to include the wide variety of topics that are important to our community.
As well as exploring the topics people on Scilly would like to research, we have been considering the process of research itself, and how the beginnings of an idea work their way to being a completed study. You can read our current thinking about how an idea works its way through the Community Research Network on our research journey page. We are looking for individuals who may be interested in leading or participating in research relevant to them and for people who might be interested in shaping the network moving forward. If this sounds interesting to you, please do get in touch. We will be submitting our final pitch to UKRI in summer 2024, the outcome of which will shape the future of community research on Scilly.
How can I get involved?
At the moment we are interested in hearing your thoughts about the project so far.
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Take a look at our research themes page, which highlights the issues and theories surrounding sustainability on Scilly and what may have the potential to become research topics in the future. Is there something you think is a good idea? Is there anything important that might be missing? Let us know!
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Read about the research journey and explore our thinking around how the Community Research Network will work. What do you think about the various stages of research? What would be the biggest barriers to taking part in a local research project for you?
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If any of this sounds interesting you can become a member of the CRN to keep up to date with the project and its progress. Whether you want to get involved in the research yourself, have ideas, or simply want to be informed about what we’re doing, joining our mailing list is a great way to stay
The Organisers
