The 2009 conference is hosted by The Science Shop, Queen's University Belfast

Moving from knowledge exchange to student community research

Cupp at the University of Brighton has substantial experience in building and running partnerships with community groups that are dedicated to tackling issues of marginalisation and disadvantage and that work for mutual benefit. We have recently extended our programme of students working with community organisations to include the possibility for students of undertaking community based research as part of their dissertation.

This move has raised a number of key issues such as:

• How do you get ethics approval for live student research, particularly with vulnerable groups who may have limited understanding of the research process?
• How far can the views of community groups influence a university’s attitude towards research ethics?
• How do you manage expectations of organisations in relation to students and students in relation to organisations and ensure projects are completed on time?
• How do you adapt curricula to include the reporting needs of an organisation involved in research and the academic assessment required by a university?
• Is it viable to charge statutory organisations for research projects and use this to fund research with community based organisations?
• What can students realistically provide for a community group and what do they gain?

We have conducted a small research project to identify appropriate answers to some of these questions and looked at the experience of universities in other countries.  We also undertook a case study of pilot student research projects in occupational therapy at the University of Brighton.

This workshop will raise these questions for discussion and share the experience of our own students in attempting to answer some of them. We welcome contributions from members of other universities who have experience of student research activities.

Theme: Engaging students in community based research

Presenters Name: Juliet Millican and Ceri Davies

Presenters Institution: University of Brighton

Presenters Biography:

Dr Juliet Millican is Development Manager of Student Learning in the Community University Partnership programme at the University of Brighton in the UK. Her background is in adult and community learning in both the UK and non industrialised contexts and she has experience of project development in community education in Africa, Asia, India and Eastern Europe.

Her current work is particularly concerned with the introduction of experiential and reflective learning, student community engagement and the promotion of community/university partnerships. She is also heading a new research and development programme in Cupp which aims to support other universities in resource poor countries in developing community based partnerships of their own.

Her research interests include the role of insiders and outsiders in transformational learning, participation as a pedagogical approach and the contribution of Higher Education to community reconstruction and local development.

Recent papers and publications include

The Role of Higher Education in Post Conflict Societies. 2009,

Working with and Learning from Community Partners, 2008,

What can Student Community Engagement programmes contribute to the development of citizenship in a society recovering from conflict? Millican 2008, Paper presented at higher education conference, Barcelona.

The role of Community University Partnerships in sustainable development, 2007

Developing Adult Literacy, McCaffery, Merrifield, Millican, Oxfam 2007

Presentation Type: Workshop