Unlocking knowledge within local communities as part of ‘levelling up’

Income and wealth inequality, rising living costs and environmental decline are impacting livelihoods across the UK and the globe. For decades, governments and policymakers have prioritised economic growth models with the aim of increasing gross domestic product, productivity and gross value added. However, critical to tackling inequalities within and across regions is social innovation, new thinking and cross-sector collaborations that benefit us all. At the heart of social innovation is the aim of providing secure livelihoods in more sustainable and habitable environments and driving social value that in turn generates economic value. A diverse pool of voices, beliefs and knowledge is key to achieving social innovation that meets the needs of everyone.

For levelling up to truly succeed, the UK government’s approach to devolution needs to go beyond “trailblazer deals” with metro mayors and mayoral combined authorities. Decision-making needs to be shared with communities at the local level.

Universities can play a key role in working with communities to create and share transformative knowledge. Citizen science is one way of working to unlock knowledge and value that exist in our local areas and communities but it is underused.

• The secret to ‘levelling up’ is in cross-sector, community-based research
• How universities can ensure they have a positive impact on local communities
• Changing lives through community engagement and outreach

Citizen science: an inclusive approach to learning and knowledge creation

Citizen science is the practice of involving members of the public in research that contributes to scientific knowledge. Examples of citizen science projects include the Big Butterfly Count and the Nasa Landslide Reporter.

A more nuanced and emerging area of citizen science is “citizen social science” – involving people in research projects focused on complex questions about human behaviour, how societies are organised, and our relationship to the environment. Citizens play a different role in these projects, from working with scientists to determine the problem and design research questions all the way to finding the solutions to the problems that we share.

By using citizen social science, championed by the Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) at UCL, universities can draw on the research findings of citizen social scientists, offering richer insights into people’s lived experiences. This enables us to explore deeper meanings of prosperity at a local level, to develop more sustainable paths to well-being and build inclusive communities.

Embedding citizen science within institutions requires three key ingredients. First, a rigorous training programme in research methods and competencies in social science for community members, preferably in a non-academic setting. Second, establishing partnerships with other organisations such as local authorities, developers, businesses and community organisations to help with recruitment and the formulating of research questions and projects after training is concluded. Finally, a commitment to collaboration with citizen social scientists.

Our new UCL Citizen Science Academy certifies citizens to lead community-based research that can bring about policy change and social action. By joining the academy, community members, who do not require prior knowledge nor need to come from a research or academic background, will be trained in qualitative and quantitative research methods by the IGP. The bespoke training is linked to real-world projects offered by our partners where the citizen social scientists apply the research and knowledge equipped in practice.

Once they collect their data or research, IGP researchers work with them through a process of co-design and co-production to translate their findings into outputs such as small visual and textual publications that reflect their lived experience, through presentations to policymakers and community organisations, or even as walking tours of particular areas with councillors and developers.

Championing transdisciplinary and place-based research

Often termed “anchor institutions”, universities have the capacity to partner with organisations spanning academia, local and national government, business, the third sector and industry. This unique transdisciplinary and cross-sector partnership role is crucial for 21st-century universities and their interaction with places.

As institutions with civic responsibilities, universities can help curate multi-stakeholder relationships in specific contexts, facilitating engagement with new thinking and enabling place-based research – with citizen scientists acting as the bridge with local communities.

In the UK we work with government organisations such as the London Legacy Development Corporation, the Greater London Authority and local authorities such as the Olympic Growth Boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, alongside developers such as Lendlease and voluntary sector organisations such as Compost London and Hackney Quest, which recruit and employ the citizen social scientists as well as provide support throughout their training.

Diversity of perspectives and knowledge

Bringing people who may not normally get a say, despite being the ones impacted by such policies, into policymaking and decision-making processes creates significant benefits.

First, a diverse set of citizen voices, values and knowledge leads to social innovation, which levelling up requires. Second, it means we proactively address the democratic deficit and, finally, it helps repair fractured trust between citizens and governments, building up social solidarity and social cohesion within communities.

Universities can do this by creating new social institutions such as the Citizen Science Academy and embedding practices such as citizen social science to challenge and expand on conventional ideas about what constitutes scientific and policy-relevant knowledge. They should co-develop place-based research with people in the places where they live to bridge the gap between lived experiences of residents and public service users, and the professionals who are in charge of formulating and putting policies into place.

As civic institutions, universities need to continue working with others, including policymakers, charities and private organisations, to create opportunities to co-design research. The way universities conduct and undertake research requires transformation to take proper account of the realities of the 21st century, if levelling up is to succeed.

Henrietta L. Moore is founder and director of the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London.

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To find out more about the work of the Institute for Global Prosperity through blogs, podcasts and videos, head to its website, Seriously Different @ IGP.