ReproNorth: capacity building to centre lived experience in the design and delivery of participatory reproductive justice research in Northern England

ReproNorth is a network of academics and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) partners who share a commitment to interrogate political, social, environmental and economic factors that propagate health inequities in Northern England and compromise reproductive justice (the right to: maintain personal bodily autonomy; have a child; not have a child; parent children in safe and sustainable communities). The QR funding will be used to integrate people with lived experience into the ReproNorth membership and initiate co-design of participatory reproductive justice research in Northern England.

This project is supported by the Participatory Research Fund and will be led by Drs Sophie Patterson, Lancaster Medical School and Rachael Eastham, Division of Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine.

James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership: Creating a new methodology to widen inclusion to paediatric patient groups

Partnering with the National Deaf Children’s Society, University of Manchester, and Aston University, this QR funding will be used to run a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership (JLA PSP) for Childhood Deafness and Hearing Loss across the UK. JLA PSPs follow a well-established participatory and co-production methodology, used internationally, to bring together key stakeholders to determine the top 10 evidence gaps in a particular field. These partnerships identify the research that patients, rather than researchers, want to see addressed. Working with JLA a child-appropriate methodology will be developed, involving paediatric patient groups - current JLA methodology is restricted to adults only.

This project is supported by the Participatory Research Fund and will be led by Dr Hannah Stewart, Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology.

Training Amazonian Youth Participatory Researchers to Co-produce the Novel Manicore River Common-Use Territory

This project will train six young people from Manicoré, Amazonas state, Brazil in participatory methodology to co-produce participatory research in support of the successful implementation of the first ever “Common-Use Territory”: a new kind of Brazilian forest peoples’ sustainable development territory. The TUC aims to address the lack of genuine participation in the formulation of Management Plans containing territorial rules and zoning, typically imposed with little genuine consultation with locals, who have little say in day-to-day management of the area. The six youth will subsequently carry out three participatory research activities wherein they will co-produce research with community users in support of the TUC’s self-management plan and its subsequent implementation, guided by a Brazilian participatory research practitioner, in collaboration with established researchers.

This project is supported by the Participatory Research Fund and will be led by Dr James Fraser, Lancaster Environment Centre, Faculty of Science and Technology.

Agri-voltaics Agenda

Land use for agriculture and solar (photovoltaic) energy generation are currently seen as competing. A best-case scenario, to work towards net-zero, would be to see farm incomes benefit from solar electricity generation while maximising food production and ecosystem service provision. Agri-voltaics proposes joint use of land for production of food and electricity, presenting a solution to the apparent clash between traditional views of land as primarily a resource for food production and more radical futures exploiting photovoltaics for society's benefit. Lancaster University’s Agri-voltaics Demonstrator will be a way-finder facility in the UK. A component of the University’s flagship solar farm investment, it will be operational in 2025 and has potential to act as a catalyst for new agricultural practices across the country. This project aims to generate a research and public engagement agenda for the Demonstrator through co-design with local and regional stakeholders (farming organisations, farmers, policymakers and landowners).

This project will be led by Dr Samuel Taylor, Lancaster Environment Centre, Faculty of Science and Technology.

Using a co-produced digital innovation to transform how charities engage and raise funds with donors in Brazil

The project Cooperativa Digital employed a novel co-production approach, involving a series of workshops, to develop and transfer Reapp, a private fundraising mobile app, to a network of local charities in São Luís (Brazil). The methodology promoted equitable knowledge co-creation by integrating the needs and experiences of communities and users of research in the design process. The workshops focused on co-designing the functionalities and governance of Reapp with charities to enable people to donate to charities a portion of sales tax (i.e., VAT) through Brazilian law (Nota Legal) as well as other donation methods like credit card and bank transfer. The co-produced research findings were translated into an open-source mobile app to benefit charities and the communities they support. With the app currently undergoing final testing and set to launch its operations under the control of the network of charities in mid-February 2025. This funding will support a 6-month evaluation focusing on gathering data and evidence of Cooperativa Digital’s success in enhancing charities’ fundraising capabilities and autonomy, and its impact on the wellbeing of communities supported by the charities.

This project is supported by the Participatory Research Fund and will be led by Professor Nick Dunn, Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

The Victoria County History of Cumbria: a new model for participatory research in regional history

This initiative addresses the need for sustainable, inclusive alternatives to established approaches to the co-production of place-based histories. Many participatory projects in regional history rely on extractive models, such as large-scale transcription tasks facilitated by platforms including Zooniverse. Although these allow volunteers from a range of backgrounds to contribute, they often fail to foster deeper knowledge-acquisition/exchange or a sense of community. This can lead to participant disengagement and unreliable results. The Victoria County History of Cumbria (VCH Cumbria) offers an alternative model. A partnership between the Cumbria County History Trust and Lancaster University’s Regional Heritage Centre, VCH Cumbria is part of the national Victoria County History (VCH) project (est. 1899). The project provides free education and training to volunteers across Cumbria, empowering them to co-produce local histories alongside academic historians. This approach promotes lifelong learning and community engagement.

This project is supported by the Participatory Research Fund and will be led by Professor Christopher Donaldson, History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Review of extent and impact of legislation designed to address accusations of witchcraft and associated harmful practices around the world

UN Resolution A/HRC/47/8 on the Elimination of Harmful Practices related to Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual Attacks (which Baker et.al research led to passing in July 2021) urges “States to take all measures necessary to ensure the elimination of harmful practices amounting to human rights violations related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks, and to ensure accountability and the effective protection of all persons, particularly persons in vulnerable situations”. This project will undertake a review of the different forms of legislation (criminal and civil) being used in countries around the world and will also collate the publicly available case decisions from jurisdictions that have high incidences of witchcraft accusations to determine the extent to which the laws are being implemented in practice.

This project is supported by the Policy Support Fund and will be led by Professor Charlotte Baker, School of Global Affairs, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Mapping the Impacts of Climate Change on Maritime (in)Security: A toolkit for Maritime Security Practitioners

This impact-oriented project will develop of a toolkit for maritime security practitioners to identify areas for policy and operational interventions based on evidence regarding the synergistic impacts of climate change on natural and human systems.

The project team at Security Lancaster will work collaboratively with the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre to scope the project’s objectives and disseminate findings and recommendations.

This project is supported by the Policy Support Fund and will be led by Professor Basil Germond, Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Strengthening Education for Peace: Institutionalising Decolonial Pedagogies in Zambia

This project builds on an AHRC four-year Decolonising Education for Peace in Africa (DEPA) project, which collaborated with sixteen African countries to develop teacher training materials for decolonial pedagogies. This QR-funded project will collaborate with teacher trainers, teachers, and representatives from the Ministry of Education in Zambia and the University of South Africa to institutionalise the teaching materials for wider dissemination.

This project is supported by the Policy Support Fund and will be led by Dr Melis Cin, Educational Research, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

What do we know about healthcare inquiries and what do we need to know?

Independent inquiries are a common governmental response to high-profile organisational failures, disasters or flagrant abuses of professional standards. Healthcare, in particular, has recently seen a series of statutory (eg Infected Blood) and non-statutory inquiries (eg maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford). Yet, despite their increasing frequency and public importance, research knowledge about inquiries is limited. This project aims to develop a community of researchers, civil servants, government and parliamentary officials, and other stakeholders committed to the improvement of independent inquiries in healthcare. It will create dialogue between academics and government and parliamentary officials on the practical execution of healthcare inquiries and related research evidence, and develop a research agenda that is informed by and responsive to the needs of key inquiry stakeholders.

This project is supported by the Policy Support Fund and will be led by Dr Dawn Goodwin, Lancaster Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medicine.

Guiding UK public policy to deliver climate and nature benefits under Net Zero strategies

Given the Government’s commitment to achieve clean power for Britain by 2030, now is a critical time to guide UK policy on the land use implications of renewable energy to deliver Net Zero alongside critical land-based policy goals. Solar farms have proliferated across the UK since 2011. The Government’s goal of trebling the UK’s solar electricity supply by 2030 and the recent approval of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project solar farms indicate the scale of expansion in coming years. Despite the opportunity solar farms present to simultaneously deliver Net Zero and nature targets, the growing scientific evidence base is yet to be synthesised in appropriate ways to influence policy. The aim of this project is to inform UK policymakers of the challenges and opportunities to integrate nature enhancements within solar farms to deliver climate and nature benefits.

This project is supported by the Policy Support Fund and will be led by Dr Fabio Carvalho and Professor Alona Armstrong, Lancaster Environment Centre, Faculty of Science and Technology.

*Photo credit: Hollie Blaydes

Creating a healthy workforce - Tackling the greatest employment challenge for a generation

Research undertaken by the Centre for Organisational Health and Well-Being (COHWB) and the Work Foundation outlined the challenges of the high number of people exiting work due to ill-health and provided key recommendations for policy-makers. The UK is the only G7 country with a smaller workforce than before the pandemic due to long-term illness. This is holding back economic growth and putting pressure on welfare spending. Policy interventions are mainly focussed on getting people out of work back into employment but are ignoring the important role employers can have in protecting workforce health. This project will engage with workers and employers to refine/ strengthen policy interventions that i) promote workforce health; ii) increase workforce retention; and iii) reduce pressures on incapacity benefits.

The project is support by the Policy Support Fund. It will be led by Profession Stavroula Leka (Division of Health Research & Lancaster University Management School) and will be carried out in collaboration with the Work Foundation.

Proactive Policy Improvement: An Integrative Approach to Multilevel Policy Engagement at Lancaster Law School

This project will better equip staff to effectively communicate their research to policymakers to inform, impact, and provide evidence for policy development at local, national, and international levels. The outcomes of the project will include fifteen new policy briefings showcasing staff research from across the Law School, hosted on the School’s website; a new ‘policy hub’ on the School website to allow policymakers to access policy briefings and a regular policy e-newsletter that can be circulated to key government departments.

This project is supported by the Policy Support Fund and will be led by Dr Siobhan Weare, Law School, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.