Putting communities in the driving seat
By putting communities in the driving seat, our researchers work in genuine partnership to generate insights, build trust and create meaningful, lasting impact. Here, we showcase collaborative projects where communities steer the research agenda, helping to produce evidence that is grounded, equitable and transformative.
Community Led Research Pilot (CLRP)
We’re helping communities explore the questions that matter most to them through research. The CLRP was a three-year partnership between the University of Reading and the British Science Association, funded by UK Research and Innovation. It supported six community organisations in Reading and Slough to design and run their own research on issues such as environmental action, identity and wellbeing. Through close collaboration with groups often under-represented in research, the pilot showed how local knowledge can shape more relevant, accessible and impactful science.
“This pilot showed us what’s possible when we start from trust and share power. When communities are supported to lead research on their own terms, the work becomes richer, more ethical and far more likely to create real change. The challenge now is for institutions and funders to adapt, so community-led research isn’t the exception, but the norm.”
Dr Sally Lloyd-Evans, Public Engagement with Community Research Fellow at the University of Reading
About the pilot
What happens when communities don’t just “take part” in research but lead it? The CLRP showed that when communities are trusted to shape research on their own terms, the results are more relevant, more ethical and more likely to deliver real-world impact.
Watch the project film to learn more about the impact of the CLRP and why community led research is so important.
Reflections and lessons learned
In this blog, Dr Alice Mpofu-Coles and Dr Sally Lloyd-Evans reflect on ethics, power and lessons learned – not as a checklist of “best practice”, but as an honest account of what community-led research asks of institutions, researchers and funders.
Evaluation resources
Each community group co-produced a range of resources – including videos, case studies, research findings and practical tools. To explore the evaluation resources and community project outputs, read more about the CLRP Evaluation.
Explore more of our engaged research
From defining research questions to guiding outcomes, these projects demonstrate what’s possible when communities and researchers work side by side.
