Student FAQs

What is the Community Research Initiative?

The Community Research Initiative works to create ways for you to collaborate with voluntary, community and non-profit organisations. Our work is shaped by 3 core values:

1) There are valid perspectives and ways of knowing besides academic knowledge
2) The highest quality knowledge and information is multi-perspective
3) New knowledge should lead to positive social change!

What support do you provide?

We support you to create a partnership with a non-profit organisation so that your dissertation can have a real-world impact. This is different from a normal master's dissertation, where you work on your research topic without input from community members or participants.

Why would I want to collaborate with a community partner for my dissertation?

We know that your master's year is busy, and working collaboratively can sometimes be a challenge. But it's also incredibly rewarding! Here's a few reasons why we think CRIS is an excellent way to enhance your time at UCL:

Tackle real world problems and contribute to causes you care about
Do research that creates with useful and usable outputs
Grow your skills in collaborative research and cross sector working
Join a community of students doing research for social good
Build connections with voluntary sector leaders and community engagers
Get an extra layer of support through our 1-to-1 support and mentoring

How is this different to what my course offers?

Your course provides support with academic content, writing and discipline specific requirements. Our support is complementary to what your programme provides.

What are my commitments?

You will be expected to attend the following events: induction session with partner organisation in February or March, cohort events in term 3, showcase in September to celebrate the completion of the project. You will be expected to have regular contact with your organisation throughout the project (at least monthly).

What's the timeline?

We fit around your programme. It's generally good to allot 1-2 months to explore ideas with collaborators before submitting your proposal.

In Terms 1 and 2, we recommend you:

Chat with the CRIS team about your ideas
Start exploring what causes you care about and charity partners you might want to work with
Matchmake and exchange knowledge with community partners to see if you'd like to work together

In Terms 2 and 3, we recommend you:

Set the terms of engagement with your community partner i.e. how you'll plan on working together
Join us at CRIS events and training to build your skills and your wider CRIS community
Create a useful and usable community product, which shares your research with your community partner

What organisations could I work with?

The organisation must be one of the below to qualify for collaboration:

constituted voluntary or community organisation

registered charity

charitable incorporated organisation (CIO or SCIO)

not-for-profit company limited by guarantee – they must be a registered charity or have a not-for-profit ‘asset lock’ clause in their articles of association

community interest company (CIC)

school, college, university

statutory body (including local authorities, town, parish or community councils)

community benefit society

co-operative society – they must have a not-for-profit ‘asset lock’ clause in their society rules and also be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Can you help me with writing my dissertation?

No. For this, you should get support from your course, academic supervisor, and the Academic Communication Centre.

How about with my community product?

Yes! While the format of your community product is entirely up to you and your partner, we have plenty of examples to give you inspiration and guide you to a suitable output. We also host a workshop every year to help our students prepare for translating their dissertation research into something that's useful and usable for their community partner.

Can you help me find participants?

Our programme focusses on collaboration and co-production. We match students with organisations so that their research can be useful and usable to the community involved, we don't just help students find participants. So, while you collect data with or from community participants through partnering with an organisation, this should not be your motivation for collaborating. And we can't guarantee that partnering will result in participants.

What does the world of academia say about community research?

To help you answer that question, we've compiled a reading list of some of our favourite readings on this topic!

What next?

Join Office Hours with our team at this link.

Last updated 2 weeks ago