The Centre for Public Engagement awarded 7 projects as part of the 2022-23 Large Grants. You can find out more about each project below:
Particle Physics detectors in School Environments
Linda Cremonesi and Alex Booth, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
The Particle Physics detectors in School Environments project develops a new particle physics branch of the Physics Research in School Environments (PRiSE) programme, a scheme which brings multiple research projects to 14-18 year old school students. Central to this new strand will be the MiniPIX; a cutting-edge, thumb-drive sized device that can be used to detect, record and analyse cosmic rays and other types of ionising radiation.
The project will be a pilot where we aim to collaborate with four schools, exploring the breadth of physics measurements that can be made using the MiniPIX devices. Their findings will be used to tailor a programme which in subsequent years will be delivered into up to ten schools. Through the project we hope to foster a permanent shift away from experiments which require large amounts of expensive, cumbersome equipment, thereby enabling engagement with more schools than is currently possible.
The pilot and the project it will spawn aim to increase awareness of current Physics research questions with GCSE and A-level students enabling them to develop a better understanding of how scientific research works by conducting sustained independent research projects while working with active researchers.
“Home is…” with Brighter Futures
Alison Blunt and Alistair Owens, School of Geography
‘Home is…’ will involve creative workshops with young migrants (aged 18-30) from Praxis’ Brighter Futures programme to introduce a range of artforms to develop their campaign work on the right to privacy and a safe environment in temporary accommodation. The art forms will be agreed by the group and might include performance, spoken word, film, sculptural installations, print or textile. The project is a collaboration between the Centre for Studies of Home (a partnership between Queen Mary and the Museum of the Home), Praxis for Migrants and Refugees (a charity in Tower Hamlets working with refugee and asylum seekers), and Teresa Hare Duke, an independent creative practitioner, specialising in co-design.
The project will culminate in an event at the Museum of the Home co-produced with Brighter Futures, which will showcase their artwork and share key insights into temporary accommodation with policy makers, charities working in the housing sector, academics working on home, housing and migration, and a wider public interested in young people and the immigration system. This event will kickstart Brighter Futures’ public-facing campaign work.
Project evaluation from the bottom up: empowering community organisations to communicate the value of their work
Megan Clinch, Sara Paparini, Vanessa Apea (Wolfson Institute of Population Health), Alison Robert (Tower Hamlets CVS)
Being able to demonstrate value is essential for community and voluntary sector (CVS) organisations. It enables them to meet, and sometimes even question, the monitoring and evaluation requirements of funders. Perhaps more importantly, a well-considered evaluation helps smaller organisations in particular to articulate and explore project aims, and the resources (financial, material, skills, expertise) they need to be successful. Evaluation reports form the basis of learning how to structure future projects and are also useful when applying for further funding to continue community work. Moreover, a rich and coherent repository of evaluation reports can ensure that community insights - as valuable localised evidence of beneficial interventions, mistakes made and lessons learned - are available to local governments and NHS policy makers, and are central to their decision making and commissioning.
For many years, a range of researchers from Queen Mary University of London have been approached by local organisations from across east London to support various kinds of evaluation activities. However, often academics and community organisations struggle to find the time and resources to collaborate on this essential work. Project timelines and academic timelines do not always match.
This project aims to explore and pilot a process through which Queen Mary academics can support and empower organisations across east London to conduct and share robust and meaningful evaluations of their work. To do this a series of scoping workshops and subsequent evaluation activities and resources will be piloted with four CVS led projects that are being delivered across east London.
A Changing Tapestry of Limehouse
Shane Boyle (School of English and Drama), Paul Garayo (Stitches in Time)
A collaboration between Stitches in Time (SiT) and Dr Shane Boyle, 'A Changing Tapestry of Limehouse' will use textile making and group discussion as an opportunity for Limehouse residents to learn about and share experiences of the role that arts activism plays in defining the social landscapes of Limehouse.
Since the closure of the London Docklands a half century ago, the demography of and opportunities for employment and education in London’s river-bound East End have changed dramatically, shaped by both the regeneration programme of the London Docklands Development Corporation but also through the social activism of local residents. This project uses the creative methods of SiT, a Limehouse-based textile arts charity, and Dr Boyle’s historical research on the London Docklands to provide a conversational forum for Limehouse residents, new and old, to reflect on the past and future role of arts activism in advocating for civic inclusion and fairness of opportunity.
Through three public workshops, six community-led consultations, and a final showing of work at Limehouse Town Hall, SiT and Dr Boyle will engage three groups, including migrant women of Bangladeshi origin, elderly residents, and local artists, to imagine the role that arts activism can play in the future of Limehouse. The project will highlight the challenges faced by local minority ethnic and elderly communities, and facilitate the voice they wish to raise on these issues. Taking the form of collective textile making and teaching, this project will equip participants with skills and networks useful in future art-led activist efforts.
BlueGreenE17: exploring visions for a wilder Walthamstow
Gemma Harvey, Alex Henshaw, William Monteith, Regan Koch (Geography), Katherine Stansfeld (UCL)
BlueGreenE17 will create an interactive public exhibition and space for dialogue on the development of a collective vision for rewilding Walthamstow. It draws upon and extends recent research involving public photograph submissions and interviews with key stakeholder organisations in this rapidly changing part of London.
The exhibition will feature residents’ photographs that identify and describe the value of varying kinds of green spaces (e.g. parks, forested areas, planter boxes) and blue spaces (waterways, wetlands). It will also serve as a vehicle to develop new insights through workshops in which stakeholder groups can meet one another, build networks and engage in conversation to build a collective vision. The project will engage with Walthamstow residents and organisations involved in environmental issues including local and national government, environmental NGOs, charities, utility services, community groups and artists.
BlueGreenE17 will collect and generate diverse perspectives on future vision(s) for a wilder, greener Walthamstow with the aim of presenting this vision to members of the Waltham Forest London Borough Council in order to build policy support and momentum.
A Space for Myself: creative multilingual expression
Kasia Mika-Breoslin (School of Languages, Linguistics and Film), Lauren Irving (Kazzum Arts), Carmen Gonzalez (Baytree Centre), Andrea Elkin (Baytree Centre)
'A Space for Myself' is a term-long series of collaborative workshops involving QMUL, Baytree Centre, and Kazzum Arts. It aims to create a safe and fun space which celebrates Baytree girls’ multicultural and multilingual backgrounds, nourishes their socio-emotional skills (esp. metacognition and self-regulation) and self-confidence, develops their literacy, and increases their sense of belonging in their local community. The workshops, co-created with the participants, centre around multisensorial and multilingual forms of expression and celebrate the girls’ unique stories, their heritage, and the richness these bring to the wider community. From initial pre-workshop consultations to the end of the project celebration event, the participating girls work collaboratively to define the shape of the project, learning to articulate and reconcile varied views and decide on a common course of action. The project’s innovative collaborative character and its trauma-informed approach, which build on the successful pilot workshop, fills a clear gap in Baytree’s provision, extends Kazzum’s expertise, introduces new pedagogical tools for QMUL and Baytree, and embodies QMUL’s Civic University values of inclusive place-making and enabling civic-practice. Anchored in an asset-based approach, 'A Space for Myself' nurtures a set of essential transferable skills and attitudes that are fundamental to girls’ well-being, educational empowerment, and long-term aspirations.
My Story, My Words, My Mouth: film showcase about the dental experiences of community returners (ex-offenders)
Joelle Booth, Vanessa Muirhead (Institute of Dentistry), Heather McMullen (Wolfson Institute for Population Health), Andrea Rodriguez (University of Dundee), Mile End Community Project
The oral health of the more than 90,000 people in prison in the UK is four times worse than that of the general population. Whilst a review conducted at QMUL shows emerging research on the oral health of prisoners in the justice system, there is a lack of research about what happens to this population when they transition back into the community to become ex-offenders, more positively known as community returners. Listening to, engaging and involving community returners in research to identify their dental health priorities and to help develop dental services that could be beneficial to them in their community transition is crucial.
The aim of this project is to provide community returners with a platform to use their voices to share their experiences of managing their dental health and accessing dental services via the medium of film. This catalyst film approach aims to spark conversation, change perceptions, and set research priorities to improve the oral health of community returners through future work conducted at QMUL.This project will work with film makers, community returners, their families, justice system staff, healthcare professionals and third sector organisations. A series of film making workshops will take place to create a film written by community returners and a screening event will be held to capture how the film has changed the perspective of wider stakeholder groups. The film will explore topics such as engagement with dental and related health services, stigmatisation, language use, disclosure and what role oral health plays in societal reintegration.