Community Researchers
Introduction and background to the report
Understanding Community Cohesion and Supporting Integration in Walsall
In 2019, Walsall Council invited the University of Birmingham to work with a group of individuals who live or work in Walsall to develop a research project to explore community cohesion and integration. The objective was to inform the work of Walsall for All, a partnership programme aimed at developing more inclusive communities.
The research was conducted as a community research study, led by the University of Birmingham within the Community Practitioner Research Programme (CPRP), which brings together academics, practitioners and local individuals who co-design and co-deliver research in local communities.
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Local practitioners and residents were trained in community research by academics from the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham and its established community researchers, and supported to conduct the study in their communities.
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The overall aim of the study was to explore residents’ experiences of living in Walsall; to understand the type of relationship people have with others in their communities; to examine attitudes to community safety and divisions; and to explore ways to improve neighbourhoods and community relations in Walsall.
Click below to download the summary or the full report.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all those individuals who took part in interviews with the Community Research team and supported the work of this project, including the researchers and project leads.
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Dr Lisa Goodson and Alison Thompson were key project leads in this work and can be contacted via email for further information regarding the IRiS’s Community Practitioner Research Programme.