Universities and voluntary organisations should work together

By Rosie Niven. Charities should take advantage of the interest universities are showing in the voluntary sector, Rosie Nivensays
Universities around the UK are increasingly building research partnerships with communities and voluntary organisations. Sometimes they will be looking for somewhere a student researcher can get some experience, other times they will be setting up a 'living lab' to offer a real-life testbed for experiments. Institutions are also becoming aware of the need to secure positive outcomes for both community and researchers at the end of a project. Community and voluntary groups can take advantage of this by making sure that any research that is carried out fulfils a recognised need.
One example of where a relationship is producing mutual benefits is the Wray Broadband project. Since 2003 Lancaster University's school of computing has provided residents of the north Lancashire village with access to the internet. It has since undergone major upgrade, with a new set of services including internet TV. The project began when researchers from the computer school began providing a connection to local schools in the area. They were approached by villagers frustrated at their lack of broadband. Dr Nicholas Race, a senior lecturer at the school of computing, said: "I started Wray as a living lab but on the premise of providing broadband access and also providing the university with a very good research bed."

The university used wireless mesh technology to connect the village and found that the project could provide information and data on how the technology could be used. Its PhD students based their research on the wireless network development in Wray. "That was really just the starting point," says Race. "The community provided feedback and then we refined the development." In return, the community gets broadband funded by research grants. By providing free broadband, Race says residents' expectations are not the same as they would be for a commercial service.
But he adds that it wouldn't be possible without a close partnership with active members of the community such as Chris Conder. The member of Wray Com Com recalls that just before the project started, the village was getting a bit fragmented. "It's meant that virtually everyone in our village is now engaged digitally," she continues. "The community brought itself together because of them. A few got fed up when things did not work. But the majority want to help. Free broadband is the perk you get from helping the university." Dr Race says the project has been a win-win for both university and the community. "The relationship with the community has been a core activity that enabled us to continue with this for so long. I did not expect us to still be working there in 2012 and be planning projects for years to come."
At the University of Brighton, the Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP) works with the not-for-profit sector to embed student researchers. Some courses require a minimum of 50 hours community work, while others include coursework that must be carried out in the community. Host organisations include a mentoring scheme for newly-released prisoners and an charity that supports carers. CUPP's Dr Juliet Millican says that students can offer something to an organisation that they may not get from other volunteers. "Our students are able to do research that the organisation would not normally be able to fund. They can give them a more in depth piece of work."
One successful partnership has been with the organisation Grassroots, which trains suicide intervention strategies. In December 2011 CUPP brokered a funded-internship with Grassroots for Kerry Dowding. The organisation was impressed by the postgraduate student's research strengths and social media skills.
"Getting Kerry was fantastic," says Grassroots' co-director, Chris Brown. "At the time we could not increase our capacity at all because we could not afford to pay anyone to do the work to help us move to a national platform. She helped in that growth." During her time with Grassroots, Dowding designed and developed an outcome assessment tool for the charity to use in its work. She also worked on an evaluation of suicide first aid training to help the charity demonstrate the value of the work that it has have done. She also helped with its social media strategy.
The charity has taken on students before, one of which has since become a member of staff. It is in the process of recruiting a volunteer to work on a project to help get Brighton and Hove designated as a suicide safe city. Dowding has gone on to get a job in the voluntary sector, which she says wouldn't have been possible without the placement. She has also become a Grassroots trustee and won an award for volunteering from Santander. "Grassroots is an amazing organisation that does so much," she says. "I have got where I have because they were willing to stick their neck out and support a new person."
Having an intermediary like CUPP has proved important for participating organisations. It helps to avoid the unhappy outcomes reported elsewhere such as organisations devoting time and energy to students who end up not delivering on a research project. On other occasions the coursework requirements for students are fulfilled, but the partnership produce nothing useful for the host organisations. Brown stresses that it is important for organisations to be clear about objectives when recruiting a researcher in order to get the best outcomes. "We had a job designated and we knew what we were looking for. We have been very exact." In Brighton, charities can benefit from CUPP's support and Millican says that they end up having long relationships with some organisations. She says CUPP encourages the organisation to interview students and only take them if their skills and the interests match. Organisations also need to make sure that their project is realisable, Millican adds. "We work through what is realistic. Those organisation that have been working with us for some time have a good sense of what is possible."