New cohort of citizen scientists starts at UCL East

This week at UCL East, a new cohort of local citizen scientists presented their research plans to UCL academics and partners ahead of undertaking fieldwork across the borough of Newham. The cohort were all migrants or refugees from the local area who will be investigating issues affecting their communities, including access to healthcare, availability of culturally-appropriate foods, and the challenge of finding employment. 

The work is part of an initiative funded by the UKRI and The Young Foundation called the Newham Community Research Network. The Network is supported by the UCL Citizen Science Academy here at UCL East, who train local citizens in research ethics, methods and project planning.  

The aim of the project is to upskill and empower local residents, who are compensated for their participation and receive a certificate upon completion of the programme. Some even get the opportunity to do work placements at Newham Council as a result of taking part. 

More broadly, the initiative is trying to put communities at the heart of research and innovation. The goal is to transform the research landscape in the local area by supporting locals to identify and address their own research needs, shifting power to the community, and reversing traditional research dynamics. 

This cohort is the first of three networks receiving support. The other two target groups are marginalised women and young people with special education needs.  

The project is proudly led by two UCL East academics, Joseph Cook and Saffron Woodcraft from the Institute for Global Prosperity, with additional support from Leah Lovett from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis who is on the Network’s Advisory Board. They run workshops twice weekly with the cohort in the UCL Community Classroom on the ground floor of the Marshgate building, a specialist space which was designed for precisely this sort of community education.  

On the cohort, Joseph said, ‘the research space can be too easily dominated by those of privileged backgrounds, meaning important voices are often missed, and key data left uncollected. Projects like the Newham Community Research Network aim to rectify this imbalance and are an important part of our community engagement duty here at UCL East, and UCL’s wider role as a civic university.’  

The participants will start reporting on their findings in the new year, and we look forward to discovering the impact their work has on the community.