As part of this project, the Twerton and Whiteway Community Network commissioned a film showcasing local people responding to the question, ‘What does Twerton and Whitway means to me?’:

Film by Local filmmaker Nigel Sheppard

In 2023, UK Research and Innovation invested in a local partnership in Twerton and Whiteway, to develop a new Community Research Network. The partnership was one of twenty-five community research networks nationally, selected through a pioneering programme to empower communities to lead on research about issues that affect them.

The lead organisations (Bath City Farm, First Steps Bath, Southside Family Project and Youth Connect South West) worked together with local residents, other groups and both universities in Bath to develop the Community Research Network. They visited and learnt from other community research projects and built local capacity in research skills and community development.

This included eight visits and workshops:

Thank you to all the organisations that shared their experience, insight and expertise with Twerton and Whiteway Community Research Network representatives and residents:

As a result of these visits and workshops, we learned:

• how to playfully engage residents in community research in a workshop with Play Disrupt.
• about training and supporting Community Researchers through University of Bristol projects, overcoming barriers (e.g. childcare/interpreters), different ways to record conversations in interviews, ethics, thematic analysis and follow up with the community.
• about framing climate action questions in different ways that people will engage with from Eastside Community Trust.
• from Black SW Network about their CRN development and the importance of focusing on human interaction and language: “a focus group is people chatting”.
• how Wick Award’s community research has built momentum from the ground up, recruiting researchers already engaged in the community. This asset-based approach has empowered residents and led to sustainable change and additional investment.
• about key attributes for Bromley by Bow’s Community Researchers: good communicators, passion and interpersonal skills, and some now in university research teams.
• about community research methods, research cycles, participatory/collaborative approaches and ethical considerations with Professor Shawn Sobers and Bath
  University’s Public Engagement team.
• about understanding equity, removing barriers to participation and the impact of privilege with The Belonging Network.
• how creative activities in safe spaces encourage conversations with Creative Twerton.
• about Asset Based Community Development with Cormac Russell, the power of residents and local organisations and how to find and listen to those pushed to the edges.
• how community research informing Community/Neighbourhood Development plans have achieved significant change with Ambition Lawrence Weston