ISJ intern Josh Mackenzie reflects on his first week attending a Community Research Grant event and the launch of the Living Lab Friendly Living Fund. This was a chance to understand how coproduction and student-led projects operate in tackling social injustice.
About me
My name is Josh Mackenzie; I am a third year Psychology student at York St John and this year’s intern for the Institute of Social Justice. As a Psychology student, I’ve grown passionate in understanding how inequality can shape psychological wellbeing and the importance of supporting communities.
Josh shown second from right with pen in hand.
My interest in social justice has been shaped experiences like voluntary work with the Special Olympics equestrian team, where I witnessed the value inclusive spaces can bring to communities. Working as a research assistant investigating national identity reinforced my desire to understand lived experience through data-driven research. These experiences have shown me the value of community work and research in social justice issues individually, which is why I am looking forward to understanding how the coproduction between community initiatives and research together can help tackle social justice issues.
In my first week as an intern for the Institute of Social Justice (ISJ), I had the opportunity to jump straight into two fantastic events. From building partnerships between researchers and communities to supporting student led initiatives, I have gained valuable insight into some the exciting work the ISJ does to tackle social justice hands-on.
The launch of the Friendly Living Fund
The first event I attended was for the Living Lab’s Friendly Living Fund launch, an initiative providing microgrants to support student-led projects addressing the cost-of-living crisis and promoting climate resilience. I found The Period Project by Georgina Wetherall to be particularly inspiring and educational. Georgina used her micro grant to distribute reusable period products across campus amidst todays concerning crisis of ‘period poverty’, an issue I was not previously aware of.
If you want to hear more about the amazing work being made possible by the Friendly Living Fund it is now open for students to apply for up to £400. Apply for the Friendly Living Fund
And for the first time, the team is offering the chance for supporters of the project to contribute to the funding available for students. Please visit the Living Lab gofundme page to support.
Understanding Community Research Grants
The second event I attended in my first week was for Community Research Grants. These are grants that the ISJ uses to fund coproduction. Rather than researchers being solely responsible for decision-making, community organisations and charities collaborate. This involves the participants in the research process and means investigations are led by community, not academic agenda. This means that these organisations have an active role in the research from start to finish, resulting in a collaboration that makes an impact in communities.
My journey to understanding Coproduction
Prior to these events, I had a somewhat limited and confused understanding of what coproduction entails, I thought it was merely researchers collaborating with a community initiative on research. I did not appreciate that there is more nuance to it than this, it does not have to be academic research but can be research within a community or group and often involves people with lived experience and community members as active participants in projects. For example, Door 84 is a youth and community centre in York supporting disabled people, youth and the wider community. The ISJ collaborated with Door 84 on the project ‘Reimagining Door 84’, engaging young people in co-creating the physical space and design of the centre. This is just one example I’ve come across in my journey to understanding the many forms coproduction can take. Whilst these recent weeks have given me a taste of what coproduction is and its impact, I look forward to learning more going forward regarding how coproduction can look in practice, and its impact outside of research contexts.
It was an honour to hear from researchers and charity representatives as to how coproduction between academia and communities can affect real social change. I was fascinated to hear about Mojisola Kareem’s charity Utopia Theatre, which uses acting to reach more vulnerable communities such as the elderly, engaging with these communities through academic collaboration to hear their stories. I was left feeling educated and inspired about research beyond academia.
I was impressed with how both events highlighted community and togetherness, whether amongst fellow students or between researchers and community organisations. I am excited to learn more about social justice in practice throughout my time with the Institute and get a sense I will leave as a more open and compassionate individual. These initial experiences taught me how social justice is about small acts of change yielding far-reaching results, as well as how coproduction makes this change possible.
