The Social Research Collective exists to promote social justice by democratising social research. In our experience social research is often inaccessible to the people who need it most – people experiencing social injustices, and organisations working with and for them.
Our people come from a range of backgrounds, with different specialisms and skills. You can read more about the people involved here – do get in touch if you might be interested in joining us!
Academic research is often shared in a way which makes it difficult to access, and the vast amount of knowledge held by grassroots organisations and communities is all too often overlooked in identifying what we know about the issues we are trying to address to make the world a better place. We work closely with organisations to help them to access the research that’s already out there, develop their own knowledge, and share their expertise.
We are constantly reviewing the ways that we work. Right now, these are the principles that underpin our approach:
- Collective: we believe that progress can only be made by working collectively, and sharing our knowledge and resources so that everyone can be part of the process.
- Participatory: different types of expertise – experiential, practice, policy and academic – are all relevant. By bringing these together we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of issues and come up with better solutions.
- Anti-oppressive: power relationships are everywhere in society, and we believe that understanding them, and attempting to address unjust imbalances, is vital to building a better world.
- Creative: there are many different ways into understanding social issues, and we believe that bringing together multiple, creative approaches can help us to ‘un-stick’ intransigent problems.
- Reflexive: because we’re part of society, we bring our own skills, histories, expertise and biases to everything we do. Working reflexively helps us to identify any problems and make the most of all opportunities.
- Joyful: working to build a fairer world involves the full spectrum of emotions – and we believe that having fun as part of the process helps us to restore and retain our full sense of humanity.
The Social Research Collective was founded by Gill Main in 2023. Gill has experience of working in academia, most recently as Professor of Childhood, Youth and Social Justice at the University of Leeds; and in the charity sector. You can read more about her background here.