Professor Federico Caprotti and Dr Whitney Pailman share updates on their work exploring the relationship between community resilience, entrepreneurship, economic mobility and navigating infrastructure disruptions in urban, informal settlements in South Africa. With support from the Engaged and Participatory Research Fund, the researchers worked closely with local residents and policymakers.
Author: Catherine Hurcombe
Understanding Uncertainty – Involving People with Lived Experience in Research into Medical Communication and Decision Making
In her blog piece, Amy Chinner-Evans draws on recent Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement, which aimed to address uncertainty in medical decision-making. Working with patients with multiple long-term health conditions (MLTCs), her collaboration will inform ongoing research as part of her wider PhD programme.
PPIE Support for Parkinson’s UK Non-Drug Approaches Application
Dr Mary O’Leary shares the work behind her recent application to Parkinson’s UK, exploring how nutritional interventions can support aspects of Parkinson’s symptom management. Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) Funding helped ensure lived experience could be brought into this work, inviting collaboration throughout the research process.
Nothing About Us Without Us’: The Role of Public Perspectives in Health Research
In this recent interview, Dr Camilla Forbes from the Department of Health and Community Sciences shares information about her work in Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE), highlighting the importance of engaging communities in research on health promotion and public health.
Bringing Academia to Different Communities: The Researchers in Churches Scheme
As part of the 2025 FUTURES Festival, our partners, Agile Rabbit, brought the celebrations to Cornwall as part of the Researchers in Churches scheme. This programme takes academia into a new setting, inviting members of the community to talks and conversations delivered in churches across the South West.
Loveland Bridging Communities Project
Tim Hughes tells us about recent work completed with Loveland, a community field project based in Falmouth, which invites local people to get involved in food growth and sustainability. With support from our Bridging Communities Fund, Loveland’s work has continued to grow, inviting new audiences to explore their natural surroundings.
Inviting Publics to Engage with Structural Biology
In this interview, Dr Becky Conners from the Department of Biosciences talks about her journey into public engagement, and the role this plays in her work on structural biology – including most recently, her contributions to both the Somerscience and FUTURES festivals on the importance of bacterial phages.
Self-Discovering Research: The Workshops of FUTURES 2025
Alongside our walking tours, visitors to the 2025 FUTURES Festival could book a ticket for one of our workshops. Whether they were interested in creative writing, encouraging growth in our natural environment, or honing their artistic skills, these free events offered audiences the chance to try something new.
Being Human Festival: How Literature, Film, and Creativity Can Bring Communities Together
The Being Human Festival is the UK’s national celebration of the humanities, bringing humanities research to public audiences across the country. Running from the 6th to the 15th November, this year’s festival, ‘Between the Lines’, invited academics to explore the theme of boundaries in their work.
Sparks Programme: Promoting and Celebrating Community Research Partnerships
The FUTURES Festival also supported projects that connect communities to University research. Artist and workshop facilitator, Hannah Mumby, was joined by researcher Hannah Hayes to explore creative mapping of flood risk in the Exe Estuary, while Exeter Seed Bank investigated the health of local community growing spaces.