United Kingdom  

The Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) will be hosting its fourth annual conference in partnership with The Melbourne Social Equity Institute, University of Melbourne at the University of Birmingham on 14 and 15 September 2017. The conference will draw together academics, community-based practitioners and researchers, policy makers and doctoral researchers from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to consider various aspects of research co-production with communities.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in community-engaged research conducted both inside and outside the academy. This interest raises critical ontological, epistemological, methodological, political and ethical issues that are associated with conducting rigorous research and maximising the benefits of research for communities. For many academics, the aims of working collaboratively and cooperatively with community-based partners, has supported a widespread push to commodify the services of higher education institutions and promote closer ties between universities, publics and industry.

This timely interdisciplinary conference, jointly organised by the University of Birmingham’s Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) and The Melbourne Social Equity Institute, University of Melbourne, will bring together world leading academics, practitioner and community researchers to focus on the opportunities and challenges of community engaged research. The conference will explore innovative models and methods adopted as part of community-based initiatives and university-community partnerships and will provide a platform to consider a range of theoretical, methodological and ethical issues in order to advance thinking and help enhance the impact of community engaged research projects.

The conference will feature two keynote speeches from renowned experts on community engagement:  

• Professor Angie Hart - Professor of Child, Family and Community Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton
• Professor Teresa Cordova -Director of Great Cities Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago and also Professor of Urban Planning and Policy at the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA)

More information can be found on the conference website...