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<\/a><\/p>\nCollaborative action research can be fertile ground for exploration, experimentation, reflection and learning. When it brings together higher education, practice and communities as research partners, it can produce new knowledge that informs teaching, practice and policy, as well as practical approaches, tools and resources for communities and practitioners. In our experience, it can also help build lasting relationships and have a profound impact on the people, organisations and communities involved.<\/p>\n
About this Series<\/strong><\/h2>\nThis new online event series,\u00a0Research Rooms,<\/em> is a collaboration between The Glass-House Community Led Design<\/a> and the Open University’s Design Group. These events will share learning, resources and anecdotes from the many research projects we have done together.<\/p>\nResearch Rooms<\/em>\u00a0are informal online spaces for conversation with members of the research team from academia, practice and communities. Those attending can learn about the projects, their outputs and outcomes and the influence they have had on those involved. There will also be space to share your own experience and explorations of the project themes.<\/p>\nResearch Room 1: Scaling Up Co-design<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n21 October 2025, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n
In this session we will look back on the project,\u00a0Scaling Up Co-design Research and Practice<\/a>, which brought together academic and civil society partners to explore how to extend the impact and reach of our own work, to extract learning on different co-design practices, and to develop approaches and tools to help others take up and benefit from co-design.<\/p>\nResearch Room 2: Asset-based Co-design<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n25 November 2025, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n
In this session, we\u2019ll look across three research projects (Media, Community and the Creative Citizen<\/a>,\u00a0Unearth Hidden Assets<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Comparative Asset Mapping<\/a>) in which we both focused on, and developed approaches and tools to support asset mapping in the context of design and placemaking.<\/p>\nResearch Room 3: Empowering Design Practices<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n27 January 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n
In this session we will look back on the project,\u00a0Empowering Design Practices<\/a>. This 7-year project explored the landscape of historic places of worship and communities leading change within them. We worked with communities to explore the values that inspire and hinder the wider use of historic places of worship and what benefits and impacts community-led design practices can bring.<\/p>\nWorking with live projects, we also co-designed new practices and practical resources, providing hands-on support to communities to help them lead projects to transform their historic places of worship.<\/p>\n
Research Room 4: Starting from values<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n24 February 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n
In this session we will look back on our participation in the project,\u00a0Starting from Values<\/a>, which brought together partners from two Connected Communities research projects,\u00a0Scaling Up Co-Design<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Authority Research Network,<\/a>\u00a0with the\u00a0Values and Sustainability Research Group<\/a>\u00a0at Brighton University . The project aim was to co-develop creative ways of identifying, evaluating and enhancing intangible, values-related aspects of project legacies.<\/p>\nResearch Room 5: Incubating Civic Leadership<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n24 March 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n
In this session we will look back on\u00a0Incubating Civic Leadership<\/a>, a project exploring civic leadership and how different actors can be brought together to co-design ideas, innovations and actions that push boundaries and address challenges at a local and global level.<\/p>\nThis knowledge exchange project brought together groups and organisations across sectors and of varied scale in London and Bristol. Through both online and in-person activities, we shared learning and ideas and experimented together through simple interactive urban activities aimed at galvanising people to improve their local places.<\/p>\n
Research Room 6: Cross-pollination<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n28 April 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n
Research Rooms<\/em>\u00a0are informal online spaces for conversation with members of the research team from academia, practice and communities. Those attending can learn about the projects, their outputs and outcomes and the influence they have had on those involved. There will also be space to share your own experience and explorations of the project themes.<\/p>\n 21 October 2025, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n In this session we will look back on the project,\u00a0Scaling Up Co-design Research and Practice<\/a>, which brought together academic and civil society partners to explore how to extend the impact and reach of our own work, to extract learning on different co-design practices, and to develop approaches and tools to help others take up and benefit from co-design.<\/p>\n 25 November 2025, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n In this session, we\u2019ll look across three research projects (Media, Community and the Creative Citizen<\/a>,\u00a0Unearth Hidden Assets<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Comparative Asset Mapping<\/a>) in which we both focused on, and developed approaches and tools to support asset mapping in the context of design and placemaking.<\/p>\n 27 January 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n In this session we will look back on the project,\u00a0Empowering Design Practices<\/a>. This 7-year project explored the landscape of historic places of worship and communities leading change within them. We worked with communities to explore the values that inspire and hinder the wider use of historic places of worship and what benefits and impacts community-led design practices can bring.<\/p>\n Working with live projects, we also co-designed new practices and practical resources, providing hands-on support to communities to help them lead projects to transform their historic places of worship.<\/p>\n 24 February 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n In this session we will look back on our participation in the project,\u00a0Starting from Values<\/a>, which brought together partners from two Connected Communities research projects,\u00a0Scaling Up Co-Design<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Authority Research Network,<\/a>\u00a0with the\u00a0Values and Sustainability Research Group<\/a>\u00a0at Brighton University . The project aim was to co-develop creative ways of identifying, evaluating and enhancing intangible, values-related aspects of project legacies.<\/p>\n 24 March 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\n In this session we will look back on\u00a0Incubating Civic Leadership<\/a>, a project exploring civic leadership and how different actors can be brought together to co-design ideas, innovations and actions that push boundaries and address challenges at a local and global level.<\/p>\n This knowledge exchange project brought together groups and organisations across sectors and of varied scale in London and Bristol. Through both online and in-person activities, we shared learning and ideas and experimented together through simple interactive urban activities aimed at galvanising people to improve their local places.<\/p>\n 28 April 2026, 4-5 pm, online<\/p>\nResearch Room 1: Scaling Up Co-design<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Research Room 2: Asset-based Co-design<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Research Room 3: Empowering Design Practices<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Research Room 4: Starting from values<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Research Room 5: Incubating Civic Leadership<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Research Room 6: Cross-pollination<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n