Bridging theory and practice

Research Briefings has always played a key role in the work of People Know How, linking academic literature with our findings from action in the community. As well as spreading awareness of the work we’re doing, it also created a rich and diverse database, free to read and open to all.

The birth of Research Briefings

In 2014 People Know How was just a year old and we were getting stuck into developing our methods that would come to underpin how we deliver our services.

The idea of dedicating part of our work to research came from the young people we were supporting at the time through our initial Positive Transitions Service consultation. After the consultation, we wanted to conduct further research into the subject to see what had already been done and what still needed to be improved. On further inspection we couldn’t find a tool that simply gathered this existing research together. Having identified this gap, we developed Research Briefings, driving us to work with existing academic literature and link it with our experiences to share our findings with the rest of the community.

This process would later become our Social Innovation Model – Ask, Research, Do, Share. Research Briefings plays an integral part in both the Research and Share phase, allowing us to research both our findings (Ask) as well as our actions (Do) in the community.

This summer we reviewed the project and decided to make some big changes, particularly in light of the heightened need for online resources as community support projects respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

Thanking our volunteers

The Research Briefings database has grown vastly over the past 6 years, and this is down to our volunteers. As we close this chapter on the project, we’d like to thank our volunteer writers, editor and coordinator who have contributed their time and research to the project.

Meet Joly

Joly volunteered with us for a year, and throughout that time wrote a whopping 5 research briefings for us, ranging from topics like telephone befriending to the effects of gaming and more! She found out about us through Volunteer Edinburgh.

Meet Alex

Alex volunteered as a project coordinator, ensuring volunteer writers had the resources they needed. He valued the importance of fostering a sense of community among the volunteer writers, many of whom volunteered remotely. Thanks to a Facebook group and regular meetups, the community began to flourish.

Meet Linnea

Linnea volunteered as our research briefing editor. She supported writers by copyediting and proofreading their work in preparation for publication, frequently supporting them through multiple drafts. She stressed how important and beneficial this project can be by allowing everyone to access these findings.

The Connect Four Journal

When VIP Coordinator Amy and Graphic Designer & Communications Officer Claudia got together for their regular review of Research Briefings as the project coordinators, they identified the potential for integrating the project into Connect Four.

Launched in November 2019, Connect Four houses our social innovation network and social innovation toolkit, with the goal of driving cross-sector collaboration and social innovation. With Research Briefings fostering similar goals, it fit perfectly within this suite of projects as the Connect Four Journal.

The journal has now been given a much tighter structure and aims to produce over 20 articles per academic year. Volunteers are now either writers or editors, with each writer assigned an editor to collaborate with throughout their time with us, providing tailored field-specific volunteering experience. Perhaps most importantly, our published articles will remain free and open to all, with the purpose of sharing our learning across sectors and driving social innovation.

With the volunteer induction fast approaching, we can’t wait to see the Connect Four Journal flourish! Keep an eye out for our first issue!