Engaged Research

Engaged Research at WCCEH

Engaged research is a process that brings researchers and people outside the university together to jointly identify problems and issues that need further exploration.

Engaged research is at all stages influenced, created, and conducted with people whose lives are affected by the research and its outcomes.

At its core, engaged research is transformative as it is about making a difference. A deeper understanding that emerges as part of the process helps everyone involved to work toward solutions and recommend policy changes.

It is a process that requires time and commitment on all sides as well as joint input at all research stages; from understanding and expressing the nature of, agreeing on the issues that need to be researched, creating questions together, to delivering research in partnership and ensuring outcomes that are beneficial for all partners.

At WCCEH we support engaged research by helping to create the conditions for collaboration. We employ two Engaged Research Facilitators whose role it is to support and guide engaged researchers, and to connect publics with the life and work of the Centre.

We are guided by our Engaged Research and Public Engagement Strategy which can be viewed here.

Research Continuation/Closure Awards

Research Continuation/Closure Awards are open to people or organisations from outside the university who have collaborated with at least one Centre researcher, as a non-academic partner, during all or part of the period between January 2018 and December 2023. The awards are aimed at supporting individual applicants, or non-academic organisations, who have worked with the Centre, to prepare for the next steps of their research journey, and think about what that journey might look like.

Full guidance on the awards can be found here. Please email wcceh-engage@exeter.ac.uk if you have any questions.