Civil Society Organisations’ participation in research

“Insights into current practice”

Dr. Theo Gavrielides, IARS Founder & Director&

Andriana Ntziadima, IARS Promotions & Resources Manager

CONSIDER – Expert workshopLille, France, 26th September 2013

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Agenda …• Introductions & caveats

• The context – past & current projects

• The strengths

• The weaknesses

• Going forward

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Independent Academic Research StudiesIARS is a UK-based leading, international think-tank with a charitable mission to give everyone a chance to forge a safer, fairer and more inclusive society.

We achieve our charitable aims by producing evidence-based solutions to current social problems, sharing best practice and by supporting young people and the community to shape decision making. IARS is an international expert in criminal justice, restorative justice, human rights and inclusion, citizenship, public service and user-led research.

We are known for our robust, independent, evidence-based approach to solving current social problems, and we are considered a pioneer in user-involvement and the application of user-led research methods.

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IARS - CSO

• Non-profit• Non-state, non-governmental• Independent, non-political, non partisan• Non-violent, equality organisation• Registered company limited by guarantee• Registered charity• Voluntary sector organisation• Membership based• Charitable objects for the benefit of society and

targeted communities

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IARS - CSO

• Research• International scope• Think-tank• Educational, training and accreditation services• Consultancy & expert advice• Contracts and commissioning (social venture

activities)

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Context & Caveats • EQUAL EU programme – Homelessness and Black &

minority ethnic communities in the EU

• JUST – Criminal Justice programmes• Mediation and Restorative Justice Prison settings• The 3E Model of Restorative Justice• Restorative Justice in Europe: Safeguarding Victims and

empowering professional

• Youth in Action – 4.1. Framework Agreement

• “Social sciences – social policy – justice”

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Strengths

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Strengths• The voices of communities – not living in “ivory

towers”

• Innovative & flexible

• Bottom up science

• Independent and strong voice

• Access to communities and sample that is “hard to reach”

• The research itself can be social action

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Strengths• User-led research methods

• Action research/ participatory research models

• Networking abilities & campaigning role

• Experience, expertise, passion, dedication

• The purpose of social sciences research – not losing sight of life implications

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Challenges

•Power structures: the mouse and the elephant

•Power structures within

•SCO – Academic institutions: what is their common currency?

•A problem of priorities

•Shared values – shared understanding

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Challenges

•Research vs evaluation

•“The vicious circle of funding” (research for evidence based practice or evidence for funding)

•Trust and being sceptical – under the scrutiny

•Involving staff and users in the framing of research and evaluation

•Asking the “wrong questions”

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Challenges

•Lacking the infrastructure (e.g. partnership agreements, overheads, reserves)

•Lacking the research tools (e.g. online journals, libraries, software, databases)

•Awareness & information on research based grants and programmes

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Going forward• Built-in infrastructure support

• Partnerships - SCO participation requirement (not tokenistic)

• Leadership – proportionate distribution

• Better understanding of SCO research methods and approach to science

• Brokering relationships SCO - academia

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Going forward• Dispelling myths

• “Academic” – a “dirty” word!• “Research” – a luxury

• Qualitative vs quantitative research

• Practitioners – users – researchers – policy makers: relationships restored

• The evolving nature of science, research and their implications for life.

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Dr. Theo GavrielidesFounder & Director, IARS159 Clapham Road,London SW9 0PU, UK

T.Gavrielides@iars.org.uk020 7820 0945www.iars.org.uk

Dr. Gavrielides is also an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University (Canada) and a Visiting Professor at Buckinghamshire New University (UK).

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