Why this network

This work builds from The Ideas Fund programme which started in 2021 exploring how communities can directly lead partnerships with researchers around mental wellbeing to ensure that lived, professional and academic expertise can work together more effectively to affect local change.

This involved developing and facilitating a more participatory and relational grant-making process funding underrepresented communities directly supporting a network of 21 funded projects across the Highlands and Islands, ranging from Dementia-led research of the role arts to support mental wellbeing to young peer researchers exploring the lack of safe spaces in Shetland.

A key part of the programme is sharing the learning as this develops including through sharing our story so far (what this has meant for researchers and communities) and a newly published Insight Report drawing together the impact of the programme so far across the four placed-based locations of the Fund.

Recognising that a more systems-based approach is needed to scale this work, remove barriers and support a collective “healthier” system for community-led research (read more about the model here), this led to a focus on funding not just more individual projects but a way to focus on changing the infrastructure (the structural components) collectively to enable communities and researchers to work better in the future and ultimately have a stronger voice in decision-making. This was the motivation to begin developing this network with funding from the Ideas Fund and Wellcome.

Who is Involved

Throughout the implementation of The Ideas Fund and development of this network in the Highlands and Islands, it was important to recognise the many strong examples and models of community-led research already happening locally and across Scotland.

From the Knowledge Is Power programme to Knowledge Exchange happening through the Universities and networks such as SPRE and ScotPEN, many were engaged as stakeholders throughout the Ideas Fund programme and a Steering Group was developed to help ensure as much connectivity as possible as the network is launched.

This includes Scottish Community Development Centre (David Allan, Andrew Patterson), Youthlink Scotland & Third Sector Research Forum (Dr Amy Calder), Public Health Scotland (Dr Caroline King), Moray Wellbeing Hub (Heidi Tweedie), Scottish Policy and Research Exchange (Dr Dave Blackbell), the Scottish Public Engagement Network (Faye Watson and Susan Grant) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (Professor Sarah-Anne Munoz, Anna Paaso).

The network is coordinated by Science Ceilidh (Lewis Hou, Lauren Pyott) who are an independent organisation supporting cultural and knowledge democracy in Scotland including supporting The Ideas Fund as the Development Coordinator.

The activities of the network will be informed by its members through stakeholder meetings (part of the monthly Community of Practices), the working groups (including one on Ethics and another on Public Health and Social Care) and the steering group. As the network grows, we will be actively recruiting new members onto these steering and working groups.

What next?

Alongside regular network activities, we will be conducting research and development with communities who are marginalised in research processes about how they want to be asked questions and share their views about issues that affect them, especially in the context of ‘consultation fatigue’. We have started a ‘consultation mapping’ process, to get a sense of what kinds of questions communities are already being asked about mental health and how. We are also trialing a different ‘participatory ethics’ process which centres communities from the onset, exploring ethics as a rights based approach. This is currently being developed with partners and community groups in Shetland before being shared with communities more widely across the Highlands & Islands. In early 2024 we will also be using this co-developed knowledge to design our own co-priority survey, to get better understand peoples’ needs and experiences of mental health & wellbeing across the Highlands & Islands, and how communities and researchers can work better together to support mental wellbeing.

Through this process and consultation with members, we will develop a series of funded training opportunities and resources for the sector from January 2024. We will also develop an evidence collating and policy change plan with members and this is currently planned to lead to an in-person gathering in early summer 2024 and explore next steps collectively for what happens next with the network activities. This network is currently funded by the Ideas Fund until August 2024.

You can find more information about these activities here. If you want to find out more or get involved, please get in touch.