Universities in the United Kingdom are re-examining their connections with neighbouring communities, focusing on how research can drive local economic growth and how facilities might support public health. This shift comes as institutions recognise that the traditional academic ecosystem can feel detached from the daily lives of residents. Data extracted from places often sits behind paywalls, while value is frequently measured by global citations rather than local impact.
A new platform for shared knowledge
The Institute for Community Studies at the Young Foundation recently launched the Journal for Community Studies to address this imbalance. The publication brings academic research into direct conversation with community voice and lived experience. It challenges the idea that communities are merely subjects of study, instead positioning them as partners in inquiry.
Each article in the journal functions as a dialogue between academics and a community partner. Academics present the latest evidence, while community members share insights from the ground. This exchange reveals new tensions and helps shape future research questions. The approach values the knowledge produced by rigorous academic research equally to that generated by practitioners solving problems on the ground.
The challenges communities face rarely fit neatly within disciplinary or institutional boundaries. Issues such as loneliness, digital exclusion, insecure housing, weak infrastructure, low trust and uneven access to opportunity are complex and relational. They require evidence that captures experience, place, history and identity, rather than relying on standard metrics alone.
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A global movement toward civic responsibility
This focus on local engagement is not limited to the UK. A growing number of universities across Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa and Asia are working in partnership with local communities, public bodies, civil society organisations and businesses to address social and environmental challenges. The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, originally designed for US higher education, has expanded internationally with pilots in Australia, Canada, Ireland and Malaysia.
From statistics to lived experience
The first issue of the journal explores how the diversity of a neighbourhood might look very different in statistical data compared to how that diversity is actually lived. It examines how academics are grappling with definitions of social infrastructure alongside those doing the work of making community ownership of such spaces a reality.
Dr Jack Layton is the place research and impact manager at the Institute for Community Studies, UK. Dr Sue Griffiths is the CEO at The Young Foundation, UK. They have recently launched the Journal for Community Studies.
Through these conversations, the journal explores what universities are for and why working in dialogue with communities could help institutions prove themselves useful in ways that global rankings often do not measure. The launch issue is supported by the Centre for Collaboration and Community Connectedness (C4). To submit feature ideas or sponsor a future edition, contact [email protected].
