New centre for community development research opens

The University's Department of Community Education has established a new Scottish Centre for Research in Community Learning and Development.

The centre has been established to research the way forward to meet the Scottish Executive's priorities on community regeneration, social inclusion, lifelong learning and active citizenship.

Professor Ron Elder, Deputy Principal of the University and Dean of the Faculty of Education and Social Work, launched the new centre with Bernard Davies, a leading academic and practitioner in the field of youth work.

Ian Ball, Head of the new centre, said, "We plan to conduct action research with and alongside communities to gather evidence to further increase knowledge and understanding of the significance of working with and supporting communities in this way. This research centre will provide new and exciting avenues of research in this key area through the promotion and facilitation of cross disciplinary, inter-university and practitioner research into local, national and trans-national contexts."

Community Learning and Development is a way of working with communities to increase their skills, confidence and opportunities to contribute actively in democratic processes, to be able to influence the policies and services that affect their lives, and to make the most of their communities’ human, financial and physical assets.

Ian explained, "Working across agencies such as education, social work and government we are aiming to provide well researched and evidence based solutions to improve empowerment in communities.

We are also aiming to develop links with the statutory, voluntary and community sectors in the UK and international research community and to publish articles in nationally and internationally recognised journals on our findings."