Explore Awards: successful awards 2022 and 2023

School of Biological and Marine Sciences 

Reuben, with partners and key stakeholders, sought to build on the successes of finding a new species of Shipworm in the mango swamps of Panama in July 2022.

Through this funding, Reuben built stronger relationships with Cristhian Puchicama – a member of the WNC and other members. Reuben and partners learnt more about the biology and ecology of Hihai, as well as being able to facilitate collaboration with colleagues at the Smithsonian and Harvard. Finally, Reuben captured and created further media content on Shipworm research with Bizarre Beasts.    

Partners included: Wounaan National Congress (WNC), Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (HMCZ), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute affiliates (STRI) and Bizarre Beasts (network of YouTube channels).

Researcher: Dr Minchul Sohn

Plymouth Business School 

Minchul, collaborating with partners from Bikespace and Zedify, has looked at research, development, and recommendation of a community shared e-cargo bike system to increase usership, particularly amongst small-medium businesses and retailers in Plymouth’s local commercial hubs.

The participatory workshops organised helped find problem framing techniques, undertook preliminary exploration of potential solutions, and helped create business models for a community shared e-cargo bike system in Plymouth.

Researcher: Ms Claudia Blandon

School of Society and Culture 

Claudia has been exploring the role that human rights education programmes played in shaping notions of empowerment amongst displaced women in Columbia.

The award supported the delivery of face to face workshops in Cali, Columbia for culturally sensitive discussions on gender and empowerment issues with diverse audiences (such as young people, men and women, diverse gender identities, diverse cognitive and literacy levels).

Partners: working with Marleni Alegria – Union of University Workers and Employees of Colombia (SINTRAUNICOL).

Researcher: Ms Phyllis McNally

School of Society and Culture 

Phyllis worked with Community Horizons CIO and Women Merging Cultures – Art Collective, collected the stories of mothers in relation to the barriers experienced in accessing education and the challenges experienced as parents of forcible displaced backgrounds (FDP) that have to learn an additional language, culture and educational systems, for themselves and their children. 

This case study pilot explored community engagement through innovative focus groups, art sessions and coaching workshops, bringing together women of FDP, academics and voluntary sector practitioners.   

Researcher: Dr Arun Sood 

Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Business –  School of Society and Culture 

Working with partners and stakeholders: Marenka Thompson-Odlum – Pitt Rivers Museum, Winston Phulgence – St Lucia Archaeological and Historical Society, Uta and Verena Lawaetz – Balenbouche Estate, Tabitha Cadbury – The Box, Yannick James – Freelance Musician/Violinist, Alastair Smith – Freelance Sound Engineer. 

This project made sound recordings from significant areas of St Lucia over two weeks in June 2022. We layered new compositions of sound, spoken word and oral history over field recordings taken onsite, with the playing of stringed instruments of West African and South American heritage that were transported to the island and used by enslaved people in the eighteenth century.  

We expanded international awareness of the Archaeological Society’s activities and increased awareness of the history of plantation slavery in St Lucia through these innovative and creative methods.

Faculty of Health –  Peninsula Medical School 

The project applied findings from a review of the literature and discussions from stakeholders which included Plymouth Complex Lives Alliance, the Waterfront Primary Care Network, and the SW Liver Unit at UHP.  

The project in partnership with Amanda Clements – Nurse Consultant from UHP, used innovative ways to identify and engage hard-to-reach people with liver disease to hear their views on how they could best have a voice in developing relevant research in the field of liver disease.

Researchers: Dr Katherine Gulliver and Mrs Rachel Knight Lozano 

Faculty of Art, Humanities and Business – School of Society and Culture, and Faculty of Health – School of Health Professions (respectively) 

Working with partners: Stuart Heron – Mayfield Special School, Rebecca Skinner – Active Devon, Claire Paddon – Plymouth Parent Carer Voice and external stakeholder groups.

Through the delivery of four interactive workshops, targeting stakeholder groups, this project engaged in collaborative analysis of child-led findings from a current interdisciplinary, research study titled: “Chest Health through the lens of a child with Neurodisability: A Mosaic approach to explore child-focused perceptions of exercise-based chest health interventions.” 

Findings from this stakeholder engagement activity informed the next stage of a wider project, focused on co-design of inclusive, child and stakeholder-led educational resources that promotes chest health through physical activity in schools and the community. 

Researcher: Dr Karen Wickett 

Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Business – School of Society and Culture 

Working with Award Partners: Real Ideas Organisation (RIO), Stiltskin Theatre, Green Ark Children’s Centre and Take A Part.

This award has helped to continue to foster relationships and partnerships with leaders from a range of Plymouth based Arts and Cultural (A&C) organisations and Early Years (EY) settings. The partners planned a day workshop in June 22. The objectives of the workshop included constructing shared understandings and to plan an EY and A&C programme.  

Guided by the principles and vision discussed, we designed a programme of artist residencies in EY settings, identified a funder and agreed on two partners to lead on writing the bid to fund this programme. The funding of these programmes included costs to undertake action research and evaluation.

Researchers: Mx Hannah Gardiner and Dr Louise Hunt 

Faculty of Health –  School of Health Professions 

Working with partners: Lisa Howard, the FoodSEqual Community Food Researcher Coordinator and Whitleigh community food researchers (Food Plymouth CIC).

A community-led participatory food themed ‘People’s Assembly’ event, in Whitleigh, that brought together stakeholders (community leaders, members, families, champions) with University of Plymouth researchers to explore, discover and debate some of the many topical issues around food and the food system as part of the FoodSEqual project.

This event also developed the public engagement skills of the early career researchers (ECR) leading the event, who will continue to expand the Community Food Researchers (CFR) model in Plymouth over the coming years and evaluate its impact.

Researchers: Dr Rachel Manning and Professor Robert Brown 

Faculty of Art, Humanities and Business –  School of Society and Culture/ School of Art, Design and Architecture (respectively) 

This project worked with partners and stakeholders: Clive Shore – NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Richard Ayers – Adelaide Street Surgery and University of Plymouth’s Medical School, Martin Ivatt – Plymouth City Council, Neil Emery – Clifton Emery Design, Wendy Smith – MBE, Robert Brown – Urban Dialogues, University of Plymouth colleagues, hierarchy, alumni, and students and the wider Stonehouse Community.

These people co-authored a vision of the future Plymouth city centre medical hub (i.e. Plymouth West End Health and Wellbeing Centre) with an enhanced sense of its perceived accessibility and of a community adaptable to change. The project provided an action-based research case study exploring issues of community well-being and resilience in the face of change and key themes within current discourse on community and health, innovatively broadening and deepening civic engagement.

Researcher: Professor Sarah Neill 

Faculty of Health – School of Nursing and Midwifery 

Working with internal and external partners and stakeholders which included: Lynn Pashby, Mary Mancini and Andrew Turnbull, representing the PPI panel for the project: PenCRU and PenPEG.

Professor Chris Morris – PenARC and PenCRU, Dr Kristin Liabo – PenARC and PenPEG, Professor Lucy Bray – Edge Hill University and Heather Eardley – Freelance Senior Project Manager.

This project co-created the content for an online open access research module with, and for, patients and the public to help them understand the nature of research, research terminology/processes and how they can help as research team members and/or PPIE (Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement) advisors. 

Researchers: Mrs Victoria Squire, Mr John Kilburn and Dr Darren Aoki 

Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Business – School of Art, Design and Architecture 

Through multidisciplinary co-creation with a remote, rural, coastal community, this project aimed to place spirituality at the centre of life, capturing insights, understanding and knowledge of spirituality (‘thin space’) and its benefits to individuals, heritage, community, culture, and landscape.

The Explore Award enabled the team to undertake an innovative oral and visualization story-telling co-creation multidisciplinary workshop in partnership with: Reverend Samantha Stayte – Lyn Valley Mission Community and Jayne Peacock – Executive Head of West Exmoor Federation.