Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement

Editorial: Building a model for dispersed openness

Margaret Malone — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 14:52:14 +1000

This Editorial explores the contribution an academic journal can make to critically engaged scholarship through critical self-reflection and innovation. Community-university engaged research and practice, no longer as marginalised as it once was, remains nonetheless institutionally precarious and the literature dominated by voices from the Global North. For this journal, with its stated aim of increasing the diversity of contributors to the scholarly literature, there is both a responsibility and an opportunity to innovate. This Editorial discusses two recent examples: writers’ workshops for manuscript development and the newly introduced ‘proposals’ section, where authors can gain early feedback on manuscript ideas.

Digital tools for knowledge exchange and sustainable public food procurement in community kindergartens: A case study in Słupsk, Poland

Sat, 29 Jun 2024 15:00:06 +1000

This article presents a case study on the experimental co-creation process of a digital platform supporting Sustainable Public Food Procurement (SPFP) in public kindergartens in a medium-sized city in Poland. The organisation of SPFP requires a dedicated technological infrastructure to ensure the information flow among food producers, kindergarten employees, children and parents. To this end, a digital platform was designed to enable contact, assessment of food quality and food procurement environmental impact, and the communication of needs and problems among all the actors involved in the food procurement system for kindergartens. The article also discusses the results of the field research and the method of Urban Living Labs, highlighting the key challenges faced by those seeking to combine knowledge about food and the natural environment with public food procurement. The principal difficulties include the availability, accessibility and possible application of data on the environmental costs of food production, the individualisation of needs and motivations related to public catering in educational facilities, and the specific nature of the public sector responsible for public food procurement.

Greenspace & Us: Exploring co-design approaches to increase engagement with nature by girls and young women

Sat, 29 Jun 2024 15:13:56 +1000

Nature connection through engagement with greenspaces plays an important role in promoting well-being. In England, certain groups, such as girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds, have limited access to high-quality greenspaces and face other barriers to engaging with nature. In Oxfordshire, the County Council has committed to improving access to greenspace and nature for all. In 2022, a group consisting of twenty girls and young women (aged 10–16) from East Oxford not-for- profit organisations, academic institutions and public bodies came together to start an initiative called ‘Greenspace & Us’. The girls and young women participated in six three- hour workshops in February to March 2022. Using the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour) approach, we explored the enablers and barriers to girls and young women in Oxford engaging more with nature, which included: increasing equity of access; introducing meaningful co-production; taking safety concerns seriously; making nature normal; promoting the right to play; and increasing the ability to connect with greenspaces.
The outputs of this process were synthesised into the ‘Greenspace & Us Manifesto’, which was crafted collectively. Furthermore, these insights were used to design inclusive park furniture, which was later installed in a local park in East Oxford. In this practice-based article, we outline the methods, outcomes as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the engagement, co-design and co-production approaches we used in Greenspace & Us. We hope the insights from our project will support more inclusive and equitable design of greenspaces for all.

Partnering with older adults for digital research tool development: Demystifying an engaged research process

Natalia Balyasnikova, Sonia Martin — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 11:06:17 +1000

The inadequacy of traditional research methods, underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted the urgent need for innovative approaches, particularly to research involving older adults. This article reflects on the complexities of establishing and sustaining research partnerships with older adults for digital research tool testing and development. The article offers an explicit report of the outreach process for holding researchers accountable and demystifying the research process.