Research Meeting, Friday, November 11, 2011, 14:00 – 16:00, GMCVO

Attendees:

John Diamond

Susanne Martikke

Claire Moxham

Alison Peacock

Heather Williams

Discussion Points:

There was a brief discussion of the following points with regard to the organisation and administration of the Research Network.

  • Susanne noted that there is still the plan to edit existing publicity materials to better communicate the definition of research in the widest sense in order to attract more members from third sector organisations to the meetings. Once this has been done, it will be circulated to a few members for feedback.
  • Susanne invited views from group members on how contact in between meetings could be improved with a view towards increasing group cohesion. In light of the fact that an earlier attempt to use Google groups was unsuccessful, the group expressed a desire to explore the possibility of a moderated blog. Susanne to look into the feasibility of this and report back.

The main discussion focused on problems that participants had encountered in their research work. The following general points emanated from this discussion.

  • A sense that researchers based in academia and the VCS have some concerns in common, including the difficulty to connect to others who are interested in the same topics andbeing measured on research outputs, a system which can lead to inputs of the job (i.e. spending time to read) to be less valued. Operational pressures sometimes impinge on the ability to have a strategic direction in research.
  • Lack of control over own time and research priorities. Need to embed a research culture into organisations and to ask questions about work that is being proposed (why are we doing it? Have other organisations produced work that one could benefit from instead of conducting one’s own research?)
  • The challenges of being a lone researcher. How can one be a good, strategically-thinking and effective lone researcher? There is a lot of interest in hard figures, but very little consideration of how they came about. A lot of pressure producing the definite report quickly, when it is not possible (riots example).
  • Could the Network offer twinning, peer support, critical friends? How do you make partnership work and develop a research culture in difficult financial times?

Date of next meeting:

Friday, 3February 2012, 14:00 – 16:00 at GMCVO.Claire Moxham to present the findings of a literature review on VCS performance; discussion on the challenges of working as a lone researcher and potential coping strategies.