Community Partnership Projects

Project 1

Building capacity and improving wellbeing with community partners

Building capacity and improving wellbeing with community partners

A collaboration between Manchester researchers and Black Beetle Health to build community research capacity and the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ People of Colour.

The School of Social Sciences Community Partnership Fund (CPF) brought together researchers from the University of Manchester and Black Beetle Health, a Manchester-based organisation dedicated to promoting health, wellbeing, and equality for LGBTQ+ Black and People of Colour. The collaboration involved members of Black Beetle Health seconded to the Dating App Connections research team.

The ESRC-funded project, established in 2022, explored the role of dating apps in people’s intimacy, wellbeing, and loneliness during COVID-19.  The Dating App Connections project was led by Professor Brian Heaphy and Dr Jaime Garcia-Iglesias. The project involved a nation-wide survey about dating app use, wellbeing, and COVID-19, as well as sixty interviews with people who used dating apps.  The researchers focused on exploring how dating app used during COVID-19 influenced how people established connections with others, how they coped with loneliness, and how they navigated COVID-19.

Through this partnership, members of Black Beetle Health shared their knowledge about how inequalities affect online relationships and wellbeing more generally.  In a series of meetings and secondments, members from Black Beetle Health with expertise in different aspects of community engagement advised on methodology, recruitment, and data analysis, to support the delivery of useful, reliable, and grounded findings. The secondments took place to match with periods of data collection, analysis, and dissemination.

As part of the collaboration, a workshop was organised for academics and community organisations to discuss collaborations between universities and community organisations.  A series of ‘think tank’ discussions were held to share experiences of collaboration and to identify barriers and benefits to this type of engagement.

The report, Collaboration for change: Exploring effective collaboration between academics and community organisations, shares the findings.

Keep up with the latest news about the project by following our Twitter (@DatingAppRes) or visiting our website, where you can subscribe to our email newsletter.

Project 2

Dialogue, data, deeds and determination: Co-creating outputs from Greater Manchester for Women 2028 (GM4Women2028) events in partnership with the School of Social Sciences

Building capacity and improving wellbeing with community partners

Project lead: Professor Jackie Carter

The purpose of this project was to add to, enhance and amplify the three events that were organised through the HSCEF-funded project: Data, deeds and determination: Diversifying and strengthening voices, dialogue and connections of Women and Girls to powerholders in Greater Manchester.

The primary aim of the ‘Diversifying and strengthening voice’ project was to: Affect positive change for women and girls of Greater Manchester by working with existing networks to establish a mechanism for stronger links with local powerholders, with 3 main objectives:

  1. Strengthen the GM4Women’s Network
  2. Strengthen mutually beneficial links with GMCA, the University of Manchester and GM4Women
  3. Extend dialogue with governmental and private powerholders within Greater Manchester with a focus on the need for action.

The 'Dialogue, data, deeds and determination project' funded by the School of Social Sciences Community Partnership Fund enabled GM4Women2028 to run an additional event in a community space and develop a professionally designed co-produced output drawing on the findings of the Dialogue events that ran across boroughs in Greater Manchester.

Local councillors engaged with women, hearing their wants and committing to a more equitable policy.  Events fostered networking and organic connections among attendees, energising our collective determination, and platforming others including activists and scholars.