New Things Fund
The New Things Fund has brought together academics from the University of Southampton and a wide range of external partners to address pressing policy issues in the central South region.
The Centre for the South is delighted to announce the ten winners of the New Things Fund this year. We received more than thirty competitive applications for the internally awarded programme designed to stimulate place-based policy engagement in Southampton and the surrounding region.
Co-production is at the heart of each project, with academics working in close partnership with a range of organisations, including local authorities, charities, and social enterprises. Many research areas are featured, in alignment with the CftS’ six key challenges:
Local skills, lifelong learning, and the future of work
Identity and pride in place for the region
The role, use, and access to green/blue spaces
Infrastructures and net zero in the central South
Addressing mental health and health inequalities
Power structures and devolution for the central South
Building relationships: priorities, needs and barriers for minoritised communities in accessing support for domestic abuse
Dr Aude Campmas, a Lecturer in French Studies, will be working alongside the Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service (PARCS). The project will bring together community facilitators, group leaders, interpreters, and members of minoritised communities, to explore how PARCS and similar services can best work with survivors of domestic abuse and improve inclusivity. By increasing visibility and accessibility of domestic abuse services, and fostering ways of working that build on EDI principles, the project aims to impact policy and practice across the central South via developing and sharing good practice.
Coastal (in)securities: swimming safely through blue heritage on the Isle of Wight
Dr Giulia Champion, an Anniversary Fellow, and Dr Franklin Nobrega, a Lecturer in Microbiology, are working together with Swim the Wight CIC. They seek to protect and maintain the Isle of Wight’s coastal waters as blue spaces for use by communities. The interdisciplinary project will merge the analysis of microbiological data and qualitative research to inform policy. This will include indications on how the UNESCO designation can be used to further protect the blue heritage on the island, as well as the water health and quality for the physical health and mental wellbeing of the swimmers.
Re-futuring community libraries: understanding their role in placemaking and local creative economies
Dr Brian Hracs, an Associate Professor of Human Geography, is working with the Friends of Cobbett Road Library (FCRL) and other local groups to explore the role that community libraries can play in placemaking. The project will engage with a large group of stakeholders, mapping the presence of community libraries across the South (Hampshire, Dorset and West Sussex) to create a network of organisations that can benefit from knowledge sharing, management and funding support. By increasing awareness of the value of community libraries, the project will inform local councils, funders, and the broader creative economies, on how to better support and facilitate increased community engagement in libraries.
Supporting local government scrutiny of private renting and improving outcomes for private sector renters in Southampton
Dr Mark Jordan and Professor Helen Carr at the Southampton Law School are working alongside the Southampton City Council’s Scrutiny Inquiry on the private rental sector. Their project will produce several briefing papers on a range of topics including the cost of renting and the conditions of rental housing. The work aims to lead to policy interventions to improve housing conditions and the experiences of private tenants in Southampton and further afield. Their project will also inform housing academics, landlord associations, tenant unions as well as Councillors and Housing Officers from across the region.
Hampshire, Black History and railways: owners, workers, passengers
Dr Helen Paul (Economics) and Dr Gillian Kennedy (Politics) are working together with Black History Month South and other regional heritage groups to co-produce learning and research materials to increase involvement with the Black community across Hampshire. Their project aims to increase local people’s understanding of the contribution made by Black communities to Hampshire, while encouraging people from the Black community to view Hampshire as a place where they feel they belong. A podcast series will be created as well as building up a network of local heritage organisations and Black cultural organisations for future collaboration.
Find out more: https://www.centreforthesouth.co.uk/activities/black-heritage-in-hampshire
Exploring and quantifying the opportunities and capacity for rooftop and car park solar infrastructure
Dr Maj Alam and Dr Luke Blunden, based at the Energy and Climate Change Division, are working with CPRE Hampshire to co-create a solar infrastructure map for the region. Their research seeks to inform local planners and decision makers across Hampshire and Sussex to consider adopting solar positive planning policies for rooftop renewable projects across the central South. The project shines a light on a different solar positive approach while generating awareness with the wider public.
Find out more: https://www.centreforthesouth.co.uk/activities/rooftop-renewables
Voices unheard: exploring barriers and solutions for older adults accessing mental health support
Dr Fei Wang, Lecturer in Gerontology, and Compassionate Cuppa CIC will be co-developing steps towards understanding and reducing barriers to older persons’ use of mental health services in Southampton. They will build collaborative links with local service providers, assess pathways, and generate evidence on barriers from a range of perspectives, especially those of older people, service providers, charities and advocacy groups. This knowledge will serve as a foundation for future policy recommendations and interventions.
Understanding looked after young people’s experiences and needs, and co-producing recommendations for policy and practice when moving towards independence
Dr Becky Ward, Research Director at the Centre for Homelessness Research and Practice, will be working with Step by Step to improve skills and lifelong learning for looked after young people and to reduce health and well-being inequalities. By giving young people a voice, facilitating the sharing of their experiences, and co-producing policy and practice recommendations, the project seeks to support young people in care as they move towards independence. The collaborative project seeks to further knowledge exchange and enterprise activities, while empowering young people to identify areas of support which have helped, alongside areas of support still needed, to prepare them for independent living, and finally to help prevent young people from entering the homeless pathway.
Mapping the food system in Southampton
Dr Jenny Baverstock, Principal Enterprise Fellow, and Guy Poppy, Professor of Ecology in Biological Sciences, are working with Becky Wilkinson, Consultant in Public Health at SCC. Together they will work with stakeholders across the city to co-produce a local action plan to support a system change to create a healthy sustainable local food environment. The SCC will map key activities in the food system to understand how drivers of the local food system impact the economic, social, environmental and health outcomes in Southampton. The project will enhance links between council officers and key stakeholders and invite them to participate in a ‘food network’.
Co-production Corners: incubating ideas on the pathway to impact in healthcare policy and research
Professor Lucy Green, Head of Engagement in the Faculty of Medicine, is working with Rebecca Kinge, Southampton Voluntary Services. They will work across sectors (academia, healthcare, community, government and business) to co-develop techniques to support meaningful involvement of people with lived experience of health conditions. Their approach gives community and stakeholders a novel safe space to discuss ideas and issues around a health and care topic. The findings will inform priority setting and influence health and care policy approaches in Southampton, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.