Research Group

The SSF Research Group seeks to bring together the research, voluntary and not-for-profit sector with all others who want to find out about their lives and the communities they live in, to carry out original research on local political, economic, social and environmental issues.

Local history resources

http://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/ShefHistory

Archive

The Seven Ills of Sheffield (Working Title)

This document will explain the fluid aims for "Seven Ills", and the processes we are working through to achieve them. As we develop contacts and ideas, and more people become involved in the project, this will hopefully develop into a more detailed project plan.

Aims

Though not precisely defined at present, it is clear that we have a number of aims for "Seven Ills":

• Publish results through a variety of media.
• Connect disparate groups working in the same issue area.
• Highlight a variety of social problems around Sheffield.
• Also, highlight the good work that is already being done, and celebrate the positive trends in Sheffield.
• Encourage creative thinking about problems and potential solutions.
• Encourage local action around local problems, by those who are immediately affected.
• Produce original, grassroots research, genuinely listening to the individuals we are 'researching'.

Topics

In our first discussions we've identified the following very broad set of areas we'd like to look at, though there are significant areas of overlap and interlinking.

• Economy and Inequality
  • What is the state of employment around Sheffield? What are people's experiences of un- and underemployment? How divided are rich and poor, and is it getting worse?
  • What are people's experiences of poverty and debt?
  • What does the local economy do? How much of it is socially useful? What unpaid work is being done in the 'social economy'?
  • How is regeneration affecting Sheffield residents? Where is Objective One money being spent? Where does it end up? How do people feel about that?

• Participation
  • In what ways do people participate in the community and political life of Sheffield? Do people feel capable of affecting the decisions that impact on their lives? This might be investigated with particular reference to:
  • Regeneration and objective one monies.
  • The Bernard Road incinerator.

• Discrimination
  • How is immigration and issues around asylum seekers affecting different areas of Sheffield?
  • Why are the BNP making gains locally? How does this relate to national trends? How could we stop them?
  • What level of gender discrimination is there in Sheffield. Are areas of Sheffield safe for women? What is being done about Sheffield's record for domestic violence?

• Public Services
  • Public services are often vital for those sections of society that least have a voice in the decision-making process. How do users of public services in Sheffield feel about the way they are run?
  • What level of private participation in public services is there? How has that affected users and public employees? Where is public money going?

• Environment
  • What level of environmental awareness is there is Sheffield? How does this break down by area, class etc?
  • What exactly happens to waste and recycling in Sheffield? Obviously monitoring the progress of the incinerator will become part of this.
  • What happens to locally produced food? Could more of it be sold in Sheffield? Who eats what?

• Drugs
  • What is the scale of the drug problem in Sheffield? What are the experiences of those involved - users, care workers etc?
  • What services are available for drug users? Are they adequate and appropriate?

Process

The first stage of the research process, that we are already engaged with, is to approach relevant currently existing groups connected to the various issues we have already highlighted, in order to:

• Find out what the current state of local research is;
• Find out what gaps concerned groups would like to see filled/identify further issues for research;
• Develop links between concerned groups where these don't already exist; and
• Identify collaborators from a broad cross-section of the local population.

In addition, we are contacting university and college lecturers to find out what overlap there could be with students' assessed projects, and whether we may be able to tie in with that.

As this develops we hope to identify more clearly the aims for our research and exactly how we will go about it.

NB With such a broad range of issues some are obviously going to progress quicker than others. Anyone adding significantly to the content of any of the sections of this page may consider starting a new topic page for that section, so it is clear where work is being focussed at different times.

List of Sheffield Groups

The first link below is to a word doc containing a table of various Sheffield groups, not in any particular order. The purpose of this stage of the research is both to make contact with the group, but also to interview people in the outreach groups to find their opinions on the topics we are researching.

If you want to contact a group, download the file, fill in your details, then click on action and upload. There is a space for adding details about what stage the contact is at. If you don't want to do that then contact DanOlner, KevGillan, or JaSe with the details and we'll update for you. Main.JaSe - 25 Sep 2003

Contact Letter for Academic Departments

I've drafted a letter to be sent out to academic departments asking that they allow us to contact their students and get them to take part in our research. I think we need to be getting these out quite quickly and would appreciate any input. (Where possible I'll be taking these to academics in person, but the text is important as they may circulate it.) Main.KevGillan - 24 Sep 2003