Collaborative action research can be fertile ground for exploration, experimentation, reflection and learning. When it brings together higher education, practice and communities as research partners, it can produce new knowledge that informs teaching, practice and policy, as well as practical approaches, tools and resources for communities and practitioners. In our experience, it can also help build lasting relationships and have a profound impact on the people, organisations and communities involved.
About this Series
Research Rooms are informal online spaces for discussion with members of research teams from academia, practice and communities. Those attending can learn about research projects, the associated outputs and outcomes and the influence they have had on those involved. There is also space to share your own experiences of the project themes.
The Research Rooms series is a collaboration between The Glass-House and The Open University’s Design Group. Some of these events share learning, resources and anecdotes from the many research projects we have done together. In other sessions, we invite co-hosts to share findings from their own projects, creating space for them to reach new audiences and make new connections.
Research Rooms are open to anyone with an interest in the event topic. No specific experience or expertise is required. We believe that these conversations will only benefit from a wide mix of voices, interests and experiences.
The second series of Research Room kicks off with:
Research Room 8: Prototyping Utopias
29 September 2026, 4-5 pm, online
In this Research Room, we’ll be looking back on the project Prototyping Utopias, which brought together local organisations and communities in Bow, East London to explore the potential of a collaborative economy of visions and skills in creating Bow as a future utopia. Through the project, we explored a highly contested relationship: how a process of prototyping U-topias through participatory creative practices is linked with Eu-topias, the shaping of better places.
Research Room 9: Community Research Hubs
20 October 2026, 4-5 pm, online
In this Research Room, we’ll speak to the team who set up the ISRAAC Research and Innovation Hub. It enabled ISRAAC Somali Community Association to proactively play a leading role in research programmes taking place in Sheffield and beyond, and to play a vital role in contributing and connecting community knowledge and lived experience whilst working directly with relevant academia, professionals and practitioners.
Research Room 10: Diversifying Research Outputs
24 November 2026, 4-5 pm, online
In this session, we’ll look across the evolution of The Glass-House / Open University strategic partnership to explore how we have shaped our research, as well as the role that the various partners and communities engaged in the activities have played in informing, co-designing, co-producing and disseminating research outputs. We’ll look at the power of thinking beyond academic journal papers to consider how to make research findings more accessible, relevant and useful to people both within and outside academia.
How to Book
Visit our Events page or click on the links above to find out more about our upcoming Research Rooms and to register for your place.
These are free events, but places are limited to create space for meaningful discussion for all involved.
More Research Room events coming soon.