Community Research Café: People and Place

Take part in the first of a series of Community Research Café’s which highlight community-based research at different stages of the journey, enabling opportunities for further connection and collaboration for mutual benefit.

Focused on the theme of People and Place, community and university-based researchers and partners will present and discuss research which explores: the use of local green spaces for health and wellbeing, fair food, creative approaches to community inclusion in new housing developments and green and safe spaces.

Contributors include:

Claudia Murg - We Make Southampton

When Claudia moved to Southampton after living and working as a TV journalist and documentary maker în London, the city seemed very quiet and modest. She wondered ‘Who lives here?!’ She expected to move elsewhere at the end of her 6-months BBC contract. But her son was born shortly after her contract ended, so she stayed. In 2016, she decided to look for ‘the pulse’ of Southampton! She set up We Make Southampton Community Media, procured a converted single decker bus to use as her mobile office, then went on to discover the people and places of Southampton. Come and meet her.

Tom Rushby - Future Towns Innovation Hub

Tom Rushby is a Senior Enterprise Fellow at the University of Southampton, and a lead at the Future Towns Innovation Hub. He is passionate about turning research into real-world impact and shaping innovation that matters to communities.Tom’s work spans strategic leadership and hands-on delivery, focusing on sustainable infrastructure, water quality, mobility, and thriving communities. With a background in engineering consultancy and socio-technical research in academia, Tom believes that collaboration is key to creating healthier, more resilient, and prosperous places.

Cara Black - University of Southampton FAIR

Cara is a first-year PhD student in the School of Geography and Environmental Sciences at the University of Southampton. She is passionate about empowering communities through participatory action research and creative research methods. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on youth voice within the food aid system, asking: How can young people shape food aid provision, and what are the individual, practice, and policy impacts of their involvement? Through this work, she brings young people with lived experience of food insecurity together with decision-makers and the third sector to ensure nutritious food is accessible in their local communities and to support their overall health and wellbeing.Prior to her PhD, Cara worked as a Senior Research Assistant at the University of Southampton on projects focused on adolescent and community health and wellbeing. She holds an MRes in Medicine from the University of Leeds and a BSc in Human Life Sciences from Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

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Host or Publisher University of Southampton Public Engagement with Research unit (PERu)