NCCPE Action Research Team

The action research programme is an important area of work for the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE), where we hope to learn and share the experiences and reflections of a wide range of people involved with or having responsibility for work which influences university public engagement.

The programme is supported by Heather Squires and Prof. Danny Burns, with administrative help from the Centre. 

Facilitators

Danny Burns is co-Director of SOLAR (a research and development centre specializing in action research and participatory development), at the University of the West of England, Bristol. SOLAR’s work centres on the development of innovative action research approaches that can engage with complex social issues and work across large systems. Recent funders of action research projects include: Welsh Assembly Government; British Red Cross; Economic and Social Research Council; Joseph Rowntree Foundation, SNV Kenya and East Africa (Dutch Development Organisation), WWF, and Universidad del Medio Ambiente, Mexico. Between 1986 and 1992 he was a lecturer, then senior lecturer, in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol. He has previously been Director of the Decentralisation Research and Information Centre, as well as Director of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service for Scotland. Danny has published widely on community engagement and on participatory approaches to research. His latest book is Systemic Action Research: A strategy for Whole System Change. He is an academic advisor to the NCCPE and lead support to its national action research programme.

Heather Squires was the Research and Learning Manager at the NCCPE, where she was responsible for the research agenda and supporting the learning and evidencing of the value of public engagement for universities. She managed the centre’s national action research programme and was involved in supporting the lesson learning of the six Beacons for Public Engagement which, together with the NCCPE, make up the Beacons for Public Engagement project. Heather’s background is in research and managing complex multi-stakeholder projects and processes, in a variety of contexts including in international development, community development, natural resource management, and in higher and further education, in Britain, Canada and elsewhere. She has a particular interest in systems of knowledge creation, adaptive learning, and in the understanding and evaluation of participatory processes. Heather has recently left the NCCPE to study for a phD in Australia.  

Contact us:

NCCPE office:    0117 915 0192