Empowering Community-Led Research in the Isles of Scilly

The University of Exeter is proud to be a founding partner of the Isles of Scilly Community Research Network (IOSCRN). This initiative is one of nine new research networks funded by UKRI and supported by the Young Foundation. The project is a key component of UKRI’s ambition to widen public engagement and foster demand-led research and innovation, providing funding for communities to develop their networks and set their own research agendas, processes, and impacts.

Over the past two years, academic staff have supported the development of the IOSCRN, connecting it with ongoing fieldtrip teaching, current and planned research, and delivering on the University’s Civic University Agreement for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The network will run for the next five years, with further academic engagement anticipated to support ongoing research—always at the invitation of the community and through the CRN’s collaborative processes.

The University’s contribution is led by Profs Jane Wills (DEES) and Allen Alexander (Business School). A Research Broker role, funded by the project, will manage relationships between the University and the CRN. Misty Reid (Exeter Innovation) will undertake this role.

On the islands, the CRN will recruit community advocates to support residents and local organisations in identifying and developing research topics. These advocates will receive bespoke training from the Institute of Cornish Studies, and a full-time CRN manager will also be appointed. The network aims to ensure researchers working in Scilly (past and present) share results with the community and store them in local archives managed by the museum. If projects garner academic input and have broader relevance, the ambition is to develop larger, more traditional research funding applications.

Additionally, the University has secured match-funding for a PhD studentship to evaluate the project and contribute to academic and policy debates on community-led, place-based research and innovation. This will be advertised in the new year and supervised by Allen Alexander (Business School) and Alasdair Jones (Geography).

Get Involved

• If you’re an academic staff member with current work focused on Scilly or an interest in the CRN, please contact Misty Reid at M.Reid2@exeter.ac.uk or complete this form.
• Sign up for the IOSCRN newsletter via their website: https://www.scillyresearch.org/.
• For more information about training offered by the Institute of Cornish Studies, click here.