Collective Walking/Movement and Neighbourhood Exploration - Research Report and Toolkit

This document presents the research process and learnings from the project “Crossing the Frontier: Exploring the potential of the Collective Mobile Method” as a participatory research tool in Rotherham (January-August 2024). The project explored to what extent can collective movement and artistic expression serve to better understand and redress the negative effects of social frontiers.

The project was funded by the University of Sheffield Participatory Research Network via UKRI Research England (funding no 016019) and was co-delivered by researchers from the University of Sheffield and two voluntary sector organisations - Rotherham United Community Trust and Liberty Church in Rotherham, with support from two local artists Lora Krasteva and Uzma Rani associated with Rotherham Open Arts Renaissance. Participants were recruited with help of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC).

The project builds on a long-term collaboration between Sheffield academics, Rotherham community and local artists. We started research in Rotherham in a mixed-methods international project “Life at the Frontier (LATF): Researching the Impact of Social Frontiers on the Social Mobility and Integration of Migrants” (ESRC/Nordforsk, PI prof. Gwilym Pryce). This project followed by a knowledge exchange project “Blurring the Edges: Social Frontiers as Sites of Encounter” (HEIF) which generated a number of creative outputs, such as a performance, art, multi-sensory exhibition and a film.

There are two documents submitted in the collection. A summary publication and a copy of the Participant Information Sheet.

The publication consists of two parts:

1. A research report “On uniting local residents and stakeholders through collective movement and artistic expression” covers project methodology and learning. We explain the series of activities we undertook in the context of the research, culminating in a series of three mobile events involving neighbourhood exploration held in Rotherham West (UK). We overview step-by-step how we run the study, what we have learnt and what the challenges were. We end with a list of additional resources that you may find useful, such as a summary of discussions about Rotherham West priorities (Appendix 1). A copy of a consent form with a pre-walk questionnaire is in Appendix 2.
2. A toolkit on how “To Co-Produce Collective Walking/ Movement and Neighbourhood Exploration” where we outline the guiding principles for other researchers interested in applying a similar approach and a practical planner.

About the projects and funding

LATF project was funded by NordForsk and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), led by Prof. Gwilym Pryce. Research in Rotherham has also been supported by additional knowledge exchange and participatory research funding building on the LATF project: UKRI Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) funded ‘Blurring the edges: social frontiers as places of encounter' (2023, PI Piekut) and UKRI Research England funded 'Crossing the frontier: Exploring the potential of the Collective Mobile Method as a participatory research tool in Rotherham' (2024, PI Piekut, co-led with Staples).

Research in Rotherham received ethical approval from the University of Sheffield Ethics Committee (no 042378).

More information about the project is at the website: https://www.lifeatthefrontier.org/.