Centre for Institutional Studies (CIS)

Current Work

‘Social enterprise management, chief executives, and the double bottom line’

Jon Griffith

‘Inclusion of elderly people in the higher educational systems’

Gladius Kulothungan

This five country European project funded by the EU Grundtvig Life Long Learning Programme develops and delivers a course for retirees in voluntary mentoring of young people with special needs who are in risk of never completing upper secondary education (15-25 years old). Gladius will research and develop the course materials that will be delivered in five countries across Europe. The project starts in October 2009 and will run for two years.

‘Competence Building for Social Enterprise formation – Research and Development’

Gladius Kulothungan

This piece of research will be working with six social entrepreneurs from East London is conceived as a two stages, 'participatory research and development' and 'action research' project that:

a) develops a competency building training module by researching the efficacy of the B.A Social Enterprise course as well as mapping and analysing training provisions available in the country to develop capacity in social entrepreneurs , and

b) sees five aspiring social entrepreneurs through the formation of five social enterprises - to address different social problems - with a combination of competence building workshops and an action research programme.

c) in the process developing a template for a rigorous competency building programme for social enterprise formation that can be deployed in other parts of the country

‘From Intention Formation to Intentional Action – the Situational Logic of Social Enterprise formation’

Gladius Kulothungan

This piece of work is a journal article that is further development on a conference paper presented at the 2nd EMES International Conference on Social Enterprise, Trento, Italy, in July 2009 delineates findings based on two case studies of social enterprise formation - one in the UK and the other in Denmark - trying to answer the following questions:

• How and why Social Enterprises get formed?
• How and why ordinary, common people find ways of innovating solutions for social problems, and implement them through organisational contexts 'involving various types of stakeholders'?
• What is the stimulus and dynamic of Social Enterprise formation?

Deploying a Situational Analysis Framework of Karl Popper and using key concepts of Bourdieu - Field, Habitus and Capitals - the research attempts a sociological analysis of social entrepreneurship, as a form of social action, positing a theoretical model that explains social enterprise formation.

‘Social Learning for Practitioners: Case Study of the Communiversity for Social Entrepreneurs’

Gladius Kulothungan

This paper that will be presented at the World Universities Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2010 discusses the learning and teaching methodologies deployed in the B.A Social Enterprise Programme developed by the Centre for Institutional Studies that are unique and move beyond the Social Learning Theory model developed by Bandura (1997). Borrowing from Lave and Wenger's Situated Learning Theory (1991) this communiversity learning methodologies
build on Sotto's Learning Theory (2002) and focus on a new, emergent form of social learning for practitioners. Based on data generated from interviews with the learners and periodic evaluations done over the life of the course, the paper traces their learning process within this communiversity context, and tries to capture their cognitive and behavioural developmental arc in the span of time of their participating in the programme.

The new social learning model developed here focuses on socialisation, experiential learning and value reinforcement and the case study delineates the complex process of how these three elements work on this programme and what learning outcomes are achieved by this process.

'Creative industries and social inclusion: young people's pathways through informal and community learning in the performing arts'.

Alice Sampson, Marianne Lorentzen, Kate Oakley, Rhona McEune.

This AHRC funded research aims to explore how performing arts projects with young peopleaged 16-25 eyars can meet such expectations and find out what impact participation in such projects may have on the life-courses of young people. We are interested in what skills young people learn and how creative experiences affect the decisions they make about their future. The empirical study takes place with fourcommunity-based organisations which together operate in a broad range of contexts. The selected organisations will be situated in different locations, use different performance art forms, and a range of sources of finance. The organisations will however have the provision of inclusive and‘creative’ opportunities for young people in common. The fieldwork will be completed by the end of September 2009.

'Working with Fight for Peace Academy: assessing outcomes and impacts'

Alice Sampson

This project will continue until 2010 and involves working with staff and young people to assess the progress of this project which is located in East London and Maré favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Fight for Peace projectsaim to offer ‘real alternatives for children and youth to crime, drug trafficking and violence via social inclusion through sports, education, access to the formal work market, the promotion of a culture of peace and building youth leaders’

'Evaluation of the pilot Youth Crime Action detached youth provision'

Alice Sampson & Iain Lindsay

This research compares two types of youth work interventions which to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour amongst 13-19 year olds in the most disadvantaged areas of Barking and Dagenham. The impact of the work of each model will be assessed and the outcomes for each model compared.

'The health effects of planned mixed communities and regeneration: implications for Stratford City'.

Co-ordinated by Alice Sampson with a research team from the Centres for Geo-Information Studies, and Health Psychology and the Institute for Health and Human Development

The purpose of the research is to develop a set of working “principles” to enable Newham PCT to prevent and improve poor health in Stratford City and beyond.Principles for best practice will be built from a) a review of evidence drawn from international and national studies of health improvement through regeneration and urban planning, b) a review of studies on planned mixed communities and c) from primary research in selected new mixed communities to find out what lessons policy makers and practitioners, and their partners, have learned through their experience in designing health improvement into these communities and through designing and delivering health and other services for them. The principles will cover strategic, planning and operational domains including issues related to partnership working and community engagement.

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© 2010