Strengthening a sense of community through collaboration

Abstract

A sense of community can be interpreted in diverse ways, dependent on various individual, group and organisational forces working for and/or against feelings of being part of a community. This chapter examines how senses of community were developed through an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) between the University of Northampton (UoN) and Northamptonshire Black History Association (NBHA) from 2008 to 2012. This chapter will give some examples of how collaborative research between a university and community-based non-academics can be fruitful for both parties, individuals unaffiliated to either group; as well as the larger regional community as a whole. Furthermore, this article discusses the added value of collaborative doctoral research to develop an understanding of how the triplicate of academia, community-based organisations and individuals unaffiliated with either partnership group, can simultaneously benefit from research collaboration both during and after the direct timeframe of the research