Archives: Projects

Let us help you work out your options and scope a way ahead. Sometimes talking it through, or realising some unknown information will help you see what to do next. We’ll get quite creative and imaginative but we’ll keep things grounded, so we can ensure your dreams can be practically applied.

As part of the VCSE Observatory and Dryden Enterprise Centre at Nottingham Trent University, we are familiar with working in a collaborative space with all sorts of amazing people.

We love collaborating and working with others who care about similar stuff, whether that’s on a big funding proposal or a research bid, or in a network. We stay alive to new ideas, technology and collaborations.

We will work collaboratively with you on your strategy development, integrating research insights and stakeholder feedback over time to set out an achievable, yet ambitious, strategic direction.

This might involve bringing stakeholders together – like your service users or members, staff, Trustees, volunteers, commissioners or funders – through a creative, future-focused process.

We have worked with learning disability charity Aspire CBS to co-create a 5-year strategy, and as part of the team who developed the Vision for Volunteering.

We can develop materials which you and others in your organisation or network can use with the people they want to influence. We are also here to turn your inspiration and your content into strong messages, a campaign or a practical vision.

We have worked with NAVCA to develop resources for their members on social prescribing, and with Amma to sharpen their Birth Outcomes and Experiences Report.

Often, capacity is short and this can get especially stretched when it comes to finding time to develop thinking, policies and positions. We can do the research and get to know your organisation to create the policy lines and positions you need, for you apply.

We’re working with the Scottish Wildlife Trust to help developing thinking on how Scotland’s agriculture payment schemes could work harder for nature. Here’s the first briefing and accompanying blog on the basic level scheme.

On occasion we’ve been invited to join an organisation for a period to allow us to absorb the vision and culture, and where you would like this to go, including with Locality and NAVCA.

Let us help you to get where you want to be! We also offer lighter-touch research on a topic or element of policy you want to influence and develop a briefing or thought piece, an accompanying blog and some social content. Oh, and we might have a roundtable or other discussion group with clever and influential people. Examples include our work with WWF-Scotland to help appraise options for developing their Restoration Forth project.

Because sometimes you need someone to gather and review what’s already out there. We can help pull it together into an analytical report or a literature review. Processing complex information and creating clear, concise reports are our superpowers!

Here’s some of our work for the Nature Friendly Farming Network on Farming for Climate Action and for Scottish Environment LINK on the Farm for Scotland’s Future Campaign.

We do love a good Theory of Change (that includes making it look good) and a logic model, to clarify the relationship between inputs, activities (what goes into a project) and outputs, outcomes, impact (what comes out). We use mostly qualitative methods to assess processes, connections, relationships, assumptions, and realistic change.

We developed a Theory of Change for the independent evaluation of Common Purpose’s Nature Recovery Leadership Programme.

We are part a major evaluation project including SRUC, Ipsos and UHI evaluating Scottish Rural Action, Scottish Rural Network and Community-Led Local Development for the Scottish Government.

This can have lots of elements – such as a literature review, stakeholder interviews, case study research in communities, a workshop and feedback to co-create next steps, with a chunky report with digestible outputs like a blog and social posts alongside. We love these kinds of projects, as we’ll get to journey together for a good amount of time.

We’re working in this way with the Coronation Gardens initiative and partners to develop insight on community food growing.

Here’s a report we did for Scottish Wildlife Trust on Nature-based Solutions in Scottish Agriculture.

We developed a research report with the help of an expert roundtable critiquing the Agricultural Land Classification system for CPRE. This forms part of our ongoing programme of work on land use decision-making tools with CPRE. Ellie was interviewed about the research on Radio 4’s Farming Today.