Un/Making CSC: A critical engagement with Communication for Social 'Changemaking'
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Loughborough University in London
Abstract
The aid and development funding landscape for communication and social change (CSC) is changing rapidly. CSC is a field of scholarship and practice within communication studies concerned with the role of media and communication in processes of social change and development. Historically, much of the practice of CSC has been funded as part of international development cooperation. However, funds from traditional bilateral donors are shrinking, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, philanthropic foundations, especially those linked with tech-sector corporations, are growing in funding scale and programmatic influence. This context is accelerating the uptake of social entrepreneurship inspired discourses and worldviews in CSC practice. This worldview mirrors contemporary capitalist cultures and draws on new business management mantras, emphasising optimism, creativity, boldness, leadership and autonomy as an approach to 'changemaking'. Under this worldview, dependency on donors is seen as the main problem to avoid, and traditional aid and development is framed as having failed. For CSC practitioners on the ground there is validity in this assessment. Practitioners have reported that they see significant benefits from social entrepreneurship approaches, in that it enables them to be more bottom-up, to operate in less precarious and dependent ways, to be more adaptive to local needs, and to determine their own priority actions and approaches.
However, this trend is in stark contrast with the momentum of current debates in academia, where of primary interest is in the role of communication in the resistance of global capitalism and in decolonization agendas. Social entrepreneurship discourses and the broader neoliberalisation of CSC are therefore seen as threats to, not enablers of, social justice.
Un/Making CSC engages directly with these tensions, investigating the implications of growing entrepreneurial discourses within communication for social change (CSC) from a practitioner perspective. Theoretically, Un/Making CSC will engage in interdisciplinary ways with social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. Empirically it will use participatory and visual methods with practitioners, communities and other key stakeholders to interrogate the implications in terms of shifting CSC concepts, funding strategies, stakeholder relationships, and alternative frameworks. The research will be undertaken in two distinct sites: youth and girls engagement in Malawi which has historically been reliant on international development funding; and feminist digital justice efforts India, where there are complex tensions being negotiated in terms of funding sources, especially philanthropic funding, and the political principles of the organisation.
The research aims to advance theory and practice on a justice-driven approach to communication for social 'changemaking'. The Fellowship enables the PI to firmly establish intellectual leadership and the shaping of new interdisciplinary research agendas engaging across communication and media studies, international development studies, and social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. The Fellowship is designed to develop skills and leadership capabilities in project management, methodological innovation, HE leadership, and public engagement and policy impact. This project partners with several well-established CSC organisations with experience of navigating these tensions, to co-develop insights, actionable frameworks and policy briefs for a social justice-driven approach to Communication for Social Changemaking. The Fellowship will positively impact the partner organisations within the life of the project, and lays the foundation for future policy-impact.
However, this trend is in stark contrast with the momentum of current debates in academia, where of primary interest is in the role of communication in the resistance of global capitalism and in decolonization agendas. Social entrepreneurship discourses and the broader neoliberalisation of CSC are therefore seen as threats to, not enablers of, social justice.
Un/Making CSC engages directly with these tensions, investigating the implications of growing entrepreneurial discourses within communication for social change (CSC) from a practitioner perspective. Theoretically, Un/Making CSC will engage in interdisciplinary ways with social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. Empirically it will use participatory and visual methods with practitioners, communities and other key stakeholders to interrogate the implications in terms of shifting CSC concepts, funding strategies, stakeholder relationships, and alternative frameworks. The research will be undertaken in two distinct sites: youth and girls engagement in Malawi which has historically been reliant on international development funding; and feminist digital justice efforts India, where there are complex tensions being negotiated in terms of funding sources, especially philanthropic funding, and the political principles of the organisation.
The research aims to advance theory and practice on a justice-driven approach to communication for social 'changemaking'. The Fellowship enables the PI to firmly establish intellectual leadership and the shaping of new interdisciplinary research agendas engaging across communication and media studies, international development studies, and social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. The Fellowship is designed to develop skills and leadership capabilities in project management, methodological innovation, HE leadership, and public engagement and policy impact. This project partners with several well-established CSC organisations with experience of navigating these tensions, to co-develop insights, actionable frameworks and policy briefs for a social justice-driven approach to Communication for Social Changemaking. The Fellowship will positively impact the partner organisations within the life of the project, and lays the foundation for future policy-impact.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jessica Noske-Turner (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Noske-Turner J
(2024)
Subversive Recipes for Communication for Development and Social Change in Times of Digital Capitalism
in Social Sciences
Noske-Turner, J.
(2024)
Finding a way: social enterprise as acts of care and protest
Noske-Turner, J.
(2024)
'Development' is like..?: Unmaking communication for development with metaphors
Noske-Turner, J.
(2023)
Exploring social justice-frameworks for Communication for Social 'Changemaking'
Noske-Turner, J.
(2024)
Briefing paper: Could mandatory CSR support communication for social change?
| Title | India workshop video |
| Description | This object is part of the Metaphors for Un/Making CSC Collection.Prakriye, India |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| URL | https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/media/India_workshop_video/26039656/1 |
| Title | India workshop video |
| Description | This object is part of the Metaphors for Un/Making CSC Collection.Prakriye, India |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| URL | https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/media/India_workshop_video/26039656 |
| Title | Making Metaphors Exhibition |
| Description | The creative objects, poems and performances that were generated as part of the Un/Making CSC research project have been have been transformed into an online exhibition that showcases the creative and critical examinations of our world, and aims to foster a hopeful reimagination of alternative futures. The items exhibited were created by people actively engaged in social change and development rooted in communication processes (theatre for development, community media, digital technology, community mobilisation, and more), either as practitioners in local NGOs (in Malawi and India) or as community citizens. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | The online exhibition makes the creative objects available to international audiences, and links to resources to support community researchers to replicate the method. |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/exhibition/ |
| Title | They Call it Africa |
| Description | They Call it Africa was peformed in the Little Theatre, May 15 2024 as part of the The Call it Sustainability conference. Written by: Joe Chimwenje and David Kerr, 1988 Director: Thokozani Kapiri Actors: Mercy Ching'amba, Success Masauli, Nyokase Madise, Hambani Magalasi Synopsis: They Call it Africa explores issues of power, class and colonialism in three historical periods (pre-colonial [which was in fact a veiled political commentary of the dictatorship years], colonial, and international development post-independence) through the eyes of time-travelling alien researchers. In reviving this dangerous play from the vault, we consider how, if at all, debates about power and international development have moved on. What would aliens report back to their leader if they came to observe Malawi today? What will they see if they come 35 years into the future? |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | The theatre performance was one of the most impactful and thought provoking elements of the May 2024 'They Call it Sustainability' conference, sparking cross-generational debate about the historic nature of the issues being addressed in the reseach project. The strength and relevance of this play for contemporary audiences is demonstrated by the significant media coverage it attracted, being covered on double-page spreads in two of the largest national daily newspapers in Malawi. |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/they-call-it-africa-performance-gains-national-media-attention/ |
| Title | They Call it Sustainability Conference Video (short) |
| Description | 'They Call it Sustainability: Financing, localization and other alternative futures for communication for development' was a conference held on May 15th 2024 at the University of Malawi. It brought together people who had directly participated in the Un/Making CSC research project to share what they had learned, and, through an open call for papers, engaged a wider group of scholars and NGO professionals in debates and reflections on the themes emerging from the research. The programme included an opening talk, three panels of presentations, a drama performance of the 1989 play They Call it Africa, an exhibition, and a closing traditional dance performance. The event aimed to engage in what Freire called 'political dreaming' - critically examining our world and fostering a hopeful reimagination of alternative futures.This video is part of the Un/Making CSC Project collection. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| URL | https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/media/They_Call_it_Sustainability_Conference_Video_short_/26... |
| Title | They Call it Sustainability Conference Video (short) |
| Description | 'They Call it Sustainability: Financing, localization and other alternative futures for communication for development' was a conference held on May 15th 2024 at the University of Malawi. It brought together people who had directly participated in the Un/Making CSC research project to share what they had learned, and, through an open call for papers, engaged a wider group of scholars and NGO professionals in debates and reflections on the themes emerging from the research. The programme included an opening talk, three panels of presentations, a drama performance of the 1989 play They Call it Africa, an exhibition, and a closing traditional dance performance. The event aimed to engage in what Freire called 'political dreaming' - critically examining our world and fostering a hopeful reimagination of alternative futures.This video is part of the Un/Making CSC Project collection. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| URL | https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/media/They_Call_it_Sustainability_Conference_Video_short_/26... |
| Description | The original aim of this study was to explore the implications of growing entrepreneurial and capitalist discourses within communication for social change, with particular attention to Global South practitioner perspectives. The project aimed to uncover the acts of adaptation and resistance by communication for social change practitioners to increasingly neoliberal funding conditions and capitalist-driven values and logics, and to imagine alternative futures. The project concluded in July 2024, following the successful completion of fieldwork in both sites (Malawi and India), engaging with the three partner NGOs associated with this project, and with a concluding conference in May 2024. The findings to date provide grounded insights into the complexities of experiences of local organisations. These rich, empirical insights complicate assumptions stemming from macro, sociological critiques of capitalism in some important ways. They indicate that moves towards modes of funding such as social enterprise and corporate philanthropy can be understood a resistance to neocolonialism and neoliberalism, even if they are perhaps simultaneously a symptom of it. The findings shed light on these tensions and the specific ways they manifest in communication for development and social change. It finds that communication for development is on the frontlines of these shifts firstly due to the increasingly central position of privatised digital media platforms for communication. The research project has engaged with practitioners to analyse the use of commodified social media platforms for social change, finding ways that maintain a community media ethos. Secondly, the research advances empirical understandings of the potential capture of communication for development for branding and marketing purposes, and the ways in which cause-related marketing seeks to use communication for development as a feeding trough of affective stories. Additionally, there are findings from the project relating to methodological innovation. The project has developed a series of novel conceptual and practical methods that use symbols, metaphors and allegories in combination with creative and arts-based methods for collective processes of making and unmaking. These creative methods, and the way they use fictions to enhance analysis of realities and alternative possibilities, are part of what enables this research to offer uniquely grounded insights to current academic debates. Furthermore, an open access resource has been published, and served as a guide for partner organisations to become active co-researchers by facilitating workshops in communities they work with, generating data that has contributed to the broader research. These findings are being synthesised and refined into a range of outputs, including a monograph (under contract), a series of journal articles, as well as being shared as physical exhibitions (Malawi May 2024; London October 2024) and via an online exhibition https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/exhibition/. |
| Exploitation Route | Academic impact: The findings will be valuable for the field of communication for development specifically, and, as an interdisciplinary study, the wider fields of communication studies and development studies. The study advances conceptual and practical understanding of the implications for development and social change in the face of the increasing privatisation of development funding, specifically through grounded, rich and creative data. This is becomming more and more relevant as the aid and development sector experiences significant turbulance to traditional funding structures. Furthermore, the methodological innovations developed in this project relating to the use of metaphors as part of creative and arts based approaches will be published in academic journals. Open access resources for community research have already been be made available. These methods will have relevance and value across the humanities and social sciences. Non-academic impact: The findings have been interest to a range of Malawian, Indian and UK based development and policy actors, particularly those at the forefront of emerging debates on localization of development. This includes several of the partners directly involved in the project. It also includes development professionals based in the UK have already shown interest in this research. In collaboration with Bond UK (a network of development professionals), 20 communications professionals attended a workshop, after which a blog post had 358 direct views, and 508 click throughs from a newsletter sent to 15,800 people. Discussions are ongoing with Bond UK about a follow up event. The findings will also be relevant to government departments, especially the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, and in October 2024 the PI gave a speech and exhibited some of the creative, art-based research objects at a Parliamentary Reception as part of the FCDO/ Comic Relief 'Shifting the Power' programme. Other stakeholders involved in policies and management of the NGO sector in Malawi have also shown particular interest in some of the findings relating to Corporate Sociol Responsibility and other localization policies. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Reflecting on practice and strategies: Practitioners in India and Malawi participating in the project have benefited directly from the participatory action research and creative methods. The workshops facilitated critical reflection and knowledge sharing on communication and social change practices, funding conditions, and strategies. Practitioners in partner organisations described the experiences as powerfully drawing their attention to elements of their own and others' practices and strategies in ways they had not considered before. Influence on practices, impact on communities/ citizens: NGO practitioners in one of the partner organisations in Malawi expressed in using some of the innovative, arts-based research methods with the communities they work with in order to deepen and enrich their engagement, noting that their usual data collection methods tend to rely on interviews and focus groups. In the analysis workshop, the NGO practitioners reflected that the process had raised awareness "that it is your right to question things, you have a right and a responsibility to monitor what's going on around you, in your village, in the name of development", with another facilitator adding that it sparked a mindset shift, that "unlike when they feel like they are just beneficiaries, that the projects are doing them a favour, just on the receiving end, that if it fails it is none of their business" (fieldnotes). South-South knowledge exchange: Partner organisations in both India and Malawi were curious about each other's perspectives on these shared but differently experienced challenges. Malawian participants were for example interested in the experience of corporate philanthropy funding in India, where companies earning over a certain threshold are mandated to give 2% of profits to philanthropy. A briefing paper summarising the findings to date has been published. This is being shared in networks, and further research is being undertaken. Engagement with policy and other actors: In 2024 I was invited to exhibit some creative research outputs and give a speech at a Parliamentary Reception on Shifting the Power, organized by Comic Relief, and attended by the Minister for Development, staff from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, as well as from charities and foundations interested in the UK government's localization policy. Engagement with general public in Malawi: The conference organised as part of this research in May 2024, hosted by the University of Malawi and including a theatre performance, was featured as a cover story with a double page spread in two of the major national newspapers in Malawi. The conference, and the associated debates about funding, power, and alternative futures is featured extensively in the articles. This has sparked further interest in the play itself and in the debates. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Title | Making Metaphors Community Workshop Guide |
| Description | This guide supports community co-researchers to facilitate Making Metaphors workshops. Making Metaphors is a technique that has been developed as part of a research project. It uses creative, arts-based methods to think about and express ideas and experiences in deep and rich ways. Participants are encouraged to think of a metaphor for an idea or experience, or of how things could be different in the future, and create it as a 3D model using local craft materials. Playing creatively with physical materials in combination with stories and metaphors helps with critical and creative thinking. Making Metaphors workshops are usually fun and enjoyable for participants, but they are also valuable for research: the metaphors become 'precise fictions'. They are a poetic and powerful way for participants' voices to be heard and understood by others. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This tool will be used by co-researchers in the partner NGOs in the final six months of the project. The results will be featured in an exhibition. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.25226756.v1 |
| Title | Making metaphors workshops |
| Description | The objects and other creative outputs in this online exhibition were created through a series of workshops that use of symbols, metaphors and other modes of poetic thinking and making. They were part of a broader research ethnographic action research approach that embraced visual, participatory and creative methods 1-4Story-based, visual and metaphorical methods have both affective power and analytical power. Building on the notion of 'metaphoric precision', Foster states that 'nothing is more precise than the artistic use of language' 4. Metaphors and allegories create entry points to non-Western ways of knowing, challenging the assumed binaries between real and unreal, and between realities and fictions, inherent in conventional, Eurocentric social science 6. They also recognise and recover Indigenous knowledge systems, which often weaves wisdom and analysis through proverbs, metaphors and stories. Metaphors and stories offer the possibility or an immersion into the worlds of others, and an insistence that we listen 4.Mapping, symbols, metaphors, poetic thinking, dance and theatre were used in workshops and in conferences to explore the research questions.This folder has individual objects that are part of the Metaphors for Un/Making CSC Collection. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Making_metaphors_workshops/26395885 |
| Title | Making metaphors workshops |
| Description | The objects and other creative outputs in this online exhibition were created through a series of workshops that use of symbols, metaphors and other modes of poetic thinking and making. They were part of a broader research ethnographic action research approach that embraced visual, participatory and creative methods 1-4Story-based, visual and metaphorical methods have both affective power and analytical power. Building on the notion of 'metaphoric precision', Foster states that 'nothing is more precise than the artistic use of language' 4. Metaphors and allegories create entry points to non-Western ways of knowing, challenging the assumed binaries between real and unreal, and between realities and fictions, inherent in conventional, Eurocentric social science 6. They also recognise and recover Indigenous knowledge systems, which often weaves wisdom and analysis through proverbs, metaphors and stories. Metaphors and stories offer the possibility or an immersion into the worlds of others, and an insistence that we listen 4.Mapping, symbols, metaphors, poetic thinking, dance and theatre were used in workshops and in conferences to explore the research questions.This folder has individual objects that are part of the Metaphors for Un/Making CSC Collection. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Making_metaphors_workshops/26395885/1 |
| Title | Metaphors for Un/Making CSC |
| Description | Metaphors are powerful tools for political imaginings. For Paulo Freire, dreaming is a political act, connected with hope, imagination and creativity, and a necessary antidote to resist neoliberal fatalism (Freire, 2007). Escobar (1995) highlighted the role of generating new narratives in making and unmaking development and the Third World, and later (Escobar, 2018) called for a kind of 'social dreaming' to imagine alternative futures. Used method for research inquiry, metaphors may enable us to access non-Western ways of knowing by refusing the Euro-centric scientific "dualism between the real and the unreal, between realities and fictions" and instead by working allegorically "we imagine coherence without consistency." (Law, 2004, p. 139). This data collection showcases the material metaphors created through a series of participatory and creative 'Making Metaphors' workshops with organisations in Malawi and India. Participants created models of metaphors using craft and everyday materials, including materials from local shops and markets. These were created in response to prompts such as 'our organisation is like ' 'communication for us is like', 'social enterprise for us is like', 'donors are like', 'development is like'. The affective, precise fictions for unmaking and remaking communication for development that were generated offer an "immersion into their worlds" and "a temptation to listen" (Foster, 2015, p. 52). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Selected objects from this dataset have been transformed into an online exhibition. There have also been two physical exhibitions: one in Malawi at a conference on May 15, 2024, and one in London at a Parliamentary Reception as part of the Comic Relief/ FCDO project, Shifting the Power. |
| Description | 'Changemaking' and other Neoliberal Narratives: Social justice alternatives for communicating social change' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 20 Communications professionals who are members of Bond UK's Communications Working Group attended the workshop. Bond UK is a network for professionals working in international development. It was a closed event, to ensure that professionals felt safe to reflect openly. The event sparked significant debate and reflection. Communications professionals in the session reflected on how at times there can be tensions between commitments to social justice, organisational imperatives and strategies, and requirements of donors. This can be particularly fraught in partnerships with corporate funders who seek to benefit from associations with NGOs as part of their marketing strategy, which can enable those same corporates to continue activities that further global inequalities. The power dynamics in these situations can make it difficult to push back on narrative and branding directions. It was clear in discussions that the manifestations of these trends are often quite ambiguous. For example, should we disregard 'economic empowerment' as an inherently problematic neoliberal concept, or can it be an important, informed response to situations where economic vulnerability is a key driver of health outcomes? The discussion also raised bigger questions - is it even possible for development communications to engage in discussions about anti-capitalism? Some of the participants work for organisations with more radical politics than others, leading to different positions and responses, but the notion of dismantling capitalist structures remains conceptually difficult for society. One conclusion from this workshop is that further exploration is clearly needed to identify alternative and actionable communications narratives and strategies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | 'They Call it Sustainability' conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Held on May 15, 2024, and hosted by the University of Malawi, the conference, 'They Call it Sustainability: Financing, localization and other alternative futures for communication for development' was a major project milestone. It brought together local NGOs, UN agencies, broadcasters, and other practitioners, alongside students and academics at the University of Malawi, for a day long debate on some of the core themes emerging from the research. The programme included 10 conference presentations in response to an open Call for Papers. It also embraced arts-based methods, including a launch of the Making Metaphors exhibition, a theatre performance, and a dance performance by the YONECO Cultural Troupe. Furthermore, the conference was an opportunity to share the key findings from the research with scholars and practitioners closest to the issues being discussed for feedback and community review, before they were published in other outlets and fora. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/They-Call-it-Sustainability-final-program... |
| Description | Articles in national media in Malawi |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The conference 2024, 'They Call it Sustainability' , and the theatre performance that was a core feature of the conference programme, 'They Call it Africa' (written by Joe Chimwenje and David Kerr, 1988, Directed by Thokozani Kapiri, peformed in the Little Theatre, University of Malawi on May 15 2024) was featured in two of the major national, daily newspapers in Malawi: the story featured as a cover story the Times newspaper; and as on the cover of the arts pull-out section of The Nation newspaper. Both stories engaged directly with the critical themes emerging from the conference, including around politics of development funding, power and control by donors, and the rising efforts to find alternative funding models. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/they-call-it-africa-performance-gains-national-media-attention/ |
| Description | Exhibition of arts-based outputs at a Parliamentary Reception |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A collection of the arts-based objects (material metaphors) created through the workshops in Malawi and India were exhibited on October 22, 2024 as part of a Parliamentary Reception hosted by Comic Relief, and attended by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) along with approximately 70 professional practitioners from NGOs, philanthropic foundations, and other development and social change organisations. The event's keynote was Rt Hon Anneliese Dodds MP, Minister for International Development, with speakers from Ghana, Malawi and Zambia, followed by an introduction to the exhibition by PI Noske-Turner. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | How does the new spirit of capitalism influence development communications? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The blog post was a co-authored piece with the Bond UK Communications Working Group Chairs, and was a follow up/ output of a workshop with the Communications Working Group. Bond UK is a professional network for organisations working in international development. The Communications Working Group judged the research topic to have relevance for parts of the wider Bond Network, and for this reason we were invited to publish the blog post, which was then also featured in the Bond UK newsletter. The Bond UK newsletter was sent to 15,75 email addresses. There were 508 click throughs to the blog post. There were a further 358 direct views on the website (this count is only of people who accepted cookies). There were 62 engagements on Twitter. There were 28 engagements on LinkedIn. There was an enquiry about further collaboration as an outcome of this engagement activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2023/07/how-does-the-new-spirit-of-capitalism-influence-development-com... |
| Description | Interview on YONECO FM: social enterprise and youth in Malawi |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The researcher was interviewed on a youth and employment radio show on YFM, a popular radio station in Malawi targeting women and youth with a national reach. The interview covered topics of: discourses of enterprises and pressures it can place on young people to lift themselves out of poverty; social enterprises and how they can be helpful in some cases, but may not always address the needs of the poorest and most marginalised; and more broadly about the research project. The 20 minute interview was broadcast on 4/09/2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.yonecofm.com/ |
| Description | Invited speaker: Culture, Communication and Media Studies Research Colloquium, UKZN |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I was an invited speaker at the CCMS Research Colloquium at the University of KwaZulu Natal in June 2024. The presentation was titled, 'Making and unmaking with metaphors: a reflection on creative methods'. I shared my work on developing innovative, arts-based research methods to an audience of approximately 25 people, more than half of whom were doctoral researchers based in South Africa and across the wider African continent. This has sparked ongoing networks, and I was later invited to as an External Panel member to review a UKZN PhD candidate's first year report. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Making and unmaking with metaphors: a reflection on creative methods in Un/Making CSC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The researchers was invited to give a talk as part of the IMCI Speaker Series of Loughborough University London. The IMCI Speaker Series are hybrid talks, and open to the public. Abstract: Creative methods are gaining attention in academic research. They are not only fun and joyful, but also can enable deeper exploration, expression and voice, insight and analysis. In this session, Jessica NoskeTurner will share some of the ways she applied creative and participatory methods in the Un/Making CSC Fellowship, with a focus on the multiple ways metaphorical and poetic thinking was used in workshops. She will reflect on what the creative methods offered the research, including how it created unique spaces for powerfully articulating complex and sensitive perspectives and experiences, and engaging in imaginative concept making and unmaking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.lborolondon.ac.uk/institutes/media-creative-industries/imci-speaker-series/making-and-un... |
| Description | Project Advisory Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Project Advisory Group brings together an interdisiplinary panel of internationally leading scholars. The meetings take place four times within the life of the project, and provide advice on progress, analysis and insights, strategic direction, and on publication drafts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/team/ |
| Description | Project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The project website provides a comprensive overview of the project, as well as news, blogs, links to publications and other updates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Unmaking to Remake: A conversation on the place of care in communication for social change research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This seminar celebrated the launch of the 'Un/Making Communication for Social Change: A Critical Engagement with Communication for Social Changemaking' research project. The seminar began with an introduction to the Un/Making CSC research project by PI Jessica Noske-Turner. Ass. Prof. Florencia Enghel, one of the research project's Advisory Group members and a current Marie Curie Fellow, reflected on the importance of care and reflexivity in field research. Prof. Jo Tacchi was the discussant. This event reached approximately 100 people (30 in the room, 72 views online) and raised the profile of the research amongst key stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46DHOtRbAV8 |