New practices for new publics: interdisciplinary dialogues about practice theory approaches and civil society. Seminar series.

This seminar series proposes that 'practice theory', an innovative social science approach which studies 'what we do' in situ and in the everyday, offers a basis and a language for conducting conversations about civil society. It will focus on how civil society is enacted in contexts where care, peer support and learning are recognised as important. Although these are arguably ubiquitous areas of 'lived experience', health and education are treated as separate institutionally and through academic conventions of subjects and disciplines. Civil society organisations [CSOs] are not bound to these conventions, operating in spaces connected to, but also 'outside' or 'other than', public institutions. These afford them new and different capabilities for bringing continuity and recognition to citizens' lived experiences. The seminars aim to articulate, with/through the expertise of CSOs, 'new publics': those collectives that emerge when care, peer support and learning are understood from the point of view of CSOs instead of public institutions.

Practice theory challenges conventional individualistic or over-rationalistic explanations, exploring how what people and organisations do is shaped by routines and tools as well as by conscious choices. As a result it has been seen as relevant for trying to change ordinary practices, particularly (to date) in relation to climate change and, increasingly, public health. It also offers a way for organisations to think about their own work at a time when the boundaries of CSOs and statutory public services are being renegotiated.

The seminar series will specifically aim to articulate the 'practices' that CSOs support communities and citizens to enact. These could be (eg) practices that: enable volunteers to support parents of children with additional needs; involve rights-based advocacy and campaigning; support individual wellbeing via a telephone helpline and 1-to-1 service. The seminars aim to work with local user communities to understand how 'knowing' is produced in practice across within and across organisational contexts, evaluate strength- or asset-based approaches like resilience, social capital, capabilities or capacity-building in health, youth work and social care, parental engagement practices in education, the place for community in the design and development of new technologies and data practices.

The series is specifically rooted in local contexts. The University of Brighton has links with CSOs through its Community University Partnership Programme [CUPP], often noted as a model of excellent practice. All applicant HEIs research with and for CSOs and connect them with students for placements. However, involving them in other aspects of academic life, including theoretical reflection and development, is often more fraught or under-developed, as is making connections across different fields. This seminar series would build on these links, but extend partnerships to discuss the value of theories of practice for CSOs, inviting CSOs to think beyond their own domains, and to consider what/if they might learn from connecting with other CSOs and HEIs. It is open-ended and even tentative about what might emerge here.

To enable genuine engagement by CSOs, we will offer small bursaries and innovate the structure of the series. We begin with a two-day face to face event bringing all participants (approx 40) together, co-delivered by CSO collaborators. Subsequent one-day seminars allow for virtual participation using webinar technologies. Each seminar will identify key ideas to be explored, exemplars, and relevant methods to promote. The series culminates in an intensive writing workshop (a 'book sprint') where a small, diverse group will collectively generate an e-book that explains the relevance of practice theory approaches to questions of civil society and its organisation, so that the learning from the series can be quickly disseminated, developed and contested.

The series organisers will work with members of local user communities to develop examples of practice that will be examined recursively through the seminars so that they can be understood and developed in new ways in the light of contribution from speakers and discussions in workshops. We would build on our links with sites of innovative participatory youth work practice such as the Hangleton and Knoll Youth Project or Brighton and Hove Youth Service. In education we would consider parental engagement and new assessment practices, building on the PI's longstanding work with Dame Alison Peacock, head of the Wroxham School / Transformative Learning Alliance and other local primary schools (eg Balfour). We attach letters expressing interest in and support for the series from these.

Practice theory provides a vehicle for understanding how innovative practices are produced and possibilities for action conceived. In exploring innovative practice in the fields we have identified we will necessarily explore the role of governance and produce reflections on the role of commissioning, audit and performance management. These aspects of governance along with questions of how to maintain a space for independent action are central concerns for civil society organisations. We will aim to influence this space through building on our engagement with local infrastructure organisations Community Works and the Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP), and through involving local commissioners responsible for community engagement in our series. We will draw on these contacts to ensure that non-academic beneficiaries are well represented at the seminars. We attach letters from Community Works and CUPP.

We identify a wide range of potential impacts from the seminar series:

Policy-makers, particularly in local but also national government and commissioners in health, social and youth services will benefit from the seminars taking specific 'real-world' issues as a focus. The seminars aim to develop improved processes and workplace practices by exploring how they might be understood and scaled-up in more appealing, inclusive and effective ways. Dame Alison Peacock has a wide range of networks, including good links within the Department for Education, to supplement our own.

Professional practitioners may be interested in new angles on the work they do and how to analyse its particular elements, as this can help in reformulating service provision. For instance, it can help practitioners to feel more confident and resourceful in deliberately intervening to initiate change or reformulating in collaboration and partnership with local communities. By encouraging new interactions between social science and practitioner perspectives we aim to change practices in specific fields.

By collectively developing an e-book explicating practice theory approaches in different professional domains, we hope to enhance professional practice and disseminate widely and with impact, and stimulate practitioner debate in new ways.

All applicant HEIs research with and for CSOs and connect them with students for placements. This seminar series would build on these links, but extend the partnership to involve discussions about the value of theories of practice for CSO and what/if they might learn from connecting with other CSOs and HEIs. In these respects it is tentative and experimental.

We will also create summaries of the seminars in accessible formats; contribute articles to journals read by policy-makers, such as Children & Society, Social Policy and Society, and The Conversation; use the public relations department at the University of Brighton to disseminate key findings of interest to the press, with links to the webpage developed for the seminars and blogging facilities.