Events

NGPA Final Conference

Wednesday 14 January and Thursday 15 January 2009
One Great George Street, Westminster

Leaflet (pdf)
Provisional Programme
If you are interested in participating in the NGPA Conference, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Are there common interests? Exploring common and conflicting interests in public action between ‘North’ and ‘South’

4 November 2008
NGPA Research Programme: One Day Workshop
Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London
Convenors: Meri Koivusalo and Maureen Mackintosh
Contact details: m.m.mackintosh@open.ac.uk
Agenda (Word)

Using the life history method within research on non-governmental public action

The aim of this small one day workshop is to bring together researchers from within the NGPA programme, and some from outside, who have recently used or are planning to use this research method - to reflect on experiences and share lessons. The day will begin with a presentation by a life history research specialist from another field (to be confirmed). Speakers will include Udi Butler (Oxford), Tamsin Bradley (London Met), Malathi de Alwis, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka (NGPA Visiting Fellow), Silke Roth (Southampton), Tom Yarrow (Manchester).

Past Events

13:30 - 17.30, Friday, 28 November, 2008
The Auditorium
Cass Business School
The Auditorium
106 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8TZ

We are pleased to invite you to a discussion of new research about “Giving for Development” and its implications for future policy.

Charitable donations for overseas development are important – both as a signal of public concern, and as a financial contribution to the UK’s development effort. However, we know surprisingly little about how giving for development has changed over time, who gives and why, and how donations are influenced by government policy. ‘Giving for Development’ aims to shed light on these issues by reference to a range of new evidence drawn from data on charities’ fundraising over 25 years, surveys of individual giving, official data on legacy and estate values, and focus group discussions.

RSVP: Please reserve your place by using our online booking system at: www.cass.city.ac.uk/givingseminar Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so please reply promptly. There is no charge for this event.

Workshop focusing on learning and sharing knowledge of citizens' influence and engagement in Society in North, South, East and West

27 October to 28 October 2008
The Create Centre,University of the West of England, Faculty of the Built Environment – Cities Research Centre, Bristol, UK
Marilyn Taylor

Increasingly, policy-makers with an interest in citizen participation are turning to other countries to share experience and ideas, and researchers are working across national and regional borders in order to identify common themes and explore further potential for mutual learning. The Network on Civil Society and New Forms of Governance in Europe (CINEFOGO) aims to share knowledge and learning across Europe. As a part of this initiative, and building on its links with other networks in Europe and the South, the University of the West of England, Bristol is hosting a workshop to bring together researchers from three networks. The three networks are:

By bringing these networks together, this workshop aims to share experience on citizen participation, and to make the learning from this dialogue more widely available to policy makers, practitioners and researchers across Europe and in the South. We aim to publish papers presented at the workshop in either book or journal form.

http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/events/latest/?id=10266
NCVO/ NGPA seminar on changing governance structures and processes in the UK and abroad
Date: Thursday 9 October 2008
Time: 12:00 PM to 2:15 PM
Location: NCVO, London
Cost: Free

In various countries including in the UK, the shift from government to governance has led to the emergence of new decision-making arenas in which citizens and civil society organisations have been invited to participate. These new spaces offer new opportunities for those previously excluded from decision-making processes. They also present significant challenges.

This lunchtime seminar is the second of a series of seminars jointly organised by NCVO and the ESRC Non-governmental Public Action (NGPA) research programme at the Centre for Civil Society (LSE).

bringing together practitioners, academics and policy-makers and providing them with the opportunity to share insights and take part in a stimulating discussion.

This seminar will:

Book a place

The seminar is free of charge. Places are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. To book your place, please email ngpaseminars@ncvo-vol.org.uk .
For more information

Are there common interests? Exploring common and conflicting interests in public action between ‘North’ and ‘South’

NGPA Research Programme One Day Workshop
4 November 2008
Institute of Commonwealth Studies,
University of London
27-28 Russell Square
London WC1B 5DS
Convenors: Meri Koivusalo and Maureen Mackintosh
Contact details: m.m.mackintosh@open.ac.uk

Objectives

The objectives of this workshop are to explore:

This one day workshop contributes to NGPA programme activities by bringing together academics across some of the programme research around a common theme, and spreading the discussion and results beyond the programme. The workshop draws on several NGPA projects in the form of presentations, and we hope more through participation and comment, and aims to raise what we believe are some key issues about international NGPA politics. We welcome participation from the NGPA network. The focus of the programme and seminar is on the politics, aims and purpose of nongovernmental public action. We are also interested in common interests in substantive issues and the extent to which these can be addressed through joint action and activities. To what extent there is ground or scope for common interests between North and South and to what extent it is not an issue for nongovernmental public action?

The seminar’s purpose is also to learn and exchange views in the area with practitioners, activists and academics outside the NGPA programme. We aim to contribute to links with people who deal with the politics of nongovernmental public action or engage with efforts to create joint social movements across North and South.

Travel can be reimbursed, and overnight accommodation in London provided for those travelling from a distance, but the budget is limited. Please let us know if you would like to attend and you will be sent a registration form.

Photographs from Egypt’s strike wave
1 - 11 July 2008, Students’ Union, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, Russell Sq, London WC1

Opening event: 6.30pm 1 July Film showing: ‘On the streets’ by Nora Younis about the Property Tax Collectors’ strike Speakers: Hossam el-Hamalawy and Farah Kobaissy All welcome - free entry / RSVP to Dr Anne Alexander, Department of Politics, SOAS / aa107@soas.ac.uk

Since December 2006 workers’ strikes have swept Egypt, as textile workers, tax collectors, tobacco packers and many thousands of others have mobilised for bread and workers’ rights. Photographers Hossam el-Hamalawy, Nasser Nouri, Mostafa Bassiouny, and Farah Kobaissy document Egypt’s greatest wave of industrial protest since the 1940's.

NCVO/NGPA Joint Seminar: Collaboration without borders: what can UK voluntary organisations learn about collaboration from international NGOs?

In an era of globalisation in which the world is becoming increasingly connected and interdependent, many of the biggest and most complex challenges facing the UK, such as poverty and climate change, are also global.
In response to these global challenges and the changing nature of governance, civil society organisations in different parts of the world are increasingly working together, establishing formal transnational alliances or collaborating perhaps more informally through networks.
The implications for civil society organisations of engaging at local, national and global levels with a range of partners and stakeholders are significant.

The International Centre for Participation Studies at Bradford University’s Department of Peace Studies is holding this one-day seminar as part of the ESRC’s Non-Governmental Public Action Programme (NGPA).

Date: 15th May 2007, 9.30-5.30
Venue: International Centre for Participation Studies (ICPS) Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford

The seminar brings together a number of research projects which have been funded through the NGPA programme, to reflect on methodologies for researching non governmental public action. We have also included papers from other researchers not involved with the programme but interested in innovative methodologies for engaging research participants.
The aim of the day is to share ideas about – and think critically about – methodologies for researching with non-governmental actors and about non-governmental public action.
The seminar will explore, through presentations and discussion:

This event is by invite only, as there are only limited places.
If you would like to know more, please email Valeria Guarneros at vguarneros@hotmail.com

The Impact of Higher Education Institutions on Regional Economies research initiative
Wednesday 11 June 2008

Course tutors: Tony Coll (communications consultant, ex-BBC);
Martin Huckerby (editorial consultant, ex-Times, Observer);
Romesh Vaitilingam (writer and media consultant, CEP, ESRC, RES, ISER)

This workshop is for NGPA researchers, places are very limited so please contact Jane Schiemann at i.j.schiemann@lse.ac.uk as soon as possible to register an interest.

Researching Non Governmental Public Action: Methodologies And Principles
15 May 2008, 9.30-5.30
Venue: International Centre for Participation Studies (ICPS) Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford.
This workshop is for NGPA researchers, places are very limited. For more information, contact Prof. Jenny Pearce at j.v.pearce@bradford.ac.uk

Theory Workshop
7-8 May, 2008 at Goodenough College, London
This workshop is for NGPA researchers, places are very limited. For more information, contact Jane Schiemann at i.j.schiemann@lse.ac.uk

ESRC Non-Governmental Public Action Programme / LSE Centre for Civil Society (Department of Social Policy)
Outsiders Inside and Insiders Outside:linking transnational and domestic public action
Wednesday 7th May, Hong Kong Theatre, Clement Building, LSE at 6.30pm
Speakers: Prof Sidney Tarrow and Prof Jan Aart Scholte
Chair: Professor Jude Howell
This lecture explores the usefulness of the idea of global civil society. Can the concept of a global civil society provide an adequate framework for understanding contemporary domestic and international non-governmental public action? To what extent do global forces shape domestic non-governmental public action and vice versa? Can we speak of a global civil society when the systems of global governance remain fragmented, incoherent and incomplete? Does the idea of global civil society over emphasise the unity, harmony and coherence of the participant actors? What might be an alternative approach to analysing the complex interactions of global and domestic non-governmental public actors? These are some of the puzzles that Professors Tarrow and Professor Scholte will unravel in their discussion.
Sidney Tarrow is a Professor of Government and Sociology at Cornell University where he has directed the Program for the Study of Contentious Politics since 2003. Jan Aart Scholte is Professor in Politics and International Studies (PAIS) and Director of the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR) at the University of Warwick. He is also a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics

Centre for Civil Society (Department of Social Policy) and DESTIN Public Lecture Summer 2008
Why Civilizations Can’t Climb Hills: A Political History of Statelessness in Southeast Asia
Thursday 22nd May, New Theatre, East Building, LSE at 6.30 pm
Speaker: Professor James Scott
Chair: Professor Jude Howell
Professor Scott argues that the hill peoples of mainland Southeast Asia are fugitive, runaway populations, practising ‘escape agriculture’, ‘escape social structure’ and ‘escape culture’.
The hill peoples (sometimes erroneously called hill tribes) of the massif of mainland Southeast Asia are often understood by state-makers and populations in the valleys to be "our living ancestors", "what we were like before we discovered irrigated rice, Buddhism, and civilization." It is his contention, on the contrary, that we best understand such hill populations throughout the entire massif from Central Vietnam all the way to Northeast India as a fugitive, runaway population. Providing we take a long view (e.g. 2,000 years) these populations have been moving uphill and away from state-making projects in the valleys. There in the hills they have deliberately practiced forms of "escape agriculture", "escape social structure," and "escape culture" designed to avoid being made into state subjects while, at the same time, enjoying the advantages of trade with the valleys.
James Scott is a Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology at Yale University

European Development Aid and NGOs: Changing Notions of Civil Society in "North" and "South"
12 -14 March 2008
at Goodenough College, London WC1
More details

Exploring Religious Spaces in the African State: Development and Politics from Below
Conference organised by the Centre of African Studies, the University of Edinburgh and WISER, The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research
9 – 10 April 2008, Edinburgh
Conference organisers:

Here, the People Decide? New forms of participation in the city
Jenny Pearce and Marilyn Taylor are both researchers on the Non-Governmental Public Action Programme. The findings of their projects will be presented at a conference at Bradford University in January, 2008.

"For two years we have been researching with activists and practitioners how they are able to use new spaces for involvement in local decision-making: in Manchester, Bradford and Salford in the UK, Porto Alegre in Brazil, Medellin in Colombia and Caracas in Venezuela. Now we are holding a one-day conference to discuss our findings."

И дольше века длится день: “The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years”*
A Photographic Portrayal of People’s Lives in Kyrgyzstan by Babken V. Babajanian
This exhibit is on display at LSE from 3 December 2007 to 11 January 2008. The set of compelling photographs gives insight into the lives of ordinary men, women and children living in rural Kyrgyzstan today. The break-up of the Soviet Union has brought an end to the authoritarian Communist regime in Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, the collapse of the socialist economy resulted in the decline in income and living standards of the population. All of a sudden, thousands of people lost not only their jobs, income and savings, but also social status and their place in social networks. People’s everyday lives and their futures have become uncertain and insecure. The exhibition portrays images of people who struggle with poverty and yet manage to maintain their dignity, human warmth and sense of familial and communal belonging.

The images of people are accompanied with captions that provide information on various aspects of social and economic life in rural communities. The photographs are a product of the research that Dr Babajanian conducted in Kyrgyzstan in 2007. The research examines patterns of local governance and welfare provision in rural communities in Kyrgyzstan. Both the research and the exhibition are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council under the ESRC Non-Governmental Public Action Programme (NGPA). The official launch of the exhibition was held on 12 December 2007, and it was attended by academics, students, development practitioners as well as by the Kyrgyz Ambassador to the UK. Melody Mohebi, a PhD student at the LSE Centre for Civil Society, who attended the exhibition, said, ‘Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! The thirteen pictures and the captions told the story of the country better than any article or book! I feel like I gained so much. Loved how some were natural shots where a moment was captured (i.e. Three Generations) and the more posed photographs (i.e. No Time to Rest - magnificent colours and so much expression)’. The exhibition has provoked strong interest not only among the public in the UK, but also internationally. The Radio Free Europe's Kyrgyz Service is currently preparing a radio programme about it, which will be broadcast to the public in Kyrgyzstan in December 2007.

The exhibition seeks to promote greater awareness of Kyrgyzstan in the United Kingdom. There is little familiarity with Central Asia in the West. The image of Borat has dominated mass culture in the recent years and many people struggle to differentiate between the Central Asian countries, often referring to them as ‘stans’. The photographs are a product of the research that Babken conducted in Kyrgyzstan in 2007. The research project examines patterns of local governance and welfare provision in rural communities in Kyrgyzstan.
Dr Babken V Babajanian is a research associate at the Department of Social Policy at LSE.

The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years will be on display in the Atrium, Student Services Centre, Old Building, LSE from Monday 3 December 2007 to Friday 11 January 2008. A reception will be held on Wednesday 12 December from 7-9pm.

For more information please contact: Richard Hylton, arts co-ordinator at LSE, 020 7852 3793.

*The exhibition title has been taken from a novel by Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov, originally published in Russian in 1980 .

NGPA Workshop on Labour Issues
Monday 10 December, Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
For further information contact i.j.schiemann@lse.ac.uk

with Professor Sayta Mohanty (Cornell University, USA). The lecture will be held at Regents College on the 28th November, 2007. Spaces are limited, to book a place please contact Kerry Carter: esrc-identities@open.ac.uk or telephone 01908 659667

'Getting Research into Policy/Practice' workshop
3 - 4 October 2007, Hotel Russell, Russell Square, London
The ESRC is organising a two day Introductory 'Getting Research into Policy/Practice' workshop. This workshop is aimed at ESRC funded new-mid career researchers undertaking research of potential relevance to policy and practice.
The Purpose of the Workshop is to;
- Increase understanding of how research can be applied to inform policy and practice;
- Explore alternative research/practice relationships;
- Identify skills, tools and techniques for maximising the impact of research;
- Develop a framework for participants to create a knowledge transfer strategy.
The workshop will be held in London at the Hotel Russell, Russell Square on the 3rd and 4th October 2007. There is no attendance fee and the ESRC will cover accommodation expenses on the 3rd October if required. Delegates will however be expected to cover travel expenses.
Due to the number of recent cancellations, all delegates must ensure their attendance has been approved by the Head of their department.
The closing date for applications is the 7th September 2007. Application forms can be obtained from the following email address: knowledgetransfer@esrc.ac.uk.
In order to encourage interaction, attendance will be limited to 20 places. Places will be awarded on the merit of the application completed.
If you have any queries please feel free to contact the Knowledge Transfer Team at knowledgetransfer@esrc.ac.uk

NCVO/VSSN Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference
5-6 September at the University of Warwick
Phil Hope MP, Minister for the Third Sector, will speak at the Campbell Adamson memorial prize giving dinner on the 5th of September.
With thought-provoking plenary lectures and a wide-ranging set of parallel sessions, this annual event gives researchers and third sector practitioners the opportunity to share ideas and research findings and help keep research relevant.
The special session will consist of the following:

The Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London plans to hold an International Workshop in London on 11-12 September 2007 to disseminate the results of their ESRC -NGPA Programme research project on how non-governmental public actors involved in North-South networks influence policy processes and their outcomes (see Strand C projects)

The Workshop will include both researchers, academic experts, policy and governmental practitioners and stakeholders from the NGPAs, and it will be discussing both the general findings and the policy implications of the research. The research covers a wide range of cases both international and from Africa, South and South East Asia and will also incorporate the work of an ESRC Practitioner Fellow from OXFAM Australia. Any person interested in attending this event (which has limited numbers) should contact Amy Slonje (ESRC Project Officer) (amy.slonje@sas.ac.uk) at the ICwS with a copy to Professor Richard Crook (richard.crook@sas.ac.uk) as soon as possible.

Tel: + 44 (0)207 862 8870
E: amy.slonje@sas.ac.uk
W: Institute of Commonwealth Studies

The Centre for Civil Society will be organizing an international workshop on ‘Aid, security and civil society in the post-911 context’, to be held from June 28-29th, 2007 at Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square in central London. More details (Word)

Workshop on ‘Global Processes and Non Governmental Public Action’
Budapest, 16-20 July 2007.
Please encourage your doctoral and recently completed doctoral students to apply for this workshop in Budapest, July 2007.
Applications are called from post-doctoral and doctoral candidates for a workshop funded by the ESRC on non-governmental public action (NGPA). The workshop addresses the impact and influence of advocacy networks, campaigns and coalitions, think tanks, universities and research institutes, trades unions, peace groups, social forums, rights-based bodies, social movements and corporate citizenship groups.
The specific concern is the way in which these bodies are engaged in global and regional affairs through transnational action, the policy implications and regulatory consequences of their actions, their development impact and how they seek influence through persuasion (research, analysis, advocacy) and through activism (lobbying, protest and rebellion).
Travel and accommodation will be supported for some successful applicants.
Further information at: http://www.sun.ceu.hu/3Courses/courses.php

NGPA SUN Summer School
Central European University, July 16-20, 2007
This NGPA-project sponsored Summer School for doctoral students and recently completed post doctoral researchers is a unique opportunity to assess the impact of non-governmental public action in social and political transformation as well as economic development from an international comparative and multi-disciplinary perspective. Applications are now open.
Further details can be found at: http://www.sun.ceu.hu/index.php
Application requirements (Word)

Civicus World Assembly
Glasgow SECC, 23 to 27 May 2007
The CIVICUS World Assembly is a forum for international civil society representatives to get together, exchange ideas, experiences and build strategies for a just world.
Be there to share the platform with high-profile speakers and grassroots activists from all over the world.
http://www.civicusassembly.org/

Book launch
14 May, 13:00 – 14:30
Seminar Room, The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, Aldgate East Tube
Challenging the NGOs: Women, Religion and Western Dialogues in India. London, NY: IB Tauris (2006)
Author: Dr Tamsin Bradley, ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Development Agencies are recognising the importance of anthropology in the critical evaluation of grass roots NGOs and development practice in general. Here anthropology, development and religion are uniquely combined in a manner that has practical significance for how NGOs carry out their work. The work examines the interfaces between religion, gender, anthropology and social development and focuses on the operation of grass roots Non-Governmental Organisations. The research centres on ethnographic case studies documenting the experiences of three Rajasthani village women. This book constructs an approach to development practice incorporating ethnographic techniques that are designed to encourage development workers to listen to the needs of those they seek to help.
All Welcome - Lunch Provided

V CEISAL Congress of Latin Americanists
Panel 'The Political, Social and Economic Impact of Non-Governmental Public Action in Latin America'
Brussels on April 11-14 2007.
Deadline for submission of abstract November 30 2006
Please send submissions to Dr Ana C Dinerstein (Panel Convenor) email: A.C.Dinerstein@bath.ac.uk
For more information see the letter of invitation.

Social Movements Conference
From 1995 to 2006, Manchester Metropolitan University hosted a series of very successful annual international conferences on 'ALTERNATIVE FUTURES and POPULAR PROTEST'.
We're very happy to announce that the Twelfth AF&PP Conference will be held, between Monday 2nd April and Wednesday 4th April 2007.
The Conference rubric remains as in previous years. The aim is to explore the dynamics of popular movements, along with the ideas which animate their activists and supporters and which contribute to shaping their fate.
Reflecting the inherent cross-disciplinary nature of the issues, previous participants (from over 40 countries) have come from such specialisms as sociology, politics, cultural studies, social psychology, economics, history and geography. The Manchester conferences have also been notable for discovering a fruitful and friendly meeting ground between activism and academia.

NGPA Launch Event
RSA, 21st March, 2007
Contact Jane Schiemann at i.j.schiemann@lse.ac.uk for more information.

NGPA Annual Workshop
Goodenough College, 21st and 22nd March, 2007
Contact Jane Schiemann at i.j.schiemann@lse.ac.uk for more information.

World Social Forum
Nairobi, Kenya, 20 to 27 January 2007
The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action. Since the first world encounter in 2001, it has taken the form of a permanent world process seeking and building alternatives to neo-liberal policies. This definition is in its Charter of Principles, the WSF’s guiding document.
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/index.php?cd_language=2

NGPA Induction Workshop, November 2006
The Non-Governmental Public Action (NGPA) Programme held an induction workshop and a research and ethics workshop at Goodenough College on the 2nd and 3rd of November. In July 2006 the programme commissioned the final round of grantees, who are addressing the specific themes of accountability and legitimacy in NGPA, the security dimensions of NGPA, and religion and NGPA. The new grantees attended a tailored induction workshop to present their research proposals. These covered a diversity of subjects such as AIDS activism in Tanzania, Maoist insurgency in Nepal and faith-based public action in Sri Lanka. The variety and quality of presentations highlights the importance of non-governmental public action, and the diverse range of people and groups the NGPA programme will be interacting with.
The practical aspects of research, disseminating your results and including users were also covered effectively by Ceridwen Roberts. Ceridwen, a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at Oxford University, gave the group a number of innovative and exciting ideas for making users a part of the research process and ensuring effective publication and use of the results.
The next day all NGPA grantees gathered to discuss conceptual and ethical issues relating to NGPA. The workshop kicked off with a presentation by Jude Howell, Director of the programme, on the concept of NGPA, highlighting the possibilities for research that this concept opened up. David Mosse, reader at SOAS, gave an intriguing account of some of the ethical issues in international comparative research. Chris Miller, UWE, continued this thread with critical reflection on some of the ethical dilemmas he has encountered in research in the UK, Nicaragua and Bulgaria. Debate was lively throughout the day and ended late on Friday afternoon in an enthusiastic discussion of publications and upcoming events.
This workshop will be followed up by an NGPA launch event next March.

Civicus World Assembly, June 2006 in Glasgow
Researchers from the Non-Governmental Public Action Programme will be giving a workshop on Thursday 22nd June entitled Negotiating Change and Striving for Justice: the Role of Non-Public Actors
This workshop aims to explore the different ways non-governmental public actors organise to advance issues of justice in both international and national arenas. It considers the strategies and tactics non-governmental public actors use to achieve their goals and analyses the complex interactions amongst both diverse non-governmental actors and national and international institutions.
Presenters and abstracts:

The workshop papers or presentations are available as password protected documents.
Workshop Moderator: Professor Jude Howell

Workshop March 2005
A two day workshop for NGPA award-holders was held at Goodenough College, London, on 14th-15 March to give small project award-holders the opportunity to present and discuss their initial observations and findings and for the NGPA Director to discuss future activities for the programme with members of the project research teams.

Large Projects Workshop
An introductory workshop for large grant award-holders and the small project award-holders who could not come to the small grants workshop in March will be held at LSE on Tuesday 27 September. The morning session will be for project presentations and the afternoon session will include presentations by the ESRC. These will be followed by a general discussion about the programme and its future activities, in particular the visiting fellowships scheme.

Small Projects Workshop
A workshop for all the principal award-holders for small projects was held at LSE on Tuesday 8 March 2005 where the principal applicants presented their projects. The programme also included sessions on ESRC Advice to Awardholders, and Bringing Users In and Developing Partnerships. Ceridwen Roberts' powerpoint presentation on Bringing Users In and Developing Partnerships is now available.

Application workshops
Professor Howell, Programme Director, and Shabnam Khan and Lyndy Griffin, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Non-Governmental Public Action (NGPA) case officers, held application workshops in Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and Bradford. The workshops were designed to inform potential applicants of the programme, to discuss potential ideas for research, and to provide information on how to make a good application. The overhead presentations (OHPs) presented at the workshop are available:

A list of those who registered and their research interests were circulated to all participants and will be available from the programme administrator.
Notes were taken of the questions asked, and a general document has been prepared for the benefit of those who did not attend (see Frequently asked questions (FAQs)).