Research projects

Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Poverty Alliance in collaboration with researchers from the University of Glasgow, are conducting research which aims to build a place-based understanding of the Universal Credit full service roll-out in Glasgow.

This project explores the lived experience of a range of Universal Credit full service claimants over time, the lived experiences of Jobcentre Plus work coaches in delivering Universal Credit and seeks to stimulate creative and innovative ideas to improve how Universal Credit works in practice, with and beyond Glasgow. A report of the findings of this project will be published in September 2019.

As part of the work of the independent Edinburgh Poverty Commission, the Poverty Alliance are conducting city-wide research to provide an in-depth insight into the lived experience of poverty for key communities of interest in Edinburgh, including lone parent families, people with disabilities and ethnic minority communities.

This project involves three stages: 1) mapping and community engagement with third sector and community organisations across Edinburgh; 2) focus groups and interviews with people with lived experience of poverty in Edinburgh and 3) community hearings involving the direct participation of Edinburgh citizens in the process of feedback back to the Commission.

Following on from an evaluation of the Making it Work for Families Project in Fife conducted by the Poverty Alliance between 2017 and 2018, we are working with Clued Up and Fife Gingerbread to capture learning and practice from systems change work delivered by the Making it Work partnership.

The Poverty Alliance is conducting an external evaluation of the Fife Gingerbread Buddy Network, overseeing its delivery and growth of its volunteer programme.

This evaluation seeks to provide evidence of the impact that the volunteer programme has had through understanding the impact of volunteering for those involved in the programme and on the wider community as well as providing examples of good practice and wider knowledge which can be shared with the voluntary sector and other agencies involved in supporting volunteers. Adopting a co-production approach, this evaluation is being developed in collaboration with staff and volunteers at Fife Gingerbread.

Funded by Cancer Research UK, the Poverty Alliance in collaboration with ASH Scotland, are exploring how we can support better collaboration between public health and anti-poverty organisations.

This project explored how anti-poverty organisations perceive smoking as an issue that impacts on their clients, how they view existing health interventions, how they relate these to their own activities and whether they felt that more collaborative efforts between the two sectors were possible or desirable. This research engaged voices at national level and across Renfrewshire and Fife through semi-structured interviews with community-based and voluntary organisations. The second stage of this project involves working with a number of anti-poverty organisations to look at how the recommendations from the research could be incorporated into their practice.

In March 2019, a report detailing the key findings from the project and five key recommendations from the research was published.

Menu for Change is a partnership project run by Oxfam, Poverty Alliance, Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland and Nourish Scotland. Menu for Change involves four key strands including: practice development, network for change, research and policy and advocacy.

For more information please see the Menu for Change project website – https://menuforchange.org.uk/