Research Events

The Research team hosts the annual  Researching the
Voluntary Sector Conference  (in partnership with  VSSN ) for practitioners and academics as well as seminars on specific themes throughout the year.  

Forthcoming events will be posted here where you can also read details of our past events.

Forthcoming Events

September 2009

NCVO/VSSN Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference 2009

Date: 7 and 8 September
Venue: Warwick University

This annual two-day conference will be exploring research from the voluntary and academic sectors.

Book now and receive the early bird discount 

Past Events

• ESRC/NCVO/VE Voluntary Action and the Economic Downturn: Threats and Opportunities

NCVO/NGPA seminar series

• Seminar 4: Counter-terrorism and civil society 
• Seminar 3: Blurring boundaries
• Seminar 2: Changing governance structures and processes 
• Seminar 1: Collaboration without borders
   
  
  

NCVO/Carnegie seminar series

• Seminar 6: A more civil society? 
• Seminar 5: Bridging the learning divide 
• Seminar 4: Intergenerational connections 
• Seminar 3: Diversity and social cohesion 
• Seminar 2: Social capital and dimensions of equality 
• Seminar 1: Building bridges
  
  
  

Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference  

Third Sector Foresight past and future events  

April 2009

ESRC/NCVO/VE Voluntary Action and the Economic Downturn: Threats and Opportunities

Date: 7 April
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar explored the impact of the recession on voluntary action bringing the latest knowledge and ideas from social science into the policy arena, stimulating debate on the likely impacts of the recession.

• Visit the ESRC's website to download the presentations from the seminar 
• Read more about NCVO's recession resources 

March 2009

NCVO/NGPA seminar 4: Counter-terrorism and civil society

Date: 6 March 2009
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar, the last in a series of seminars jointly organised with the ESRC NGPA programme, explored the impacts of counter-terrorism on civil society.

• Download Jude Howell and Jeremy Lind's presentation (PPT 650KB)
  
• Download Alex Hall's presentation (PPT 1.40MB)
• Download David Walker's presentation (PPT 472KB)

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January 2009

NCVO/NGPA seminar 3: Blurring boundaries

Date: 19 January 2009
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar explored the blurring of sector boundaries and more specifically at the boundaries between the governmental sector and the voluntary and community sector.

• Download David Lewis' presentation (PPT 45KB)
• Download Richard Batley's presentation (PPT 164KB)
• Download  the Blurring Boundaries seminar report (PDF 840KB)

NCVO/Carnegie seminar 6: A more civil society?

Date: 13 January 2009
Venue: Carnegie, London

This seminar explored how civil society organisations can help bring people together when they have fundamentally opposing views and establish conflict resolution mechanisms.

• Download Duncan Morrow's presentation (PPT 3.01MB)
• Download Simon Keyes' presentation (PPT 2.30MB)

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November 2008

NCVO/Carnegie seminar 5: Bridging the learning divide

Date: 24 November 2008
Venue: The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, County Hall, London

This seminar explored how education institutions can promote, along with other partners, community cohesion and social inclusion.

• Download Tom Schuller's presentation (PPT 201KB)
• Download Angie Hart and Sally Hiscock's presentation (PPT 2.43MB)
• Download the Bridging the learning divide seminar report (PDF 258KB)

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October 2008

NCVO/Carnegie seminar 4: Intergenerational connections

Date: 20 October 2008
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar explored how intergenerational practice can promote inclusiveness, collaboration and better understanding across generations.

• Download the Intergenerational connections seminar report (PDF 191KB)
• Download Mariano Sanchez's presentation (PDF 794KB)
• Download Sally Chandler's presentation (PPT 103KB)

NCVO/ESRC NGPA seminar 2: Changing governance structures and processes

Date: 9 October 2008
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar looked at how civil society organisations in the UK and other countries are experiencing the shift from government to governance.

• Download the Changing governance structures and processes seminar report (PDF 524KB)
• Download Marilyn Taylor and Joanna Howard's presentation (PPT 67KB) 
• Download Heather Blakey's presentation (PPT 143KB)
• Download Karin Gavelin's presentation (PPT 886KB)
  

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September 2008

NCVO/Carnegie seminar 3: Diversity and social cohesion

Date: 29 September 2008
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar explored the link between diversity, social capital and social cohesion.

• Download the Diversity and social cohesion seminar report (PDF 211KB)
• Download Nick Johnson's presentation (PPT 2.29MB)
• Download Nick Acheson's presentation (PPT 296KB)
• Download Nick Acheson's full paper (PDF 101KB)
  
  

2008 NCVO/VSSN Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference

Date: 9-10 September 2008
Venue: University of Warwick

Read more about the 2008 conference 

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July 2008

NCVO/Carnegie seminar 2: Social capital and dimensions of equality

Date: 31 July 2008
Venue: Carnegie UK, London

This seminar looked at the relevance and limitations of the social capital concept around issues of equality and diversity.

• Download the Social capital and dimensions of equality seminar report (PDF 335KB)
• Download Sughra Ahmed's presentation (PPT 211KB)
• Download Zohra Moosa's presentation (PPT 367KB)

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June 2008

NCVO/ESRC NGPA seminar 1: Collaboration without borders

Date: 4 June 2008
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar explored the implications of working collaboratively and engaging with a range of partners and stakeholders at local, national and global levels. It was jointly organised by NCVO and the ESRC NGPA programme at the Centre for Civil Society.

• Download the Collaboration without borders seminar report (PDF 483KB)
• Download Dr Brian Doherty's presentation (PPT 931KB)
• Download Professor Richard Crook's presentation (PPT 52KB)
• Download Chris Stalker's presentation (PPT 428KB)

NCVO/Carnegie seminar 1: Building Bridges

Date: 12 June 2008
Venue: NCVO, London

This seminar explored how civil society organisations can successfully build bridges between different communities.

• Download the Building bridges seminar report (PDF 5.2MB)
• Download Professor Margaret Harris' presentation (PPT 161KB)
• Download Catherine Howarth's presentation (PPT 5.8MB)

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2008 NCVO/VSSN Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference

Date: 9-10 September 2008
Venue: University of Warwick

The conference this year discussed a broad range of topics from rural issues to measuring performance and effectiveness, and was interesting and informative.

Read more about the 2008 conference 

Previous Researching the Voluntary Sector Conferences

• Read more about the 2006 conference
• Read more about the 2007 conference 

New Researchers

Since 2006, the annual research conference has included a session for ‘new’ researchers.  This is aimed at those who are relatively new to the field of voluntary sector research.  It provides an opportunity to meet other researchers, discuss research and share ideas.

Campbell Adamson Prize

Each year at the conference a competition is held for the best paper with a prize of £500. This year's winner was

• Andri Soteri-Proctor Making use of qualitative tools: a fuller understanding of the voluntary sector's engagement with public service delivery Download the PDF  (114 KB)

Read previous year's winning papers

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Third Sector Foresight past and future events

NCVO Third Sector Foresight is part of the NCVO research team.  They run a series of events to allow network members to meet and share knowledge and experiences. 

• For full details visit the Third Sector Foresight events
  pages.

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