Announcing: Inclusion Action Research Series

Welcome to B+B R+D’s Inclusion Action research ‘Test’ and ‘Reflect’ series of articles.

In the second half of the programme, Bristol + Bath Creative R+D’s Inclusion producer worked alongside a group of facilitators, practitioners and audiences to explore what new models for inclusion practice look and feel like. This inclusion action research project had two strands:

• Test - a set of real time explorations with new ways of working.

• Reflect - a series of articles in which individuals share an experience with inclusion practice and what we might learn from that.

Over the coming weeks we will be sharing some of the research reports, blogs, articles and recordings from the team.

All of the researchers and writers responded to an invite to explore one of three key themes: inclusive governance, spaces, or communities of practice.

These themes, identified by our Inclusion Producer, represent key areas in which the B+B R+D team was also exploring the possibilities of change to our processes. Asking questions like “What *does* a more inclusive decision making process actually look like”, and “how can we create physical spaces which are comfortable for as many people as possible”

B+B R+D are not the only people asking questions like these, and within the context of a knowledge exchange programme, it made sense to open the conversation up to Bristol & Bath’s rich community of creatives, technologists, facilitators and producers, and to learn from, and with, them.

Non-Conforming Bristol ran a ‘test’ which asked questions about hybrid queer spaces and inclusive tech, Little Lost Robot exploring the relationship between marginalised communities and governance, and Laura Evans reflecting on a return to the workforce following maternity leave. These are just three examples out of the 20+ pieces of research B+B R+D commissioned.

All of these learnings have fed into the development of an ‘Inclusion Framework for Change’ being developed by Tony Bhajam (Watershed) in partnership with Plot studio and Jazlyn Pinckney.

The 8 stage framework draws on the experiences of the researchers and design team and invites teams working on projects, processes, or products, to break their work down into ‘touchpoints’ and then consider their access to ‘capacity, resource and power’ for each touchpoint-our ‘inclusion change engine’

This process is part of an ‘asset based approach’ to inclusion, built around the question ‘‘if you can’t do X..then can you do Y?” or rather “if you don’t have the capacity, resource, or power to make the change you need, how can you generate them?”

The framework will be launched in the coming weeks alongside some printable assets for you to use in your own time.

All of the articles in this series represent the views of the author and not of B+B R+D or our partner organisations.

In the interest of fairness we asked our Reflect writers to anonymize any organisations or individuals within their articles. This also allows the authors to speak more freely and honestly without fear of recrimination. As part of our duty of care we invited authors to write anonymously if they would prefer.

Some of the articles describe experiences of discrimination that readers may find upsetting.