The civil renewal agenda is at the heart of IPEG's research mission and continues the influential research activity already undertaken by Professors Gerry Stoker and Peter John. Civil renewal - the process of people actively engaging with and shaping their communities through a variety of partnerships with government, public organisations and other forms of participation - is a current issue being examined by academics and policymakers alike. A range of activities such as neighbourhood regeneration schemes, environmental initiatives like recycling and tackling anti-social behviour, all contribute to an overall civil renewal agenda that forms part of the Home Office's vision.

IPEG has already contributed to the debates through a number of seminars and publications such as the recent 'Civil Renewal in Action' seminar series (in association with Politics), together with papers such as 'Delivering Civil Renewal: Some Lessons from Research' that formed part of the ESRC seminar series on mapping the public policy landscape, and work on 'Research Strategies for Civil Renewal'.

IPEG continues to develop its civil renewal interest through a number of research projects. First, IPEG was contracted by the Home Office to co-ordinate the Civil Renewal Research Programme and is being led by Professors Gerry Stoker & Peter John. The IPEG research team intend to extend this work over the coming months through a core of projects that link directly with policymakers and practitioners, who are at the forefront in dealing with substantive economic & social issues. This will be done by developing a range of applied innovative research methods, offering an experimental approach to policy and practice design. An edited book drawing together the research in this area is also planned and will be completed by summer of 2006. Peter John is acting as an advisor to the Home Office 2005 citizenship survey team and will be involved with Professor Robert Putnam in the analysis of these findings.

Gerry Stoker with colleagues at DeMontfort University has developed a framework for looking at the appropriate ways in which government agencies should consult citizens. The framework is to be features in an IPPR pamphlet to be published later in 2005 and has been adopted by the Council of Europe. The plan is to trial the framework in a range of municipalities in European countries during 2006. Professor Stoker made presentations on those issues in Norway, Spain and France during 2004 and early 2005.

Our two PhD students - Tessa Brannan & Catherine Durose - are both currently working on civil renewal issues. More widely, IPEG staff are collaborating with other colleagues in the academic community. New work streams are being developed in this field with Nottingham Trent University through involvement in a seminar series, and via work with the Young Foundation (headed by Geoff Mulgan). In addition, a major bid for further work on civil renewal has been prepared and is under discussion with the ESRC, government departments and private sector sponsors. The proposal was produced under terms of the funding from the Home Office's civil renewal programme and it proposes a research stream applying innovative research methods including design experiments and randomised controlled trials to the issues of social capital, civil renewal, and civicness.

For presentations from the Neighbourhood Governance seminar, which took place on October 18th 2005, please follow this link.