Securing £1 million from UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Community Research Networks (CRN) programme, this funding, managed by The Young Foundation, will support the Belfast Community Research & Innovation Network (BCRIN) over the next five years.

About BCRIN

BCRIN is a first-of-its-kind collaboration uniting six inner-city communities: the Market, Sandy Row, Donegall Pass, Shankill, Grosvenor, and New Lodge. Representing over 30,000 residents, these communities share common experiences of navigating the challenges of urban inequality, underinvestment, and exclusion from decision-making processes. BCRIN builds on these shared histories to address pressing urban challenges through research and innovation. Operating as a counter-infrastructure to conventional urban frameworks, BCRIN ensures that the voices of working-class communities are central to shaping Belfast's future.

What Will BCRIN Do?

BCRIN is dedicated to empowering community organisations by providing them with the tools, skills, and frameworks needed to embed research practices into their work. This support will enable these organisations to generate actionable local knowledge that can inform decision-making and drive meaningful change.

At its core, BCRIN will look to advance an inclusive innovation ecosystem that brings together residents, community organisations, and R&I stakeholders. Through this network, partners will co-create solutions to urban challenges, supporting collaboration, and strengthening connections across sectors.

To ensure adaptability and responsiveness, BCRIN will employ an iterative approach to its activities. By facilitating cycles of research, co-design, and community inquiry, the network will continuously refine its strategies to meet evolving community needs. This "test and learn" model will not only address pressing issues but also build a sustainable foundation for ongoing innovation and growth.

A key feature of BCRIN’s approach is its tailored support for each community partner to identify and research the issues most relevant to their local context. These hyper-local research efforts will be collated to create a unified portfolio of data and findings, collectively exploring the thematic focus of “life in the inner city.” This portfolio will provide valuable insights into the lived experiences of inner-city communities, shaping policy and practice for inclusive urban innovation.

Key Features of the Programme

• CONNECT: A dynamic engagement platform for co-design, collaboration, workshops, seminars, and knowledge-sharing that strengthens ties between community organisations, residents, and the R&I sector.
• Community Research and Innovation Funds: Two dedicated funding streams to directly support grassroots research. The Community Research Fund provides small grants for participatory research projects co-designed by community organisations and research stakeholders. The Urban Innovation Fund offers flexible funding to tackle specific urban challenges identified through community-engaged research.
• Academy: Capacity-building workshops, including bursaries for local resident researchers, to empower community members to actively participate in and lead research efforts.
• Impact Lab: Tools for self-evaluation, data, and tracking the progress and outcomes of community-led research projects.

Reflections from the CRN Launch Event in London

The CRN programme launched in London at the start of December and brought together a diverse range of nine funded projects from across the UK, each tackling unique challenges in their local contexts. Despite the variety in focus areas and approaches, a strong thematic alignment emerged: the shared need to address marginalisation in its many forms. This commitment to tackling exclusion and amplifying the voices of underserved communities resonates deeply with BCRIN’s mission to support grassroots research and innovation, ensuring that inner-city communities in Belfast are at the forefront of shaping inclusive urban futures.

Looking Ahead: BCRIN’s Transformative Potential

BCRIN is more than a research network—it is a platform for rethinking how urban challenges are understood and addressed. By grounding research in the lived experiences of working-class communities, it challenges top-down models that too often overlook those most affected by urban inequality. Instead, it creates pathways for these communities to lead the conversation, generate new knowledge, and drive solutions that matter to them, with QCAP focused on advancing community-centric models of innovation.

A critical focus of BCRIN’s work will be exploring how large-scale investments, such as the Belfast Region City Deal, translate into tangible benefits for local citizens. While the Deal promises transformative change for Belfast, its impact on the everyday lives of residents, particularly in inner-city areas, is not yet altogether clear—or whether it has been felt at all. BCRIN will ensure that communities are not only part of this conversation but are also equipped to shape how these investments into large-scale infrastructure projects deliver for them.

This initiative has the potential to transform how Belfast’s inner-city communities engage with urban challenges, demonstrating the power of inclusive innovation in driving equitable change. The next five years represent an exciting opportunity to demonstrate how community-driven research and innovation can reimagine urban development for the better—and we are thrilled to embark on this journey with our partners. To build a thriving, equitable, and inclusive Belfast.

For further information about QCAP’s role in BCRIN, please contact Dr Gareth Robinson. Additional details can be found in the earlier Queen’s University Belfast news article: UKRI CRN Funding Announcement.