Community organising in the university setting: Queen Mary and London Citizens James Scott School of Geography Queen Mary, University of London, UK

Plan  Introduce Queen Mary  London Citizens  Impact on teaching  Research development

Queen Mary, University of London 1887 a ‘palace of delight’ 1888 “to improve the scientific and technical knowledge of apprentices and workmen engaged in industrial life.” 1888: 1400 workers at Bryant and May Match factory 1889: The docks strike

London Citizens  Neil Jameson in the US with IAF in 1980s  1989: Citizen Organising Foundation (now Citizens UK)  Early alliances in Bristol, West Midlands, North Wales, Sheffield  1996: TELCO founded in east London  Subsequently in South, West and North London  Together as London Citizens  Also in Birmingham, Nottingham … and with plans

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Going back to move on?  Parallels with the early Labour movement – a broad alliance  Organising for the power for change  Connecting economic and political power  Using representational politics  Remaking people and place

East London’s institutional network

The picture in London Unparalleled mobility and diversity: 35% working age pop born abroad, 300 languages spoken Turnover of 50% a year in lowest paid jobs Borough-level turnover – 50% in 5 years Highest rates of economic inactivity, child poverty, housing crisis and inequality … Jane Wills (2012) – ‘existing institutions are integrated into a network in order to develop a shared political agenda’

Population mobility by borough, within-london

The School of Geography and London Citizens  Relationship has developed over the past 10 years  Living wage research from 2001 – in tandem with the Living wage campaign in the UK  Joint PhD project 2002 – Lina Jamoul  School of Geography joined TELCO in 2005

QM Geography and London Citizens: Teaching  Training/internships for students  Launched MA Community Organising in 2010  Annual collaborative student research training Fostering relationships as part of learning Developing leadership Training in citizenship Research having purpose/impact … Changing our sense of ourselves?

QM Geography and London Citizens: Research Training  Second Year Undergraduates – Research Training Module  Practical element collaboratively designed with London Citizens  2011/12 – Research Olympic Recruitment and London Citizen Job fairs  Four best results went into LC and IPPR report  Questionnaires, Interviews, SPSS analysis, report writing and presentations

QM Geography and London Citizens: Research  Relationship has enabled development of research agenda with genuine impact beyond the campus  Relation politics (community organising) requires self reflection and scrutiny of research interest – ‘why is this important…?’  Awards – THES Award, Podium Award  Reputation impact – first living wage campus in 2006 Professor Simon Gaskell, Principal of Queen Mary: “Paying the living wage and bringing the cleaning service in-house has brought dividends to Queen Mary. The college is cleaner, staff feel rewarded and the wider community – both on and off campus – have fully backed the idea.”

QM Geography and London Citizens: Research  The relationship with London Citizens has inspired research into a number of areas: Migrant Labour Low waged labour market Migrant Money The Living Wage Political Identity Formation Participatory Research Methods  Research into Living Wage, Migrant Money and Migrant Labour has in particular been conducted in collaboration with London Citizens throughout: Initial understanding of the issue Identifying a need for research Co-design of research programme Facilitate access to research participants/subjects

Analysis of the relationship  Institutional and formal…: QMUL School of Geography is a member of the alliance, pays dues and has ‘voting rights’.  …but importantly it is relational: membership is built upon the strength of public relationships between key individuals, within both LC and other member institutions.  Collaborative: research designed to assist and strengthen the political and social objectives of the broader alliance.  Political: The relationship ensures research is relevant to the lives of our community, enabling genuine impact and significance.  Innovative: Problematizes academic understandings of the researcher – subject relationship.

Thank you! Any questions?