I’m very proud and happy to share this new venture spearheaded by the incomparable Gill Main.

Through an impressive academic career in the fields of poverty, wellbeing and social exclusion, some of her most inspiring projects have been with grass-roots organisations and groups across the world, pioneering ways to work with people in ways that are genuinely egalitarian, anti-oppressive and participatory.

Here’s the thing, though – that’s increasingly difficult to do in the academic realm, where the demands of funding, reputation, status and power create all the wrong incentives: to overcharge massively; to expropriate knowledge and insights for your own career purpose; to protect and separate ‘expertise’ by overly exclusionary methods and terminology. It helps the institutions sometimes; it helps the recipients and communities far less often than is claimed.

So, Gill is taking her methods, worldwide-acclaimed* approach, and fierce sense of justice, out into an independent venture that cuts through the nonsense. Twin aims: one, to work with groups and organisations who need research support to amplify their voices or advance their social causes; and two, to democratise and widen access to the tools and methods involved in doing good-quality research.

(*this sounds like hyperbole but it genuinely isn’t. I know. I have made peace with being the junior partner in our house.)

Why ‘collective’? Firstly, Gill is the driving force but there’s a network of people ready to collaborate here, with deep knowledge of research, policy, local government, community, social issues, the non-profit world, digital and more. (And yes, I’m proud to be one of those myself.) And secondly, because collectivism is at the heart of the approach. If Gill, or any of us, are working with you, it won’t be “what expertise can we sell you?” It will be “how can we, together, make a difference?”

Does this sound like a model that might be of use to you? Gill is honing the approach, and getting a feel for the specific services, products and information she might put into the world. As part of that, she’d love to hear from any justice-focused, pro-social or progressive types about what might be useful to you. And because see above about not just extracting knowledge, we will happily give you a day of our collective time/efforts as a thank you.