Since attending the 7th European Congress Qualitative Enquiry (ECQE) in Finland earlier this year, the Food Lives team have this summer taken part in two other events.
In May the team were invited to share their research methods with the Bristol Food Justice Network and in June our community researchers, Shazna and Sajna attended a talk at the University of Sussex, facilitated by the Sussex Participatory Research Network. Read on to find out more.
Tower Hamlets FoodSEqual Researchers Present to the Bristol Food Justice Network
In May the FoodSEquals’ community researchers, Sajna Miah and Shazna Hussain, Julie Yip from Wen and Elaine Swan from the University of Sussex presented their research methods to the Food Justice Network at the University of Bristol. The Food Justice Network is made up of Bristol University staff and postgraduate students, and those from the Bristol area, undertaking critical and impactful research that addresses unequitable and unsustainable food systems. They are also connected with the University of Bristol Cabot Institute for the Environment.
For the Community Researchers, this hybrid event was an opportunity to revisit their paper from the Helsinki Conference in January without the limitations of a 15-minute time slot.
Elaine gave a background to the project and then Julie talked about her methodology and how local residents took part in a food photography course. She showed some of the resulting photographs of the cultural food people ate. The audience then asked questions about the method.
Shazna described how we trialled the Shopalong method before rolling it out to our participants:
‘I spoke about the thoughts that went through my head and the questions that were asked whilst I was carrying out the method. I explained how this helped me to share my thoughts with Elaine and Sajna so it made us aware of what and how the participant may be feeling.’

Elaine, Sajna, Shazna and Julie
Sajna introduced the Cookalong method, and how important the initial trial was:
‘This would give us a better insight into how our participants may feel with us following them around or in their homes asking questions that are personal. I spoke about how I felt with a camera in my small kitchen and with Elaine and Shazna asking questions. Explaining why we choose to trial out our methods on ourselves first would help give a better understanding to our audience at the university. We also touched on how we felt it was important to build a trusting relationship with our participants.’
There were lots of good questions raised, we were asked about the downsides or challenges with Participatory Action Research (PAR) and how we overcame these, whether we pay people and what our research makes us think about ethics:
‘We were asked how we manage to recruit and again it was through building that relationship with the community and explaining to them about our experience as a participant. Both Shazna and I are bilingual, and those skills really helped to develop that relationship and build trust.’
The presenters and our hosts from the university continued the discussion over lunch. In a follow up email, a Sociology, Politics and International Studies PhD Researcher felt that the talk ‘was a brilliant example of co-production and participatory methods.’
Food Lives – Connecting with the Sussex Participatory Research Network
Community researchers, Shazna and Sajna and Julie from Wen, travelled to the University of Sussex in June this year to attend a talk facilitated by the Sussex Participatory Research Network (PRN) and to see a poster of our research methods on display in the academic poster exhibition.
The visit was an opportunity for the Community Researchers both to share their work and to build their knowledge and skills by learning about other researchers’ challenges with Participatory Action Research (PAR).
The talk, When ‘I’ becomes ‘we’: Building long term relationships with organisations, explored ‘what goes on when we collaborate with partners, how the relationships change.’ The contributors worked within a broad range of subjects and communities – from experience of working with local schools and football clubs around the use of oracy to supporting displaced people, including building the capacity of a Higher Educational institution in Northwest Syria.

Shajna and Shazna with our academic poster
Shazna reflects that:
‘the whole workshop was a great insight into how research is carried out and useful tips were given. I found it very beneficial and interesting.’
The presentations made Sajna think about how ‘all researchers face many challenges carrying out their research and things don’t always run smoothly…once you overcome the obstacles and barriers…the sense of joy seeing the end results of your research is something else.’
The Sussex Participatory Research Network is a developing Participatory Action Research network and a community of practice to help share ‘meaning and understanding around the different methods.’ We were invited to showcase our work to the institution with a poster highlighting our methods and how our approach has shaped our research impact.
For Shazna, it was:
‘amazing seeing our work displayed amongst other posters. It took me back to when we saw posters of academics in Finland and now, we were standing there looking at our own.’
The Sussex Participatory Research Network hosted a lunch with the community researchers and key people leading the network, and the community researchers have been invited back to take part in a discussion with members of the network and talk about their work.
WHAT IS FOOD LIVES
Wen and University of Sussex are running a new programme on the St George’s Estate, Shadwell called Food Lives Tower Hamlets. It’s all about the role food plays in our lives and the importance of history, culture and heritage to our food habits.
Food Lives Tower Hamlets is part of a 5-year research programme (which started in 2021) and is funded by UKRI and led by University of Reading, FoodSEqual. It involves many universities, communities and food companies working alongside communities to create a better food environment. Read more.