Canterbury Christ Church University’s research is recognised as world leading*.
From supporting local businesses and industry to develop and grow, to helping national industries and charities address some of the most pressing issues of the day, our action-focused research has supported businesses and organisations of all shapes and sizes to realise their ambitions.
Taking a personalised approach to answering specific research questions or addressing challenges, our multi-discipline academic experts work closely to provide practical, real-world solutions.
We can offer impact evaluation of your projects and services; analyses of what strategies and initiatives work in your industry sector; specialist research to support product development and prototypes; and development of your customer base or audience.
Make use of our expertise to achieve business growth and/or gain new innovative perspectives and insights.
Recent research that illustrates our impact and appeal includes:
- Demonstrating that the use of Justice Support Dogs to help victims of crime enhances the quality of evidence and leads to more secure convictions, leading to their use being commissioned throughout criminal justice systems in the UK, Canada and all 52 US states.
- ‘Arts in Prison’, an exploratory project aiming to give a voice to those who participate in art-based programmes within prison settings. Foreign national prisoners from HMP Maidstone participated in a series of four workshops to create and develop a co-collaborated evaluation tool of prison arts.
- Development of robotic assistive technology - a wearable, lower limb 'exoskeleton' - to help children with cerebral palsy (CP) and other neurological conditions stand and walk as part of their rehabilitation therapy.
- Developing the first UK national physical activity recommendations and clinical guidance for pregnant and postpartum women with supporting standards and training for health professionals.
- Working with Topigs Norsvin, a leading swine genetics company, to develop commercially viable ways of freezing pig embryo so that they can be shipped rather than transporting live animals themselves.
- Partnering with Canterbury Festival to evaluate its 2022 ‘Beautiful Noise Community Music Day’ and supporting festival organisers to better understand the event’s impact on widening audiences, health and wellbeing, place-making and community connection, accessibility, and inclusion. This research will improve arts and culture engagement opportunities in participants’ local communities.
- A new assessment framework for registered firearms dealers and gun owners which has been adopted by all 43 police forces across England, safeguarding communities and leading to the closure of multiple criminal enterprises.
- Creating scientific solutions with Comax Life Sciences to combat transmission of diseases and improve quality of life.
- A new approach to delivering sport and physical activity for the least active, increasing physical activity levels among 1.1million young people, and supporting over half a million young people to newly achieve activity levels exceeding national guidelines.
- Developed new eligibility protocols that facilitated the inclusion of athletes with Intellectual Disabilities in the Paralympic Games and other elite global sporting competitions.
Browse some of our previous projects to see how our commissioned and contracted research has supported local organisations, sectors, and industries, or contact our Enterprise & Engagement Team to discuss your project ideas.
* Research Excellence Framework results released in 2022
Turner Contemporary, Margate
Creative industries in Kent are growing fast, with Thanet outperforming other areas. Contributing to this growth is a partnership between Canterbury Christ Church University and one of the UK’s most successful art galleries, Turner Contemporary in Margate.
Our Business School led a pioneering Social Value research project highlighting the gallery’s social and economic impact, while detailing the gallery’s leading role in the regeneration and reinvigoration of Margate.
Specifically designed to inform future strategy, the research impacted on the gallery’s development of learning projects and its future planning, including advocacy for investment in the arts.
The partnership has continued, with further commissioned research demonstrating the impact and informing the development of Margate NOW, an ambitious and dynamic festival of art, events, and performances to celebrate the world famous Turner Prize coming to Turner Contemporary for its 2019 edition, and Seaside, which aims to support local children’s early year’s development through play.
Network Rail
Commissioned by Network Rail, research at Canterbury Christ Church University is exploring the factors that impact upon suicide on the railways and, importantly, exploring how such suicides may be reduced.
Following work to understand how suicide-safer communities can be developed in Kent and Medway, the research for Network Rail focuses on the impact of messaging and communication on suicide rates and individual suicide incidences.
The work collects insights from individuals affected by suicide, rail staff, and clinical experts to understand what myths might be perpetuated by messaging and communication relating to suicide and, importantly, what formal and informal communication strategies and interventions might challenge such myths.
With an explicit applied approach that focuses on generating actionable insights, the project has been commissioned and designed by our Faculty of Health and Wellbeing to support the rail industry in its efforts to reduce death by suicide on the railways.
Visit Kent
The visitor economy in Kent and Medway is worth almost £4bn annually, and comprises a diverse range of businesses, many of which are small and medium enterprises. Working across multiple projects, research commissioned from our Tourism and Events Hub in partnership with Visit Kent has helped support the growth of businesses across Kent’s tourism and cultural sectors.
Commissioned work includes a Trends Analysis Review to inform Visit Kent’s visitor first strategy and an Accommodation Study to research the scale and range of Kent’s current visitor accommodation provision. This research was driven by an ambition to grow overnight stays across the county, uncovering gaps in the market and areas for potential growth in the future.
The Tourism and Events Hub also worked in partnership with Visit Kent to deliver a two-year research programme for Culture Kent as part of the Cultural Destinations Programme, funded by Arts Council England and Visit England, and led by Turner Contemporary. This project focused on researching and promoting best practice in building cultural destinations and partnerships to attract new audiences to Kent.
Citizens Advice 1066
Citizens Advice services support local residents to address some of the most pressing issues affecting their daily lives, including debt management and fuel poverty. Linked projects commissioned from our Salomons Institute of Applied Psychology have supported local branches of this national charity to provide and develop this support.
Following an evaluation of the Citizens Advice money advice service, which helped local residents with debt management, Citizens Advice 1066, serving Hastings and Rother, commissioned work to help understand how local residents could be supported to make their homes more energy efficient, thus both combatting fuel poverty and reducing carbon emissions in urban neighbourhoods.
Drawing on what worked in the provision and take up of money advice, the Salomons Institute is supporting and evidencing the impact of the Sustainable Houses in Inclusive Neighbourhoods (SHINE) project to develop “bottom-up” energy saving initiatives by residents, supported by networks of trained energy advisers.
Evidence from the SHINE and money advice evaluations is providing an understanding of what works in community engagement initiatives, and how charities and organisations can develop strategies to positively support behaviour change to improve local people’s lives.
