This output is part of the legacy work from the AHRC’s place-based programme.

On May 19th, the webinar The Value of Toolkits and the Issue of Scalability took place online. Bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policy voices from across sectors, the event saw a fantastic turnout, with 70 attendees joining to learn more about the development, use, and impact of toolkits in research and practice.

The session featured four presentations, each offering different perspectives on how toolkits can support collaboration across academic, policy, and community contexts, while also highlighting their limitations and challenges. Alongside discussions of practical application, presentations explored wider themes of scalability, sustainability, commissioning, and governance, as well as the risks of relying too heavily on off-the-shelf solutions or simplistic understandings of impact.

Speakers reflected on lessons learned through research-practice partnerships and considered how toolkits operate in real-world settings, raising thought-provoking questions such as: what even is a toolkit, and what can it look like? The webinar opened up conversations about where toolkits succeed, where they fall short, and how ambitions to “scale up” often come into tension with the realities of local culture, place, and governance. These discussions led to particularly engaging reflections on the ideas of scaling down and even “scaling out” as alternative ways of thinking about growth, learning, and influence.

Following the webinar, an hour-long, invite-only discussion session was held, where academics and practitioners continued the conversation to share experiences and explore future directions for toolkit development and collaboration. Contributors also reflected on how lived experience and practical project delivery had been shaped by the findings discussed throughout the event.

To watch the recorded session, follow this link:  https://youtu.be/Md3R8E4TIKo 

Acknowledgments:

We are grateful for the communities and collaborators who so generously gave their time, energy, and insights. We have worked with them over the course of three three interconnected research projects. First, the project called Active Communities Arts Development: Social Prescribing, Sustainable Strategic Planning and Breaking Down Barriers Across Sectors in North Lanarkshire (reference AH/W008912/1). Secondly, REALITIES Phase 2 was funded by the UKRI’s AHRC-led programme to build community research consortia to address health disparities (grant number AH/X006131/1). The research continues into REALITIES Phase 3 funded by a UKRI mobilising community assets to tackle health inequalities research grant for the project titled: REALITIES in Health Disparities: Researching Evidence-based Alternatives in Living, Imaginative, Traumatised, Integrated, Embodied Systems (Grant Ref: AH/Z505456/1). The Project Lead for REALITIES is Marisa de Andrade at the University of Edinburgh. Other co-investigators include the University of Dundee, St Andrews University, Glasgow School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, Bethany Christian Trust, Ochil Youth Community Improvement, Artlink, Ninewells Community Garden, Flip of the Coin, and North Lanarkshire Council