Voluntary Action Studies
The Centre for Voluntary Action Studies, a research centre established in 1995 by Emeritus Professor Arthur Williamson as part of the then School of Policy Studies, is currently incorporated as a research programme with the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences.
CVAS exists to: Promote, develop, conduct and disseminate research on voluntary action as a contribution to scholarship and as a resource for social and public policy and for the voluntary sector in both parts of Ireland and internationally.
Its strategic aims include:
- Contributing to increasing knowledge and understanding of voluntary action by means of research;
- Promoting voluntary action studies at the University of Ulster on an interdisciplinary basis;
- Developing links with research users (especially including policy-makers, administrators, and policy implementers in the voluntary and community sector and in government), and with colleagues in the research community throughout Ireland and in other countries.
BACKGROUND:
CVAS was established in 1995 and since that time its staff have undertaken research into the work and characteristics of the community and voluntary sector, its strengths and weaknesses, its relationship with government and other topics.
CVAS staff have been active participants at the research conferences of ARNOVA, the Association for Research on Non Profit Organizations and Voluntary Action, ISTR, the International Society for Third Sector Research, and VSSN, the Voluntary Sector Studies Network. Dr Acheson is currently a member of the Editorial Management Board of the VSSN journal, Voluntary Sector Review (VSR)
Links have been established with key research centres in the UK, Ireland and internationally.
These comprise in particular of:
ESRC funded Third Sector Research Centre housed at Birmingham University jointly managed with the Universities of Kent and Southampton, http://www.tsrc.ac.uk
The Centre for Philanthropy and Giving at the CASS Business School City University, London
http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/philanthropy/
The Centre for Government and Charity Management London South Bank University
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/bcim/cgcm/
In Ireland there are links with the Centre for Nonprofit Management at Trinity College, Dublin, the Department of Social Administration and Social Work, University College Cork, and the Department of Sociology at Maynooth College, National University of Ireland.
International links in north America include, Rutgers University, Swarthmore College, the University of West Virginia, Bucknell University and in Canada, the School of Policy Studies, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, and the Centre for Voluntary Sector Research and Development at Carleton University, Ottawa.
Current Research Themes:
- Civil Society and the Northern Ireland Peace Process. A long-standing theme of the work of CVAS, which has generated numerous publications over the years. Recent projects have included: ‘Theorizing the contribution of civil society organizations to peace-building’ (Acheson and Milofsky) and ‘The characteristics and contribution of civil society leaders to the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s’ (Acheson and Williamson). There is an opportunity to relate existing research in Northern Ireland to a wider agenda of building relationships in ethnically diverse regions.
- Devolution, the reform of the welfare state and government/voluntary sector relations. Rapid changed to the extent to which welfare needs are being met by the state and to the production of welfare in contemporary societies are having a profound effect on the role of the voluntary sector and how it relates to government and the private sector. A developing theme of work is to understand and map these changes internationally and to investigate the impact of devolution on these changes in the UK, especially in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Some of this work is being undertaken in collaboration with Canadian scholars, under the Canadian Studies Programme supported by funding from the Canadian Federal Government.
Two major seminars have recently been hosted in relation to this theme:
- First, a seminar of the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN) http://www.vssn.org.uk/events/event140508.htm the UK based forum on scholarship on voluntary action at UU in May 2009. The seminar at UU was on the theme: ‘aspects of government third sector relations - Ireland and the UK after devolution’ with five papers, one each on England, Scotland, Wales and NI and one from RoI.
- Second a Canadian studies seminar in February 2011 on the theme Welfare state restructuring and the role of the social economy and the voluntary sector: Canadian Reflections at a time of austerity with three papers from leading Canadian scholars in the field.
Case studies on housing and social care are being developed for Northern Ireland and funding will be sought to extend this work comparatively elsewhere in the UK in collaboration with scholars at the Third Sector Research Centre. Another theme under investigation is looking at the role of representative bodies in particular welfare areas influencing policy with two projects currently underway, on by a PhD student on ethnic minority organizations in Northern Ireland and the other by Acheson on pensioner organizations in both Irish jurisdictions. The third currently active area of work is in collaboration with staff in the Ulster Business School on a ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnership’ with a leading social enterprise in Northern Ireland.
Proposals for PhD research on any theme related to voluntary action studies are welcome.