Our four research communities bring together and build on the work of our many strong, existing research groups and centres.
The four communities are:
- Arts, Communication and Culture
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Health Innovation and Wellbeing
- Sustainable Cities and the Urban Environment
Arts, Communication and Culture
Our research community takes an interdisciplinary, creative and speculative approach to the Arts and Humanities in response to present and future pressing world needs. We examine how rapid transformations in the environment, technology, and communication are reshaping social, cultural, and political landscapes globally, influencing how individuals, communities, and institutions interact and evolve.
We support public-facing research that addresses critical issues such as systemic inequality, democratic reform, climate action, care, responsibility, and sociability, as well as the societal impact of technology. By fostering collaboration across disciplines, we strive to bridge the gap between the urgent questions shaping our world today and the knowledge generated in arts, culture, and communication.
Diversity and Inclusion
This community will focus on research that explores what inclusion really means. It will seek to understand the issues that can enable or prevent particular groups from taking a full part in society as citizens in a global world, employees, students, and members of families and communities.
The community encompasses, though is not limited to, researchers interested in law, policy, economics and social sciences. It studies issues including diversity, discrimination, social mobility, organisations and labour markets.
This community’s foundation links strongly to Westminster’s values as we strive as an institution to recognise and value the diversity of our University community and the world in which our graduates operate.
Health Innovation and Wellbeing
This community will focus on developing solutions to better manage and prevent disease, helping populations stay healthier at home, in healthcare settings and at the workplace. Promoting physical and mental health and wellbeing across the whole lifespan, and in a variety of environmental settings, particularly as populations age, will ensure that this community plays an important role in promoting wellbeing for all. One focus will be on digital and big-data technologies that support health, and another focus will be on innovations in healthcare delivery, including patient data, healthcare systems, processes and security.
This community will specifically support research that investigates issues including mental health, chronic health conditions, quality of life, dementia and loneliness. Perspectives taken will encompass the medical, biological, environmental, digital, cultural, psychological, political and social.
The Health Innovation and Wellbeing community is working in collaboration with the Health Innovation Ecosystem.
Sustainable Cities and the Urban Environment
Our home is the City of London, and this community seeks to develop and enable new ways of moving people and goods around and between our global cities. Digital technologies and big-data approaches are set to change communications, transport, supply-chain management, as well as impact on educational and employment practices.
A core focus of this community is ensuring that cities are planned to ensure a sustainable and low-energy future and the environmental and social impact of concentrating people and economic activity in cities and urban areas is explored.
Research Communities funding call report
The first Research Communities funding call was published in early autumn 2019, and closed on 13 November 2019.
The Communities received a total number of 59 applications, out of which 30 projects were awarded seed funding to jump start their work.
Read all the details about the funding call, as well as the work of the Research Communities, in this comprehensive report: