Collab Hub
This section highlights selected ongoing research and support activities facilitated by the Poverty Research and Networks (PRAN) initiative. PRAN aims to connect people working in the field, provide peer support, advance knowledge on poverty and inequality, disseminate information about members’ research, and foster research collaborations across sectors and disciplines.
If you are interested in participating in our research activities or need support in finding collaborators, please email info@pran.org.uk.
We connect researchers and can act as research brokers to help build effective partnerships.
The Early Career Forum is a dynamic initiative within the Poverty Research and Advocacy Network (PRAN), designed to support and connect emerging scholars, professionals, and practitioners working in the areas of poverty, inequality, and social justice.
Rooted in values of collaboration, solidarity, and inclusivity, the forum addresses the need for structured peer support, interdisciplinary dialogue, and increased visibility for those in the early stages of their career whose work tackles poverty in its many forms.
Foster Cross-Sector Collaboration
Create opportunities for academics and practitioners to co-learn, share insights, and build meaningful partnerships.
Support Professional Development
Offer mentoring, training, and career development opportunities to build confidence and capacity among emerging professionals.
Enhance Visibility
Elevate the research, practice, and perspectives of early career professionals through events, publications, and digital platforms.
Build a Sustainable Peer Network
Cultivate a supportive and engaged community to reduce isolation, share resources, and foster solidarity across institutions, disciplines, and geographies.
This forum is not only a resource for early career professionals—it’s a space for shaping the future of anti-poverty research and advocacy by empowering the next generation of thought leaders and changemakers.
Freya Cole Norton: Early Career Forum Coordinator
Freya is a PhD Candidate based at the University of Oxford. Her research interests are focused mainly on social welfare law and policy, administrative law, and local government. She is currently conducting ethnographic research on the localisation of social security benefits to local authorities. Freya is committed to bringing together emerging academics and professionals who are committed to social justice, to share knowledge, build partnerships, and shape the future of anti-poverty work together.
The Food Insecurity: Voices from the Foodbank project brings the experiences of food bank users to the forefront. This research, developed in collaboration with the Equitable Place-Based Health and Care theme (EPHC–ARC NWC), highlights the importance of these issues while deepening understanding of how food insecurity affects physical and mental health, and what may help reduce its negative impacts.
The research aimed to:
Explore how individuals accessing food banks perceive food insecurity to impact their/their family’s day to day living/life
Explore the impacts on health and well-being of food bank users and their families
Understand what might mitigate negative impacts of food insecurity on the lives of food bank users
Data collection took place between January and March 2025 and involved interviews with food bank users across three food banks in the North West of England, alongside a workshop where participants reviewed and reflected on emerging findings.
The research team adopted a creative approach to presenting the data alongside more traditional research outputs (Research Report). This included the creation of six I-poems (Flip Book) derived from participant interview data. The I-poem methodology is rooted in the principles of the Listening Guide, a method that focuses on listening closely to how people speak about themselves. They allow the reader to hear participants’ voices more directly.
I- poems
The I-poems centre participants’ voices, using their “I” statements to show how individuals describe themselves and the situations shaping their everyday lives.
Two animations were also co-produced with food bank users. The first animation, Voices from the food bank: Food Insecurity and its impacts, provides an animated summary of the report’s findings, illustrating the detrimental impacts that food insecurity can have on the lives of food bank users.
The second animation, Voices from the food bank: Living with food insecurity, adapts content from the six I-poems to bring lived experiences to life and highlight the emotional impacts and challenges faced by those living with food insecurity.
Koser Khan, the lead researcher based at the University of Lancaster, noted: “Many of the participants involved in the project had never taken part in research before. Their involvement enabled them to help shape how their experiences were interpreted and shared with others.”
Working in this more creative and co-produced way not only ensures that lived experience shapes research and its outputs, but also brings benefits to those who take part. As participants themselves described, the process had a meaningful personal impact.
One female participant reflected on how the project shaped her sense of connection and confidence, saying: “It has built my confidence, I am not alone, hearing everyone else’s story. I have not been involved in research before, and it has been a good experience. I found it a great help, made me realise not going through it alone and can reach out for help. I now feel it is okay to seek help being with this group of people, I feel more comfortable within myself and now feel there is nothing wrong with going to foodbank… anyone should go and not feel no shame.”
Similarly, a male participant described how being involved in the research helped him reflect on his own experiences and those of others: “I joined the research group to try and explain what sort of things happen to people about not having money or enough food to manage though. I started my journey when my health declined I was used to working my way out of my problems and it has transformed the way I think feel and act it has been very rewarding project and I have got so much out of it as a person and listening to others who were having difficulties like myself. The videos explain how and why people struggle and is very hard hitting because these are real people with real feelings. So glad I became part of it ... .”
Together, these reflections highlight the value of co-produced research approaches that not only generate richer insights but also create meaningful space for participants’ voices and experiences to be heard.
You can also find these research results published here.
For more information about the study, please contact info@pran.org.uk