NatCen Social Research

- Centre for Deliberative Research
  
  The Centre for Deliberative Research focuses on citizen engagement with policy making in the context of democratic innovation as well as conducting research that draws on wider participatory methods and expertise in public engagement.
  
  We develop evidence and deliver a range of projects, from large multi-year deliberative research programmes to fast-turnaround qualitative projects. Our portfolio includes recent projects on Brexit, the environment and gender. We approach our work with innovation, working in partnership and collaboration to maximise the reach of the work we can do and the difference it can make.
Director
Ceri Davies is a qualitative social researcher with over a decade of experience of mixed methods projects and significant expertise in communities, deliberation and participatory research.

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Launch event
The online launch event provided an engaging exploration of online deliberative research methods with presentations from Ceri Davies, Director of the new Centre; Dr Alice Siu, a leading academic in the field of deliberative research from Stanford University; and Prof Alison Park, the Interim Executive Chair of the ESRC.

The event was chaired by NatCen’s Gerry Nicolaas and featured additional contributions from discussants Marian Barnes, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, University of Brighton; Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics and Senior Fellow at NatCen; and Reema Patel, Associate Director at the Ada Lovelace Institute.

Watch the launch event on YouTube
Events and resources
Find our past events, recordings and related resources here.

Watch the recordings
Our work

We work with government, charities, think tanks and universities on commissioned policy and research questions.

Recently this has included:

The Future of Britain - This project answers the need for public debate on the options and trade-offs facing policymakers with respect to post-Brexit policy.

Citizen Engagement on the Environment - This study aims to improve Defra’s understanding of people’s values and priorities for the environment and will generate options for taking these into account in environmental policymaking.

See more projects
Get in touch
To find out more about our work, how we can help you design deliberative research or partnership opportunities please call call 0207 549 9584 or email new-business@natcen.ac.uk.
Blog
Read about how our in-house experts conduct deliberative research designed to tackle the unique challenges set by the changing social landscape.

Click here for our deliberative research blog posts.
- Methods
  
  We deliver high-quality deliberative and participatory research processes that enable participants to get to grips with often complex and technical information in exploring and articulating their views. This is achieved via public dialogue, deliberative workshops and citizen's assemblies.
  
  We are specialists in taking deliberations online, with in-house capacity for technical and moderator expertise in delivery and providing training to others to do so.
  
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