Sedulous Collective
Community Events
2025
Live
Nuff Sed was born out of a simple but uncomfortable truth. Community organisations often do powerful work, but that work rarely shifts systems if it stays contained within a single neighbourhood, project or network. Real change demands something bigger. It requires a space where community members, researchers, public sector leaders and grassroots organisers can sit together, speak honestly and challenge the ways participatory research is currently done. In other words, enough talk behind closed doors and more collective action. Enough said.
In April 2025, Sedulous launched The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Participatory Research, a cross sector event series designed to spark exactly that kind of honest exchange. Each quarterly event explores a different theme sitting under the wider question of how research can work better for, and with, the communities it claims to represent. The structure is intentional. Every event features three speakers who each bring a different lens: a community voice with lived experience, an academic voice who understands research systems from the inside and a statutory voice who must translate learning into policy and practice. Together, they open up conversations that are often difficult but always necessary.
After the speaker contributions, the discussion becomes fully interactive. The audience is invited into a Q&A that breaks down the usual hierarchy of events, opening space for challenge, reflection and shared problem solving. What emerges is a meeting point where perspectives collide in constructive ways, and where honesty becomes a catalyst for better research and fairer systems.
Since the first session, attendance has grown steadily. More community members want to be heard. More researchers and public sector professionals are recognising the need to rethink how participation is designed and why it matters. As the series moves toward its final event in October 2026, Nuff Sed has become more than a platform. It is a growing network of people committed to reshaping the relationship between communities, institutions and knowledge production.
Participatory research is often described as inclusive and community centred, yet many residents, organisations and researchers experience something very different in practice. The Nuff Sed series was created to address this gap by opening an honest space for cross sector dialogue and learning.
This matters because:
The series matters because it focuses not only on dialogue but on driving better practice across sectors, helping to create research cultures that are more ethical, more transparent and more aligned with community priorities.
Although still in its early stages, the Nuff Sed series is already demonstrating clear and measurable value. The events are shifting from individual conversations to a growing collective effort to improve the practice of participatory research.
Several early impacts stand out:
The early impact is clear: Nuff Sed is strengthening understanding, building relationships and encouraging systems-level reflection that supports more ethical and grounded participatory research.
The Nuff Sed series began as a self-funded initiative, created from a commitment to build a cross sector space where honest, grounded conversations about participatory research could take place. Its growth has been made possible through the generosity, solidarity and encouragement of a number of partners who share the belief that these conversations matter.
We are deeply grateful to every speaker who has contributed their time, insight and lived or professional expertise. Their willingness to participate openly and generously has shaped the tone of the series and set a standard for thoughtful, balanced and courageous dialogue.
We also want to express our appreciation to the Hyde Group, whose sponsorship of the Old Laundry venue has provided the physical home for these events. The venue has played a meaningful role in creating a welcoming environment where community members, academics and statutory partners feel able to come together on equal footing.
Our thanks also go to Purdy Contracts, who has supported three events by sponsoring food and covering essential expenses. This contribution has helped ensure the events remain accessible and inclusive for community members attending.
While we continue to seek larger and longer term sponsorship to expand the series and strengthen its sustainability, we are sincerely grateful for the support received so far. Each contribution, whether financial or through expertise, has helped Nuff Sed grow into a trusted platform for learning and shared action.
The systematic review will conclude later this year, delivering a clear evidence base on what makes research truly inclusive and community-centred. Our next milestone is to secure external funding that will move the project from insight to action: full development of the Sedulous Toolkit & Training Programme and a series of live pilots across multiple London boroughs. The funding will support co-design sessions with our co-researchers, production of user-ready templates and learning modules, and field-testing with community partners working on issues such as mental health, housing and food security. By the end of the pilot phase we aim to have a refined, shareable toolkit and accredited training offer that any organisation can adopt to embed equity and participation at the core of its research practice.
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