Flourishing spaces in higher education and beyond
Our vision
We develop spaces and environments to enable and research flourishing.
Our mission
Our mission is to understand and articulate spaces and environments that enable flourishing and to explore how to make flourishing spaces accessible to all in Higher Education and beyond.
We bring curiosity, creativity and a readiness to learn, engaging both reason and imagination, words and the arts, our bodies and minds.
Our values
Curiosity: Fostering a mindset of continuous exploration and learning.
Creativity: Encouraging innovative and artistic approaches to problem-solving.
Connection: Building strong relationships and a sense of community.
Compassion: Cultivating empathy and understanding in leadership and educational practises.
Context and need
University education has become increasingly challenging for both staff and students, particularly due to the pressures of COVID-19 and the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) times we inhabit with resulting growth in loneliness, poor mental health and burnout. The shift towards digital and remote learning spaces has exacerbated feelings of loneliness and disconnection, leading to increased burnout and mental health challenges. By enabling flourishing spaces, we aim to regeneratively support the development of relationships with ourselves, each other, meaningful work, and the natural environment.
Our aims and priorities
Conceptualisation and Research: To conceptualise, share and research regenerative approaches to flourishing in higher education.
Understanding Flourishing: To better understand how students and staff might grow and reflect in various university spaces, whether digital, face-to-face, informal, formal, student-only, or co-creative student-staff collaborative spaces.
Systems Thinking: To utilise systems thinking approaches to understand organisational-level changes necessary for human flourishing.
International Community: To grow an international community of scholars who explore lived experiences, practices, and research on flourishing spaces through different cultural lenses.
Our theory of change
Action:
Build Collaboration and Community: Foster partnership and collaborative networks .
Research: Conduct thorough investigations into flourishing spaces.
Disseminate: Share findings through publications and innovative formats such as exhibitions and theatre.
Short term outcomes:
Develop a comprehensive narrative and description of flourishing spaces in higher education and beyond.
Organise workshops, events, exhibitions, and community engagements to explore the meaning of flourishing and what flourishing spaces look like.
Conduct collaborative research on flourishing spaces in higher education, focusing on East London and selected global locations.
Long term outcomes
Inform policy development and institutional change .
Influence the Higher Education sector .