UK Co-operative Research

The College works closely with the UK Co-operative movement and educational institutions to carry out research into the role and impact of co-operatives in the UK. With our partners, we arrange conferences and seminars covering a wide range of topics relating to co-operatives.

Our partners include:

The Co-operative Group

Recent examples include research to inform the production of a new resource for Fairtrade Towns (Making Connections: The Co-operative Guide to Fairtrade Towns link). The Research team has also utilised the rich collections from the National Co-operative Archive to research the history of various arms of the Group’s business and membership activities.

Co-operatives UK

Higher Education Institutions

We work with a growing number of unversity partners:

Universities of Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores, Salford, Manchester Metropolitan, Central Lancashire (UCLAN), London – University College, Stirling, Open University, Huddersfield, Insitute of Education (London) Lincoln,

The College is currently co- supervising four doctoral students, studying subjects relating to co-operatives:

History

• Angela Whitecross (UCLAN) – Co-operative Commonwealth- New Jerusalem or Third Way?  History of the Co-operative Party 1930 -1952
• S.M.L. Seimu (UCLAN) – The role of co-operatives within colonial and states in East Africa and their continuance and growth as drivers of development in the post-colonial period: Experience from Tanzania from 1940s – 1980s.

International Development

• Rowshan Hannan (University of Leeds) – An investigation into reducing poverty through co-operative enterprises in East Africa
• Sally Hartley (Open University) The contribution of young people to learning for development in African co-operatives

International partnerships 

We are developing partnerships with co-operative researchers, unversities and colleges internationally.  They include: