Connect Nottingham, a new partnership hub bringing together communities, researchers, businesses and policymakers opened in Nottingham city centre last week.
The hub, located on Middle Pavement is a collaboration between the University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Council and Homes England. Connect Nottingham brings together three programmes; Café Connect, City as Lab and Urban Room, all focused on encouraging people to take part and engage directly with research by sharing ideas, knowledge and lived expertise to flourish conversations about the future of Nottingham and the wider East Midlands.
The grand opening on Tuesday 27 October was attended by Claire Ward, the Mayor of East Midlands; Councillor Neghat Khan, Leader of Nottingham City Council; Jo Nugent, Executive Regional Director for the Midlands at Homes England; and Professor Tom Rodden, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham.
Professor Ellen Townsend, MindTech colleague who leads the Self-Harm Research Group (SHRG) within the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, co-leads the Café Connect space with Dr Becki Ford, Associate Professor in Sensory and Consumer Science at University of Nottingham. Café Connect will provide a welcoming space to break down barriers between communities and universities and create opportunities for local people to meet researchers. In this space it’s encouraged to explore topics that matter to them, and contribute their experiences to research projects.
The space includes the Weston Immersive Room which enables participants to experience fully immersive environments using projection, sound, scent, temperature and other sensory stimuli. Other digital assets for use in the space include BlueSkeye's emotion and behavioural analytics, digital data capture and tablet-based engagement tools, environmental simulation, interactive exhibitions and advanced visualisation techniques.
Connect Nottingham is generously supported by a large capital award from the Garfield Weston Foundation led by Ellen and Becki supported by Craig Davidson in CARO.
Ellen attended the opening day and showcased Purrble project from the UKRI funded Digital Youth programme. Purrble is an interactive plushie robot which could improve anxiety and depressive symptoms in LGBTQ+ young people, specifically designed to target emotion regulation. Purrble works by simulating a quickened heartbeat and shaking, encouraging its user to calm it through petting. As the plushie is pet, it slows down and begins to purr, supporting the young person to separate themselves from challenging emotions in the moment and soothe themselves.
Connect Nottingham hopes that more research projects can be showcased and developed within its city centre location. The hub is open to anyone interested in taking part in research, communities, researchers, businesses, policymakers and anyone with a connection to Nottingham.
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