Great news from Nottingham!
Dr Abi Rhodes, our wonderful Economic (In)Justice Project coordinator, has been successful in her application for a 6-month Fellowship with the University of Nottingham.
In her role as ESRC & University of Nottingham Postdoctoral Fellow (Impact and Knowledge Exchange) starting on 1st July, Abi will be funded to investigate, in collaboration with Journey to Justice, grassroots storytelling and community building for economic justice.
Abi will evaluate the power of storytelling to galvanise and train volunteers to take action for change in communities. The project asks: what role does storytelling play in galvanising ‘ordinary people’ to take action for economic justice?
She will run workshops to promote our economic justice resources and engage volunteers in communities, aiming to galvanise local groups in the Midlands to bring about change in the economic issues important to them.
Abi’s work will lead to developing more insights and knowledge about storytelling as ‘communication for action’. This will be invaluable and will greatly inform JtoJ’s future work throughout the UK.
During the six months, Nottingham University will host a symposium to share the knowledge gained during the workshops, the exchange of effective practice about using the JtoJ Economic (In)Justice resources to train volunteers, and the impact of storytelling on galvanising for change. Abi will be writing a report on the impact of the resources on partner volunteers and the data gathered from the workshops and interviews will lead to an academic publication on the power of storytelling for economic justice.
This work will be transforming for Journey to Justice’s work and mission as we continue to develop and expand. Abi is a superb ambassador for JtoJ and we are delighted she’ll be taking on this new post from July.
We will be posting updates about Abi’s fellowship work, so watch this space!
We wish Abi all the best for the next six months and thank her very much for successfully applying for this new source of funding for JtoJ.