2024: A YEAR IN REVIEW
“As people who work across varied sectors, we’re always fascinated to see common themes emerging in diverse settings”
As 2024 draws to a close, we’ve been reflecting on the issues and opportunities that have shaped our work at Progress Today this year.
As people who work across varied sectors, we’re always fascinated to see common themes emerging in diverse settings.
This year, we’ve noted that ideas around Community, Inclusion and Creativity are at the forefront of many people’s minds.
Together, these concepts point to a shared desire to come closer, to understand each other better and to build more open ways of working, where everyone has the chance to contribute meaningfully.
Exploring concepts for engagement at a UK Mediation event this November
Community: Strengthening the Foundations
Community has been at the heart of so many discussions this year. Across our work in education, housing and research, we’ve seen an emphasis on better engagement, more supportive environments and deeper communication, as well as a recognition of the importance of community for resilience.
This September we visited Colleges across the country, delivering induction talks and events to kick start successful academic years. We saw how staff in Student Services are striving to help students feel a strong sense of belonging, recognising that community is key to student success. We followed this up with staff training events throughout the year, supporting teams to boost engagement and participation.
At two events by Mediation UK we supported mediation practitioners to develop new skills in engagement, communication and connection, including by sharing the inspiring African philosophy of Ubuntu - which emphasises the interconnectedness of all people. As an ambassador for The Tutu Foundation, Kheron is increasingly called upon to help teams, organisations and community groups strengthen bonds and overcome divisions.
Kheron shares the philosophy of Ubuntu at a Mediation UK conference.
In the housing sector we also noticed that building trust with and within communities is a key priority. Speaking at an industry conference organised by Inside Housing we connected with housing providers who are eager to foster spaces where diverse groups of people can learn from each other and grow together.
In Research our ongoing work with The British Academy and London Development Trust, exploring young people’s views on Social and Cultural Infrastructure, revealed that relationships with trusted adults in their communities are central to young people’s social and cultural growth.
The emphasis on community-making we’ve seen this year has been both inspiring and grounding. In uncertain times, it’s clear that relationships—whether in schools, neighbourhoods, or workplaces—are what sustain us and help us to move forward.
Inclusion: Turning Words into Action
Inclusion has been one of the most discussed topics this year among our clients, but more importantly, we’ve seen real efforts to turn longstanding lip service into meaningful action.
Kheron and Ella share engagement strategies at the Housing for All conference in Northern Ireland.
In the housing sector, new consumer standards are pushing for a rigorous approach to inclusion. We’ve been thrilled to deliver training for multiple housing providers, including at the recent Housing for All event in Northern Ireland, on engagement strategies and creative research techniques that can ensure all voices are heard and considered in decision-making processes.
Education is also embracing inclusion, with a stronger push for student leadership and more opportunities for young people to contribute their perspectives to institutional decisions through student councils and conferences.
In research, we’ve seen a huge interest in developing more inclusive research methods. Attendees of our Creative Research in Action Webinar listed ‘maximising inclusion in research’ as their top priority for further learning. On the ground, we’ve been working with several organisations to maximise inclusion in their research approaches. For example, we’ve supported Bloody Good Period to develop a versatile suite of methods that gives diverse communities multiple choices for how to be involved in evaluation research, ensuring they can share their views in a way that meets their needs.
Additionally, we’ve noticed a growing recognition of the value of lived experience. We had the pleasure of speaking at Expert Citizens’ Insight Awards 2024, an event committed to celebrating and advocating for the insight held by those who have experienced an issue first hand. Beyond this focused event, we’re seeing many organisations calling for more emphasis on lived experience in their management and decision making processes.
We’re optimistic that inclusion is starting to move beyond being a buzzword and instead is a goal that many organisations are committing time and deep thinking to.
Kheron has been running student leaders events at Hartpury College.
Creativity: Shaking things Up
Creativity has been another defining theme of 2024, with sectors increasingly recognising its power to drive engagement, innovation and meaningful change.
Our Creative Research in Action Webinar drew attendees from universities, colleges, charities, research consultancies, housing providers and community organisations, as well as independent practitioners. The energy in the (virtual) room and the overwhelmingly positive feedback underscored how creativity is being embraced across industries. We already have a long list of people eager to enrol on our extended webinar series on this topic.
While creative methods have been gaining traction among academic researchers for years, we’re now seeing many research consultancies eager to adopt creative research approaches in their work too. In July we delivered a fantastic session with Truth, exploring creative methods with their team, and we’re also forming exciting collaborations with TLF Research and Dublin based Bricolage in this area.
Ahead of the publication of Ella’s new book Encountering the World With i-Docs, in Jan 2025 we’re also supporting teams to embed interactive documentary as an innovative way of doing and sharing research.
Ella ran a dynamic workshop for Truth Consulting on Creative Research Methods
Staff in education and community development are also increasingly keen to get creative. This year we ran a fantastic series of workshops on creative uses of technology to engage students and communities. Attendees got hands on, trying out easily actionable tech tips to optimise engagement and participation in ‘IRL’ as well as virtual settings. We’re also seeing housing providers and charities excited to use creative research methods in their work. For example, we’re working with Caring in Bristol, using storytelling methods, among more traditional approaches, to evaluate the success of their new youth homelessness shelter.
Researchers in scientific domains are equally opening up more to creative approaches. In our work with Natural England we’ve been developing a thinking tool to help their Chief Scientist Directorate embed arts based approaches, including through collaborations with artists and creative practitioners.
This growing embrace of creativity across sectors shows a willingness to experiment, innovate, and step outside traditional frameworks—an essential step in tackling the complex, intersecting challenges facing the world today.
Looking Ahead
As we reflect on these three themes—community, inclusion, and creativity—we’re optimistic that 2025 can be a year of meaningful progress together. While 2024 has been, in many ways, a year of conflict, precarity and tension, we’re lucky to have witnessed the flip side of this. Even against a backdrop of challenge and turbulence, we’ve met countless individuals and teams who are dedicated to working for deeper connection and broader representation and who are not afraid to shake up their ways of working to find new solutions.
Moving into 2025, we’re excited to continue working with teams across sectors, leveraging engagement skills to build an inclusive, connected and imaginative future.
