https://peoplesknowledge.org/An independent journal on participatory and community-led researchhttps://peoplesknowledge.org/citizen-science-data-quality/https://peoplesknowledge.org/citizen-science-data-quality/2026-10-26How citizen science projects ensure data quality: fitness for purpose, protocols and training, expert validation and consensus, recording effort, calibration of instruments, statistical correction and metadata, with the US EPA's quality assurance handbook for citizen science and key research findings.https://peoplesknowledge.org/co-production-of-knowledge/https://peoplesknowledge.org/co-production-of-knowledge/2026-10-26The meanings of co-production in research, from Elinor Ostrom's public services work and Sheila Jasanoff's science studies to today's co-produced research projects; the NIHR principles for co-producing research, the four principles for knowledge co-production in sustainability science, and practical steps.https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-air-quality-monitoring/https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-air-quality-monitoring/2026-10-26How residents and community groups can monitor air pollution with low-cost sensors: what the sensors measure and their limits, choosing and siting devices, collocation and correction, US EPA and WHO reference points, and how community data have fed into policy such as California's AB 617.https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-based-participatory-research-principles/https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-based-participatory-research-principles/2026-10-26The principles of community-based participatory research as set out by Barbara Israel and colleagues from 1998 onwards, what each one means for a real partnership, how CBPR differs from ordinary community-placed research, and how funders such as NIH and PCORI approach it.https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-led-housing-research/https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-led-housing-research/2026-10-26A practical guide for residents, tenants' groups and community organisations who want to research housing in their own neighbourhood: forming a group and a question, using official data first, door-to-door condition and rent surveys, walking audits, photovoice and mapping, housing needs surveys for neighbourhood plans and community land trusts, ethics and safety for tenants, and turning findings into change.https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-university-partnership-agreements/https://peoplesknowledge.org/community-university-partnership-agreements/2026-10-26A practical checklist for written agreements between universities and community organisations doing research together: purpose and values, governance and decision-making, budget and overheads, data ownership, intellectual property, authorship, conflict resolution and ending the partnership.https://peoplesknowledge.org/evaluating-participatory-research/https://peoplesknowledge.org/evaluating-participatory-research/2026-10-26How to evaluate participatory and community-based research: what to measure (partnership process, research quality, outcomes for people and policy), useful frameworks such as the CBPR conceptual model and the REF definition of impact, and practical methods including most significant change, ripple effects mapping and outcome harvesting.https://peoplesknowledge.org/indigenous-data-sovereignty-care-principles/https://peoplesknowledge.org/indigenous-data-sovereignty-care-principles/2026-10-26What Indigenous data sovereignty means, how the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance complement the FAIR principles, the First Nations OCAP principles in Canada, Māori and Aboriginal data sovereignty networks, the Havasupai case, and practical steps for research teams.https://peoplesknowledge.org/informed-consent-community-research/https://peoplesknowledge.org/informed-consent-community-research/2026-10-26How informed consent works in participatory and community-based research: what the Common Rule requires, consent as a process, oral and low-literacy consent, community permission alongside individual consent, photographs, co-researchers collecting consent, withdrawal, and consent versus the GDPR lawful basis.https://peoplesknowledge.org/ladder-of-participation/https://peoplesknowledge.org/ladder-of-participation/2026-10-26Sherry Arnstein's 1969 ladder of citizen participation explained rung by rung, with the later typologies researchers use to judge participation (Hart's ladder for children, the IAP2 spectrum, Biggs, and the contributory-collaborative-co-created models of citizen science) and how to use them honestly.https://peoplesknowledge.org/open-community-data/https://peoplesknowledge.org/open-community-data/2026-10-26How participatory and citizen science projects can share their data: returning results to participants, open licences, anonymisation and small-number suppression, repositories and data agreements, and when data should not be open, with sources from UNESCO, the UK Data Service and research on report-back.https://peoplesknowledge.org/participatory-action-research/https://peoplesknowledge.org/participatory-action-research/2026-10-26What participatory action research (PAR) is, where it comes from (Lewin, Freire, Fals-Borda), how the plan-act-observe-reflect cycle works in practice, who does what in a PAR team, and the common pitfalls, with sources.https://peoplesknowledge.org/participatory-mapping/https://peoplesknowledge.org/participatory-mapping/2026-10-26A practical guide to participatory mapping and participatory GIS: where the methods come from, the main techniques (sketch maps, transect walks, scale models, GPS and open mapping), how to run a mapping workshop, and the ethical risks of putting community knowledge on a map.https://peoplesknowledge.org/paying-community-researchers/https://peoplesknowledge.org/paying-community-researchers/2026-10-26How to pay and recognise community members who take part in research: the difference between participants, public contributors and community researchers, cash versus vouchers, effects on welfare benefits and tax, institutional payment barriers, and non-financial recognition, with UK NIHR and US guidance.https://peoplesknowledge.org/photovoice-method/https://peoplesknowledge.org/photovoice-method/2026-10-26How photovoice works: its origins in Caroline Wang and Mary Ann Burris's work in the 1990s, the three goals of the method, a step-by-step project plan, the SHOWeD discussion questions, consent and ethics when photographing people, and how to take the results to decision-makers.https://peoplesknowledge.org/public-involvement-health-research/https://peoplesknowledge.org/public-involvement-health-research/2026-10-26What patient and public involvement (PPI) in health research means, how it differs from participation and engagement, the UK Standards for Public Involvement, James Lind Alliance priority setting, PCORI's engagement requirements in the US, the GRIPP2 reporting checklist, and how to involve people well.https://peoplesknowledge.org/research-ethics-with-communities/https://peoplesknowledge.org/research-ethics-with-communities/2026-10-26Why research with communities needs more than standard ethics approval: the Belmont Report and its limits, the history behind community distrust, CIOMS guidance on community engagement, the Durham and NCCPE principles for community-based participatory research, the TRUST Global Code of Conduct, and practical safeguards.https://peoplesknowledge.org/science-shops/https://peoplesknowledge.org/science-shops/2026-10-26What science shops are, how they began at Dutch universities in the 1970s and spread across Europe, how a community group can submit a research question, what students and supervisors deliver, and related models such as community-based research centres and Canada's Community-University Research Alliances.https://peoplesknowledge.org/what-is-citizen-science/https://peoplesknowledge.org/what-is-citizen-science/2026-10-26A clear introduction to citizen science: where the term comes from, early examples such as the Christmas Bird Count, the main project models (contributory, collaborative, co-created), what public policy says about it in the US and at UNESCO, and how to find and judge a project.