Find out about ‘Researching voluntary and community organisations, charities, NGOs and philanthropy using organisational records: An interdisciplinary summer school for doctoral and early career researchers’, 15 and 16 July 2025

We are delighted to announce that we are holding an interdisciplinary summer school for doctoral and early career researchers at University College London on 15 and 16 July 2025. Supported by the British Academy Research Project (ARP) ‘Archiving the Mixed Economy of Welfare’ (Georgina Brewis and Angela Ellis Paine) it is co-organised with VSSN (Helen Abnett) and VAHS (Marta Starostina).

Across a range of disciplines there is new interest in the use of organisational records and documents – both contemporary and historic – within research on voluntary and community action. This can range from research based solely on charity accounts, annual reports or policy-position papers, for example, through to research which utilises such documents as part of a wider, mixed methods, approach. Working with voluntary sector records and archives can, however, be a challenging, and lonely, endeavour. This two-day residential summer school will provide doctoral, post-doctoral and other early career researchers with the opportunity to explore the use of organisational documents within research on NGOs, social movements, activism, voluntary organisations, community action and philanthropy.

The workshop will feature a range of workshops, object based learning and a walking tour. All participants will have the opportunity to present their own research, with a focus on sharing and working through the delights and dilemmas of documentary and archival research whilst also receiving feedback from established academics. There will also be a series of workshops on a different aspect of documentary and archival research. The aim is to build a community of researchers working in this area to enable ongoing peer support and development.

Through the generous support of the British Academy, participation in the conference is free. This includes all refreshments including dinner on day one. There are a limited number of bursaries available to cover overnight accommodation (single room, shared bathrooms), for those who need it. Participants will be responsible for their own travel costs.

Whether using organisational documents is a small or a large part of your research, or whether you focus on contemporary or historic records, we would love to hear from you. If you would like to attend complete our application, telling us a bit about your research and what you would want to get out of the summer school, so that we can make sure it meets everyone’s needs.