Our Research

We are pioneers in the research space

Good research doesn’t just ask questions – it builds understanding, shifts power, and supports action. Our team brings together lived experience of homelessness with professional research expertise, grounding our work in the realities people face and helping us generate research that leads to lasting change.

For over two decades, we’ve been developing participatory research methods rooted in lived experience. The peer research model – now widely used across the sector – began with Groundswell. Today, we’re building on our legacy, using what we’ve learned to shape new, more creative and inclusive ways of working. 

How we work

We bring rigour, creativity and the human element to participatory research.
We design research projects that are collaborative from the ground up, working with people with lived experience of homelessness to shape every stage of the process.

• Embedded – We work in, and with, communities, building trust and reaching people whose voices often go unheard.
• Collaborative – We co-create research questions, tools, analysis and outputs.
• Flexible – We adapt our approach to the needs and interests of those involved, from focus groups and interviews to creative storytelling, participatory evaluation and action research.
• Ethical and trauma-informed – We take safeguarding, consent and wellbeing seriously for those who participate in our research in any capacity, drawing on best practice across academic and community sectors.
• Action-oriented – We design projects that lead to insight and impact, including campaigning, service change, or new ways of working.

Work With Us

If your values align with ours, we’d love to hear from you. We prioritise partnerships where:

• Lived experience is valued and plays a central role
• Collaboration runs across the whole research journey
• Findings are used to make meaningful change.

What We Offer

We believe that research about homelessness should lead to positive change.  

We work with partners with shared values who want to involve people with lived experience of homelessness meaningfully in research projects and policy change. Sometimes we deliver research together, with lived experience involvement from start to finish. In other cases, we contribute specific expertise and activities within larger projects. 

Participatory research partnerships 

We collaborate with academic, public sector and voluntary sector partners to design and deliver high quality research, strengthened by the ideas and contributions of people with experience of homelessness. 

This might include: 

• coproducing research questions and study design 
• developing participatory and trauma-informed methodologies 
• recruiting, training and supporting peer researchers 
• training for researchers and partners about homelessness and participatory research methods 
• Setting up and working with lived experience advisory groups 
• analysis, interpretation and reporting 
• creative outputs and dissemination events 

Research with people experiencing homelessness 

Our team has extensive experience conducting qualitative research, with people experiencing homelessness contributing as participants and as researchers. 

We are skilled at creating safe, respectful spaces where people feel able to share their experiences honestly.  

We regularly lead interviews, focus groups and other qualitative research activities, including all aspects participant recruitment and engagement. 

examples of our research partners