Organisation profile
Organisation profile
The Just Futures Research Centre is an internationally renowned centre of excellence for innovative research that seeks to make a difference in response to contemporary social problems affecting children, young people, their families and communities. Established for over 25 years, the Centre is a dynamic space for innovating thinking and practice and enabling learning for change in organisations and communities.
The Centre comprises a multi-disciplinary team of highly regarded academics from across the University drawn from areas including social work, health, social policy, sociology, geography, political science, psychology and education. The Centre hosts a vibrant postgraduate research community including students from overseas in fully equipped state of the art facilities.
We are committed to collaborative research that seeks to make a difference, which means that our work is participant-focused, practice-based, policy relevant and has real-world impact.
We seek to involve professionals, as well as children, youth and families as research partners using innovative, creative and participatory methodologies to support learning for change. Through our work we create opportunities for dialogue, learning and reflection as well as theoretical and methodological development to build capacity for change in organisations, communities and public service systems.
Our aim is to enhance understanding and generate new knowledge and evidence-informed changes in policies and practices in order to promote just, equitable and sustainable lives for children, young people in their families and communities.
The Centre has expertise in service evaluation and improvement projects, knowledge exchange and public engagement working with local authorities, NHS trusts, community and voluntary sector organisations, schools and government policy initiatives, using knowledge effectively to inform developments in policy and practice. Centre staff are experienced in coproduction, participatory action research and public engagement for maximizing impact from research.
Thus, our vision is located very firmly in a commitment to work together to understand the challenges and co-produce the solutions that will be needed to bring about more just futures.
Fingerprint
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Profiles
-
Philip Brown
- Department of Social and Psychological Sciences - Professor of Housing and Communities
- School of Human and Health Sciences
- Just Futures Centre - Member
Person: Academic
-
Tom Considine
- Department of Social and Psychological Sciences - Senior Lecturer
- School of Human and Health Sciences
- Just Futures Centre - Member
Person: Academic
-
Beyond Compliance: Understanding the Role of Peer Review Through a Theory of Change
Kaehne, A., Feather, J. & Simcock, T., 26 Mar 2026, In: Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. 32, 2, 10 p., e70422.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Evidencing the Impact of VCSE Organisations on Community Health and Wellbeing in Kirklees
Newton, D., Poudel, N. & Brown, P., 1 May 2026, (Unpublished) 25 p.Research output: Book/Report › Other report
-
Hong Kong BN(O) Migrants in the UK: Settlement, Wellbeing, and Housing Pathways
Brown, P., Halsall, J., Gill, S., Simcock, T. & Agbokou, A., 3 Jun 2026, (Accepted/In press) In: Social Sciences. 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
-
A Collaborative Analytical Platform to Visually Explore Multi-Sector Datasets to improve the Energy Efficiency of Residential Buildings
Iram, S. (PI) & Brown, P. (CoI)
8/10/24 → 31/07/25
Project: Research
-
Child Participation and action research workshop Linnaeus
Percy-Smith, B. (PI)
13/06/19 → 20/06/19
Project: Research
-
Children and Parental Alcohol Misuse Service Improvement project
Percy-Smith, B. (PI)
1/08/20 → 31/07/21
Project: Research
Activities
-
Flooded Homes, Fractured Lives: Evidence from a Mental Health Needs Assessment in West Yorkshire
Newton, D. (Speaker) & Simcock, T. (Contributor to Paper or Presentation)
20 Apr 2026Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
-
Parallels in participation: bridging research and practice to amplify the voices of looked after children with learning disabilities
Olivant, L. (Speaker)
17 Apr 2026Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
-
Delivery of WYFLIP Mental Health Needs Assessment Workshops (COLIF Programme)
Newton, D. (Speaker) & Simcock, T. (Speaker)
25 Mar 2026 → 31 Mar 2026Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
Press/Media
-
Latest housing research: Homes without beds, systems under strain
12/05/26
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
-
Rebuilding housing’s professional identity
6/05/26
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
-
'I left village I'd lived in all my life after floods - I still feel guilty'
29/04/26
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
Datasets
-
None in Three Centre: Global Challenges Research Fund qualitative interviews and focus group transcriptions - United Kingdom
Jones, A. (Owner), Gomersall, T. (Creator), Wager, N. (Creator) & Gibbs, G. (Creator), University of Huddersfield, 2999
DOI: 10.34696/x1hq-d175
Dataset
-
None in Three Centre: Global Challenges Research Fund qualitative interviews and focus group transcriptions - India
Jones, A. (Creator), Gibbs, G. (Creator), Gomersall, T. (Creator), Wager, N. (Creator), Varma, B. (Creator) & Patil, P. (Creator), University of Huddersfield, 2999
DOI: 10.34696/kxmj-fv19
Dataset
-
CHEER digital resources
Lomax, H. (Creator), Smith, K. (Creator) & Walsh, B. (Contributor), UK Data Service, 1 Jul 2021
Dataset