Research Stories

Mike and Catherine Leyshon (CGES), the Voluntary Sector Forum, and Volunteer Cornwall were awarded £4,000 from the University’s Bridging Community Fund to conduct a volunteer survey in Cornwall. This project seeks to empower and energise the voluntary sector, especially in the face of the drive towards mobilising the voluntary sector to deliver statutory and non-statutory services in the health and care sector. A survey of the voluntary sector will provide as comprehensive a picture as possible of the current size and shape of the voluntary sector in Cornwall. This will enable the research team, the Voluntary Sector Forum and Volunteer Cornwall to: i) determine future research and strategic priorities; ii) target effort in future projects at under-served communities; and iii) work at a strategic level to co-design appropriate commissioning practices for the voluntary sector; iv) contribute towards fulfilling the CUA. In March 2025, Catherine Leyshon presented some of the ideas underpinning the project to an audience of over 60 voluntary sector organisations and local authorities nationally via a webinar organised by the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA).