Community-led Research: Supporting young people directly affected by interpersonal violence through relational support

VRU would like to invite you to the market engagement event for a Community Partner and Research Partner to co-deliver the upcoming research project ‘Community-led Research: Supporting young people directly affected by interpersonal violence through relational support’. The session will be held online on Wednesday 13th August from 14:00 – 15:30 where we will share further information about this opportunity.

The partnership seeks to focus on two key areas:

1.Building a London specific evidence base – understanding current provision of tertiary support. Identifying effective approaches that could improve capacity of services within the system to better respond to the needs of young people impacted by violence. It is key the research applies an intersectional approach – understanding the wider context of those young people’s lives and the different needs that organisations have a responsibility to respond to

2.Translating research into action – at the VRU we strive to bridge the gap between theory and practice. We therefore want to develop practice, policy and commissioning recommendations, including a policy report & commissioning blueprint for funders who might be seeking to commission services locally

What the Community Partner will do:

•Facilitate participation of young people, ensuring this is conducted in a trauma-informed and non-extracted approach

•Advise on the co-design of research materials and methodology

•Provide consultation to the researcher on the nuanced local context and need

•Co-design research outputs with the researcher

•Timeline-dependent, they will also have the opportunity to be a part of the commissioning of the research partner

What the Research Partner will do:

•Hold the project management of the research project

•Co-design research questions, methodology & participatory research methods

•Conduct primary and secondary research

•Ensure the voice of those most impacted by violence and the barriers to systemic support re embedded within the research

•Develop creative and engaging research outputs with consultation from the community partner

The research is focussed on gaining a deeper understanding of how services and systems currently support young people who are impacted by violence. The VRU know that, all to often, systems and services struggle to offer meaningful, sustained support. This can be due to a range of factors – limited capacity, fragmented service delivery, or approaches that don’t fully reflect the needs or lived realities of young people.

As part of this broader market engagement, the Violence Reduction Unit is particularly interested in hearing from both researchers and organisations who are delivering what's known as ‘tertiary’ interventions - those working directly with young people already affected by violence, to reduce harm and prevent reoffending or escalation. We want to learn from what’s working, understand the gaps, and ultimately build a more informed and responsive system of support.

We would encourage the commissioned Community partner to have the ability to:

•Have meaningful youth engagement, particularly delivering tertiary support for those most impacted by violence

•Understand the systems around these young people - youth justice, policing, housing, health services, and how they all interact when it comes to supporting young people

•Have established relationships and are trusted within their community

•Comfortable working with others, co-developing ideas, and managing delivery in a way that keeps momentum but also stays flexible.

We would encourage the commissioned Research Partner to have the ability to:

•Knowledge of youth work, youth justice and the criminal justice system, including but not limited to: policy frameworks governing practice, local multi-agency arrangements, and ‘good practice’ on the ground within these sectors.

•Quantitative & qualitative research methods.

•Meaningfully engage and work collaboratively with grassroots / VCS & community groups, as well as strong engagement with young people

•Innovative and informed approaches when interacting with young people who have experienced trauma, tailoring approaches based on needs of the young people.

•Create engaging and influential research outputs which strive to effect systemic change

Further information related to the tender opportunity for both Lots will be provided during the session

Please reply to vrucommissioning@london.gov.uk by midday on Monday 11th August 2025 to sign up to the Information Session. Please include: "VRU Community Led Research – Supporting young people directly impacted by interpersonal violence” in the title of the email.

If you cannot attend the session but would like to be sent the bidding opportunity when it is released please state this in your email.

Thank you