Community research UK

The Institute for Community Studies is a community-led research and evidence centre based in Bethnal Green, East London. Originally founded in 1953 by Michael Young as the Institute of Community Studies, it is probably best known for the 1957 report by Young and his colleague Peter Willmott, Family and Kinship in East London, which argued for the continuing importance of community ties in the age of the welfare state. Described as a sociological "phenomenon", the original Institute influenced a generation of sociologists and social historians.

The Institute was re-launched in 2019 with support from the Power to Change Trust, Friends Provident Foundation and a large private donation, with a remit to promote positive social, economic and environmental outcomes by better understanding how government and philanthropic interventions affect – and are affected by – the individuals, families and businesses that make up our local communities.

The Institute for Community Studies describes itself as "a new kind of research institute, with people and communities at its heart". It places particular emphasis on the role of communities themselves in the research process, both in determining the research questions to be answered and through the use of so-called peer researchers (also known as community-based participatory researchers) to collect evidence. In its first major publication, based on a coordinated series of national surveys and regional focus groups across the United Kingdom, the Institute identified seven priority areas for further research.