A wise academic once advised me to test myself when planning and writing up research by asking myself the question: “So what?”. This approach certainly helps focus one’s mind on the overall aim of a project and the objectives that will be set to help achieve it. Since my interests lie in studying local and community media in the UK, and my research has never yet been funded by generous grants, my ambitions for making an impact have been relatively modest.
However, when the research office at Brunel University recently asked that we all indicate which of the United Nations’ Global Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) our research responded to, I had a rethink (THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org)). Could I apply this carefully-crafted ‘shared blueprint’ for a global partnership in protecting the planet to one of my recent research projects: UK Community Radio Production Responses to COVID-19 (brunel.ac.uk)?
I have to admit, that at the time of conducting the study, I did not have those goals front and centre. This was self-funded research for one thing; apart from my Research Ethics approval, there was no rationale other than a felt need to monitor how the UK’s body of volunteer community radio practitioners were adapting to broadcasting life under lockdown. And since my research has always been ‘domestic’, it’s been easy to lose sight of the applicability of the SDGs in this relatively advanced, affluent and peaceful country, compared to some of the usually-cited developing nations.
I looked over the research that I’ve amassed over the last ten years which has focused mainly on radio broadcasting, audio production practices and community media and I cross-referenced my findings with the ‘pavilion’ of SDGs. I considered the themes I’ve written about such as the uneven gender balance of presenters and other practitioner volunteers across the not-for-profit community radio sector (SDG 5). I’ve found evidence about the extent to which local community broadcasting adapted and innovated (SDG 9) to support listeners not only by collecting and circulating vital information on available resources (SDG 11), but through providing friendship, lending an ear and being compassionate good company during the darkest days of the pandemic, and even the wellbeing boost that actually being involved in community radio can provide to volunteers and contributors (SDG 3).
So, I realised, I do care about those aims it’s just that I have taken them for granted in my approach to researching what is, in essence, satisfying one of the most important goals and that’s the pursuit of a better society through pursuing Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16) gained partly through ensuring equitable access to information and the ability to hold the authorities to account.
The exercise of retrospectively applying (however tangentially) the SDG framework to my past research has really helped me strengthen my sense of purpose. I’m currently taking a deep dive into the realm of environmental and climate change reporting on UK community radio, with a view to writing a chapter for a proposed book: Media Industries and Space: Networks, Locations, Events. This publishing opportunity stemmed from my participation in the interdisciplinary Media Industries Conference at Kings College, London last June: Media Industries (locatingmediaindustries.com). I already have interviewees in mind: community radio practitioners who produce and present shows and features that address environmental, climate change, sustainability, nature, and ecological issues. Many of them were involved in a project initiated by a volunteer from Bristol-based BcFM, the launch of a nationwide ‘Our Earth Week’: UK community radio stations unite for Our Earth Week 2023 - BCfm Radio. It is hoped that this will become an annual event.
My research project, with this community radio-driven environmental activism at the core, clearly speaks to SDG 13 so I’ll be sure to take stock of related literature and research and not only cite but aim to promote the Global Goals more prominently in future!
Article by Dr Josephine Coleman| Brunel University London