QUB Innovation Zones, community partners and international collaborators contributed to an interactive social innovation colloquium on 27 May 2025.

Members of the Innovation Zones (Dr Julie McMullan and Dr Liam O’Hare) have contributed to the publication of new article on the role government policy plays in the work of place-based community-led organisations.

I recently returned from an enriching visit to Queen’s University Innovation Zones, where I engaged with a remarkable community of researchers, innovators, and community projects dedicated to creating positive social change.

Isa Sprethuber has been awarded the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship with National Museums NI. She is Researching Conflict and Creativity

Lucy Kentish is currently visiting with a colleague from the Innovation Zones and Mitchell Institute, Dr Laura Dunne. Lucy is a PhD student at the University of Bristol.

Hayley Haynes-Rolando has been awarded a visiting scholarship through the University of the Witwatersrand and Queen’s University Belfast PhD Mobility Grant.

What a performance!

The First Minister and Junior Minister visited a Crescendo performance in Good Shepherd Primary School on 29 May 2024.

Minister Gordon Lyons visited a rehearsal of the Crescendo team on 14 May 2024.

A New PhD opportunity with QUB Innovation Zones and National Museums NI has been released. The project is an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship with National Museums NI.

Recently the Common Health Assets (CHA) project team met in Belfast to consolidate learning so far, as they head into the third and final year of the project.

Pupils from Belfast Model School for Girls and Belfast Boys’ Model School visited Queen’s during this year's annual Festival.

Queens University and Ukraine Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University are working together to develop a new educational course for school leaders and teachers.

Junyi Wang writes: I have just started my PhD at Queen’s University, conducting a pilot study of the Crescendo music and social learning programme in China.

The Innovation Zones welcomed colleagues from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and the Tallaght community recently to explore North South collaborations focused on supporting children, young people and their families.

The Common Health Assets (CHA) project team and the Innovation Zones team welcomed our CHA community led organisation (CLO) partners to a stakeholder workshop based at Queen’s.

Members of the Ulster Orchestra played along with scores of school children at the Crescendo concert in the Ulster Hall on 13 June.

The QUB Innovation Zones team welcomed the Ulster Orchestra’s staff to QUB SSESW to exchange thoughts on how Crescendo research is evidencing improvements in pupil's musical, social and emotional development.

In March 2023, the Common Health Assets project team celebrated good news when their protocol paper was accepted for publication in BMJ Open.

A new book has been published featuring research on the Crescendo primary school music education and social learning programme.

Young people from Belfast’s Shankill have been telling the story of how they want their lives to be.

It was an action packed agenda for the Common Health Assets research team when they met for their first in person meeting at the Yanus Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, 9 and 10 May 2022

The Crescendo just keeps building...

Queen’s University Belfast and Colin Neighbourhood Partnership (CNP) are collaborating on a number of projects through Queen’s Innovation Zones, including Common Health Assets (CHA).

Jill Mulholland has started an interdisciplinary PhD across the School of Nursing and Midwifery and School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work.

Dozens of news outlets have recently reported on the Common Assets project, the UK’s largest study on the health benefits of community groups and organisations.

Crescendo has received funding from two new funders. Both projects will see Crescendo increase its evidence base, social impact and scale.

NIHR awards £1.5m in funding to project assessing the impact of community led organisations on health.

Funding has been secured for a PhD looking at 'Social Prescribing'.

Crescendo conference marks Children's Mental Health Week 2021

The Innovation Zones team has been working alongside Greater Shankill Children and Young People Zone in their long-term commitment to provide bespoke wrap around support to the children and young people of the Shankill community.

Innovation Zones and the wider Crescendo committee establish new links with University of Glasgow and top Scottish Orchestras.

The Innovation Zones teams at QUB, led by Dr Liam O’Hare, have secured an ESRC Impact Acceleration grant to develop a branding and marketing strategy.