JUST Centre researchers Ceri Holman, Helen Holmes, Harry Barton and Sherilyn MacGregor have secured funding from the University of Manchester’s Humanities Strategic Civic Engagement Fund for a new project, “Local citizen storytelling for just and hopeful climate futures.” The team will work alongside the Local Storytelling Exchange and two community hubs in Greater Manchester to develop digital storytelling techniques that link social justice, resilience and climate action.
The project builds on storytelling sessions supported by the JUST Centre earlier this year, including an online workshop in March led by the Local Storytelling Exchange and Futureproof Cumbria, designed to help community organisations and local participants learn how to disseminate news of their events ahead of Great Big Green Week 2026. The workshop focused on practical ways to communicate through local and social media, helping develop confidence in how to share positive climate and nature stories more widely.
Participants were encouraged to come prepared with ideas about climate and environmental-related projects and events they wanted to highlight, to reflect on what they wished more people knew about their work in the community, and how local outcomes might look different with better information and stronger storytelling. Attendees shared the ways they hoped to use the ideas in practice, from more personal stories to local events including a plastic-free prom and community film screening.
A related session at the Zero Carbon Cumbria Climate Summit also brought together participants from a wide range of sectors and backgrounds, including local government, the arts, charities and business, and led to the creation of a Cumbrian storytelling network that will receive continued support from JUST Centre researchers.
