ABOUT THE PROJECT
Fishfingers and Fresh ideas will co-create a ‘good practice blueprint’ to share with other coastal communities. The ’blueprint’ will use accessible visual methods to share learning about how we developed our small-scale community-led social innovation, The Plymouth Fish Finger. We hope this will help inspire and equip other coastal communities to try our methods to generate their own change.
PROJECT LEAD
Louise Hunt
University of Plymouth
LOCATION:
Plymouth, UK
Project ACTIVE:
1 February – 31 November 2026
Project Partners
Project Funders
The Challenge
The Plymouth Fish Finger is a locally designed, healthy, and sustainable food innovation. It uses underutilised fish species which are currently often wasted, providing a fair price to small scale coastal fishers. The plan is to integrate the fish finger into the local school meal system.
As part of The UKRI funded FoodSEqual research project, six local citizens, drawn from an area of Plymouth with high levels of deprivation, were trained as Community Food Researchers. Integral to the research team, they worked to assess community food needs, revealing a desire for improved access to affordable, locally caught fish and knowledge of the fish supply chain. The development of the Plymouth Fish Finger involved collaboration and partnership working with school students, fishers’ organisations, producers and school meal providers. This community-driven effort serves as a potential model for other coastal communities, offering insights into amplifying the voices of those living in coastal communities with high levels of deprivation. While outputs for academic and public engagement audiences have been produced, the Coast-R grant will facilitate the creation of a ‘blueprint’ to share the project’s methods and processes with other coastal communities.
Our Approach
The project will be guided by co-production and participatory principles.
- A key approach will be to value the perspectives and experiences of partners from different backgrounds. For example, Community Food Researchers and industry partners will work together to identify key learnings to share with other coastal communities and generate ideas about how to share these learnings accessibly and creatively.
- Creativity is valued. By working with creative associate Hannah Mumby, we will harness her extensive experience of effective knowledge translation. Although we don’t yet know exactly what our ‘blueprint’ will look like, we want it to be exciting, and visually accessible.
- Reflexive. By visiting other coastal communities to deliver workshops (in person, or online if required) showcasing the ‘blueprint’, we will be able to listen and reflect on their feedback. This will enable us to make the ’blueprint’ even better and optimise impact. (142 words).
