About us

Since October 2005, when iCoCo was established, we have built up a formidable portfolio of work and established ourselves as a leading and significant player in practitioner support, research and policy development. We now wish to move to the next stage of our development.

The Institute seeks to expand and become more proactive in tackling one of the key issues of our time: how we live together and build a cohesive society. iCoCo will build the evidence base, shape public debates, and develop new policy ideas. It will also advise and guide the private, public and voluntary sectors on how we build communities where people interact with each other in a meaningful way, experience true equality of opportunity and are active in civil society.

iCoCo is a not for profit partnership, which aims to build capacity at all levels and in all local and national agencies to promote community cohesion.

The Institute of Community Cohesion - the story so far

The Institute of Community Cohesion was established in 2005 to provide a new approach to race, diversity and multiculturalism. Our work focuses on building positive and harmonious community relations, using applied research to constantly develop practice and to build capacity of all the agencies and individuals involved.

iCoCo represents a unique partnership of academic, statutory and non-governmental bodies, which combine the experience and expertise of four Universities - Coventry, Warwick, DeMontfort and Leicester, with practitioners from a range of diverse backgrounds and professions. We are a not for profit organisation; any surpluses generated are used to fund further research.

We have grown our portfolio of work substantially since our inception and now wish to move towards a larger core establishment, substantially increasing our research and policy development capacity.

We believe that the Institute represents a unique organisation in this field, combining detailed knowledge of local issues and practice with a rigorous intellectual approach. We wish to capitalise upon this in a proactive advocacy, policy-making and debate-shaping role.