Community
NTU works with communities in Mansfield and Ashfield to pilot new, innovative approaches to tackling local challenges.
These approaches are embedded in the local community and are underpinned by collaborative working and co-development.
Our work includes legal support and advice for individuals and businesses in the Ashfield and Mansfield area through our in-house teaching law firm NLS Legal, evaluation of Social Prescribing activities with Ashfield Voluntary Action; and the annual European Challenge, which sees students engaging with the district councils to address local issues from visiting European towns and cities with a similar heritage.
Case studies
Preserving our history
Coal mining has been a huge part of the history of Ashfield and Mansfield for more than 150 years, bringing not just employment and prosperity, but also helping to shape the very identity of the region.
Helping to preserve that history and tradition is NTU’s Professor Natalie Braber. Her work in sociolinguistics involves recognising Nottinghamshire language as heritage and fighting to record and save the unique way communication has been shaped here, including in mining communities across Ashfield and Mansfield.
European Future Towns Challenge
Now in its fourth year, the European Future Towns Challenge sees a group of 50 Nottingham Trent University students, along with academic mentors and university staff, embark on an eight-day international experience beginning in Mansfield and Ashfield, and taking in Lille and other areas of France.