--- title: The Union Unfiltered InsightHub Featured on Wonkhe description: In mid-2025, The Union at Manchester Metropolitan University joined with FlexMR to build The Union Unfiltered. One year on, Research Manager Sarah Waterhouse, reflects on the experience and its transformational impact. image: https://resources.flexmr.net/hubfs/Marketing_Files/Resources/Image_Cards/26-05%20MMU-Wonkhe.png --- close ## Ready to level up your insights? Get ready to streamline, scale and supercharge your research. Fill out this form to request a demo of the InsightHub platform and discover the difference insights empowerment can make. A member of our team will reach out within two working days. close ## Cost effective insights that scale Quality insight doesn't need to cost the earth. Our flexible approach helps you make the most of research budgets and build an agile solution that works for you. Fill out this form to request a call back from our team to explore our pricing options. 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Now, one year on, Research Manager Sarah Waterhouse, reflects on the experience of building the community, the impact it has had and how it is transforming the role of the student voice across The Union. This piece was originally published on the Wonkhe SUs blog and is available to read in full [here](https://wonkhe.com/blogs-sus/gamifying-online-communities-is-transforming-our-student-voice/). Here's what Sarah had to say. ## The Union Unfiltered Representing the student voice is no mean feat at a university with a diverse 44,000 strong population. And the existing culture was one of developing a new initiative then consulting students with no real flexibility on the end goal. A couple years ago we developed our theory of impact which marked a fresh focus on the outcomes of our activities. The voice strand of this involves ensuring that more students have the opportunity to share their lived experiences and our members feel able to influence their student experience. Our agile and asynchronous online community gives us real-time and instant access to an engaged pool of students – we’re currently at 550. We can gain insights and inform policy as well as creating a safe space for students to come to us with any surfacing issues or priorities for change. It’s completely changed the way we manage our research. The insights also travel far. They’ve been presented to Transport for Greater Manchester to lobby for cheaper student tram travel, they’ll support our submission for the Responsible Futures accreditation and complement work on the refreshed Student Futures Commitment. The community thrives on gaining insightful, qualitative evidence and that’s where we focus our efforts. Students are giving us insights that we’d traditionally taken weeks to gather before. Importantly it has also improved our reputation amongst students as an organisation that actively listens to its members. Gamifying Online Communities Sarah also explains how the platform uses competitive leaderboards, regular rewards and gamified elements to build a strong sense of community and belonging. She says: alongside fortnightly research activities, community activities such as forums, blogs, scrapbooks and newsletters run parallel. It’s these low-effort, low-stakes activities that we get students through the door and engage with the platform. Every activity on the platform also earns community members points. These points not only convert into prize draw entries but into status icons that are displayed on their profiles. For a digital-native population who crave belonging, an insight community isn’t just a place to share opinions - but to contribute to shared experience in a meaninful way. ## About Wonkhe [Wonkhe](https://wonkhe.com/) is the home of the UK higher education debate, bringing the sector together through expert analysis, debate and insight. It is a space for diverse voices, providing the platforms to drive policy conversation forward. Those platforms include regular articles, a weekly podcast, events for higher education professionals, job boards and partnerships. [View All Resources](https://resources.flexmr.net/) ### For press enquiries To discuss press and media enquiries please contact Christopher Martin, FlexMR CMO, by email at [chris.martin@flexmr.net](mailto:chris.martin@flexmr.net) or via telephone on 015395 65455. ### Arrange a meeting We love to meet passionate research and insight professionals. If you'd like to arrange a chat with one of our team at an event we'll be attending, contact Chris Martin by email at [chris.martin@flexmr.net](mailto:chris.martin@flexmr.net) or via telephone on 015395 65455. ### Heading ### Subscribe Want to be notified when new MRX Lab podcast episodes are published? 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