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In the context of austerity and the COVID‐19 pandemic, this paper draws on 17 interviews conducted with frontline staff and volunteers to explore the use of food banks by older people in a highly deprived North‐West borough. Despite high levels of poverty amongst this age group, older people are infrequent users of food banks and it is their absence from these spaces, as opposed to their use of and experiences within food banks, that has often gained attention. By foregrounding this age group, this paper highlights different circumstances of use, generational dynamics involving heightened feelings of shame, and how food banks function as social spaces for older people. In doing so, this paper adds to literature in gerontology around spaces of ageing, as well as research on food banks, by highlighting how experiences in these spaces are differentiated by age. This paper advances discussions around the impact of austerity on the everyday lives of older people. Due to the timing of this research, it also gives insight into how older people and informal social spaces have been affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer support action research is a co‐production method used by groups of people with a shared experience, in order to generate knowledge and mutual assistance. This paper analyses co‐production experiences from a recent Australian research project, which formed peer support groups to explore how disabled people were managing their transition to self‐directed support. Using the project as a case study and applying a community participation framework derived from social geography, this paper addresses questions about which collaborative mechanisms strengthen peer support research so that the research process and outputs benefit each of the participants involved. The project used a mixed‐method, co‐production approach. University researchers formed research partnerships with disability community organisations to support the research activity in each Australian state. The community organisations formed peer support groups, facilitated the groups and communicated group processes and findings to the university researchers. The group members and facilitators decided what they wanted to do in the group and how to do it. The academics provided research support, training, a topic guide and resources for group activities. All participants reflected on challenges and lessons learnt and modified the project as it progressed. Both the methods and findings have implications for peer support as co‐productive research. The process enhanced the research capacity of the participants, disability community and academics, and strengthened peer support, advocacy and confidence about self‐directed support. The findings from the peer support groups about their transition to self‐directed support demonstrated their preference for, and trust in, peers as information sources. The regular collective reflections with the facilitators produced an additional level of data collection and analysis that enhanced the quality of the co‐production, enabling greater participant control over design and knowledge generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]