The Community Research Initiative is all about creating ways for voluntary & community sector organisations to meet and collaborate with our top quality students.
Our Community Noticeboard is a space where you can advertise ideas for research that will allow you to further what you do, fill a knowledge gap, or change and improve something for some of the most pressing social issues. Students can then indicate their interest in ideas and conversations, collaborations, and knowledge exchange can begin!
Taking the first steps...
Chat with our team and start formulating your idea
Our team is here to guide you and support you as you explore the various ways that research and evaluation can support your organisation. Below you will find our link to schedule a 1 hour consultation with our research consultants.
Getting your idea out there
We have created a research idea submission form that has a series of questions to help better inform our students of what your idea will intail. This ranges from the skills students will need, the type of data you may have or want to be collected, and even if there are administrative approvals the student would need to work with you. Our research consultants are here to support you with submitting your ideas to our virtual Community Noticeboard
The video below has an overview of both the registration process and our research idea submission form.
Starting conversations
Our Noticeboard launches in January of each year. Throughout the winter you are welcome to submit ideas to our Noticeboard. Students usually pick up projects between December and March of every year.
Once your idea has been submitted students will be able to indicate their interest in the project. They will then be connected with you to have initial conversations about the project. This stage is all about figuring out if the idea will work for you and for the student, sometimes it doesn't work out and that is ok! Our lovely programme lead will be here to support both you and our students.
Community Noticeboard Timeline
What happens to my idea if I am not paired with a student?
Ultimately, our aim is that you get this research project actually carried out! Of course, we cannot guarantee the right student will come along. If, by March, you have no student connections, we will work with you to breakdown the project brief into smaller volunteering opportunities and advertise these to other students for summer volunteering positions.