Hello all,

 

The British Science Association has announced a call for researchers to join our community engagement scheme, the Community Buddies programme.

 

For the last eight years, the BSA has been building a community engagement portfolio through a series of programmes, workshops, and grant schemes. Community organisers have told us that they rarely have access to researchers. As such, we are looking for researchers that live in specific areas to connect with our existing group of Community Leaders, who have an established record of delivering high-quality, impactful science engagement with the BSA.

 

We are looking for researchers to match with our Community Leaders based in the below locations:

 

Town/City	Region	Community Leader's Organisation
Ballynahinch	Northern Ireland	1st Spa Boys Brigade
Banbury	South East	Banbury Madni Masjid
Bexhill-on-Sea	South East	Community Supporters
Edinburgh	Scotland	Milan Senior Welfare Organisation
Liverpool	North West	Ugandan Community Association Liverpool
Merthyr Tydfil	Wales	Stephens and George Charitable Trust
Northwich	North West	STEAMTISTIC
Salisbury	South West	ArtCare at Salisbury District Hospital
Southwark	London	Faiths Women Community UK
Tower Hamlets	London	Society Links Tower Hamlets
Wolverhampton	West Midlands	BME Housing Consortium
Yetminster	South West	1st Yetminster Scout Group

 

 

To be a Community Buddy, we ask that, researchers:

 

• Live locally to one of our 2023-24 Community Leaders;
• Be an active researcher linked to a university, research institution, or working freelance;
• Attend one half-day online introductory session in September of 2023;
• Commit to meeting with your buddy at least approximately six times between September 2023 – March 2024;
• Take part in an in-person ‘community of practice’ meeting in London in March 2024 to share your experience with other buddy pairs and to learn about follow-up funding opportunities;
• Set aside any pre-determined agendas when you first meet and be open to developing any outcomes together using a relational mindset.

 

The full details of the Community Buddies scheme can be found in our recent Call for Community Buddies news piece, including the link to an Expression of Interest Form which is open until Monday 10 July 2023.

  

If you’d like to Tweet about it, here is a template:

 

Are you a researcher looking to get more involved in your local community? The @BritSciAssoc are on the hunt for engaged researchers for their @UKRI_News funded Community Buddy scheme. They'd love to hear from you! https://t.co/nS9MOcFkhh

 

We’d really appreciate you sending this to your networks, and if any researchers have questions, please direct them to email [log in to unmask].

 

Thank you for any support you can give.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

James Brown

Head of Festivals

 

My pronouns are he/him

 

 

A future where science is more relevant, representative and connected to society.

 

m. +44 (0)7881 378 634

 

165 Queens Gate, London, SW7 5HD

www.britishscienceassociation.org

@BritSciAssoc | @jcwbrown27

 

Registered charity: 212479 and SC039236