The British Science Association runs the Community Buddy programme with funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of our ongoing community engagement work. The programme connects Community Leaders with local researchers to spark new ideas and drive innovative community-led science engagement.

The programme aims to:

• Create greater empathy and understanding between researchers and communities; 
• Support researchers and communities to create authentic, mutually beneficial relationships with equal sharing of power;
• Increase the skills and capabilities of both researchers and communities to engage with each other.

The programme is split into two phases:

1. Phase one: Relational
   
   
2. Phase two: Grant
   
   READ MORE ABOUT THE GRANT PHASE HERE

Most of the things I do are very output driven…This is the first thing I've done for a while that was refreshingly interest-driven, and not necessarily for a particular goal in sight. And actually, it’s been really nice in that way. 

- Community Buddy (Leader)

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Researchers needed

We’re currently looking for researchers to take part in our 2023-24 Community Buddies Programme, connecting with Community Leaders to drive innovative community-led science engagement. Find out more about being involved here.

Researchers: Get involved

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The Community Buddy programme builds on the skills and experiences community organisers develop through our Community Leaders programme. These Leaders have a history of developing high-quality, long-term science engagement with communities underrepresented in science. They have expressed a desire to work collaboratively with local science role models, so we believe the next step is to enable these connections.

After participating in our Community Leaders programme, we match community organisers with researchers from their local areas. We support community organisers and researchers to develop relationships in their own space to create a legacy that will last beyond our involvement in their science engagement work.

We then train these Community Buddies on how to use relational meetings to learn about each other and discover mutual interests. This approach empowers shared decision-making and develops a collaborative, balanced relationship. This is a different way of working: we encourage the purposeful discovery of common goals instead of an agenda-driven approach. This ultimately leads to more meaningful science engagement projects and long-lasting relationships between communities and researchers.

In the Grant phase of the Community Buddy programme, we provide grants of up to £4,000 to support existing Community Buddy pairs to develop co-created science engagement projects and to inspire a legacy that will last beyond their involvement in the scheme.

READ MORE ABOUT THE GRANT PHASE HERE

To find out more about the Community Buddies programme, check out these recent blogs: 

• Community Buddies: Reflections from community organisers and researchers

• Community Buddies Q&A 

• Community Buddy grant recipients: where are they now?

To read the executive summary of the Community Buddies evaluation report, click the button below: 

COMMUNITY BUDDY EVALUATION REPORT 

The benefits for researchers

Researchers that took part said they found the buddy programme gave them:

• Understanding, insight, and connection with their local communities;
• Increased skills and capabilities to develop long-term engagement and impact projects linked to their research;
• Fresh perspectives and ideas for their work as a researcher;
• Authentic, mutually beneficial relationships;
• Innovative collaborations that benefit both the local community and their research.

2022-3 Community Buddies 

• Elisabeth Von Hagel Stevenson, The Rockfield Centre with Hannah Grist, Scotland’s Rural College
• Helen Clark, Pennine Lancashire Community Farm with Alina Haines-Delmont, Manchester Metropolitan University
• James Anthony George Wilson, Transition North Ronaldsay with Karen Alexander, Heriot-Watt University
• Julia Wysocka, International Community Organisation of Sunderland with Andrea Kay, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
• Kate Smyth, Oldham Libraries with Jennifer Cromwell, Manchester Metropolitan University
• Lindsay White, Community Supporters with Deborah Harvey, Royal Holloway University
• Luke Wakefield, VICTA with Yoseph Araya, The Open University
• Maxine Smalling, West Indian Community Action with Cleo White, University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire
• Melissa Koontz-Garboden, Serpentine Community Garden with Eiman Kanjo, Nottingham Trent University
• Seonaid Murray, The Black Box with Trevor Agus, Queen's University Belfast
• Tripti Megeri, Bristol Multi-Faith Forum with Rox Middleton, University of Bristol

2021-2 Community Buddies

• Amy Dixon, Foresight North East Lincolnshire with Emily Alice Caseley, University of Leeds
• Andy Lai, Chinese Association of Southampton with Dawn-Marie Walker, University of Southampton
• Astehmari Batekun, Abundance Centres with Priyank Shukla, University of Ulster
• Carl Gillham, Canolfan Ebeneser with Gary Robinson, Bangor University
• Carmel Britto, LPF Kiddies Club with Benjamin Woods, Birkbeck, University of London
• Conor Forker, Clonmore Youth Club with Cathal Breen, University of Ulster
• Grace Cunningham, LeedsGate with Anne Velenturf, University of Leeds
• Kayleigh Mills, Jasmine Road Community Gardens with Derren Cresswell, University of Birmingham
• Maxine Smalling, West Indian Community Action with Mansour Al Qubeissi, Coventry University
• Mohammed Salim, East African Education Foundation with Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, Imperial College London
• Sarah Greener, 3rd Tenby Brownies with Bridie Evans, Swansea University
• Sawsan Zaza, Damasq with Gulbanu Kaptan, Leeds University Business School
• Yaseen Patel, IMO Charity with Oliver Kerr, University of Central Lancashire

2020-1 Community Buddies

• Steve Williams, OASIS Community Centre & Gardens with Emilie Brignall, University of Sheffield
• Amar Azam, Unleashing Potential with Jill Stuart, London School of Economics
• Carmel Britto, LPF Kiddies Club with Yvonne Abebola, King's College London
• Neil McLaughlin, Barnet Libraries with Matthew Billing, London South Bank University
• Paul Hyde, Whippet Up with Natalie Butcher, Teesside University
• Mohammed Attaur Rahman, Wardleworth Community Centre / Rochdale Science Initiative with Claire Garside, University of Leeds
• Zaffer Khan, One Voice Blackburn with Oliver Kerr, University of Central Lancashire
• Yang Zhou, Mandarin Speakers Association Derry with Kevin Curran, Ulster University
• Saoirse Higgins, Papay Development Trust with Joanne Porter, Heriot-Watt University
• Leah Vellam-Steptoe, Battle Down School with Sarah Bekaert, Oxford Brookes University
• Gemma Martin, Wheal Martyn with Katharine Willis, University of Plymouth
• Juliette Jackson, Seadream Education with Julia Latham, Independent conservation consultant
• Carl Gillam, Canolfan Ebeneser with Delwen McCallum, Bangor University
• Claudia McFarlane, African Caribbean Achievement Project with James Poulter, University of Leeds

To prepare the Community Buddies for their work, the BSA delivers group training on relational meetings. The buddy pairs then have six months to establish a relationship and discover common interests. In March, Buddies join to share their experiences and workshop their ideas. 

We encourage our Buddies to maintain their relationship and access opportunities within the BSA’s community engagement programmes and beyond.

For more information about the work the British Science Association does to support and engage with community groups, please visit our Community Engagement page and follow BSA Communities on Twitter.

If you have any questions about the programme, please email [email protected].