Community engagement

A new Community Engagement Strategy has continued efforts to strengthen the University’s relationships between the city and local communities.

Public outreach

A recent survey showed that 90% of local citizens believe the University is an asset to Edinburgh and 77% believe the University serves the city as a whole, not only staff and students.  However, 66% do not understand what the University does, and 65% have never used the University’s services or facilities.  It is clear that there is a significant scope to enhance our outreach and engagement with citizens and communities. The new strategy will explore opportunities through the academic curriculum, schools outreach, social enterprises and volunteering.

Edinburgh festivals

The University's involvement in Edinburgh’s festivals throughout the year is a reflection of our commitment to expanding and communicating knowledge. The University partnered with the Edinburgh International Festival to open the August festivals in spectacular style through the Harmonium Project, a major sound and light event, which showcased exciting aspects of the University’s work in design informatics.

University at the festivals

Volunteering

Volunteering and charitable efforts were encouraged through the University’s Big Leap initiative in 2016, which encouraged staff to participate in a variety of activities to raise money for a range of research centres, counselling services and community facing projects such as the free legal advice centre. In February 2016, students and staff at the University passed the Guinness World Record for the most cakes sold in eight hours for charity. More than £9,000 was raised for the University’s Big Leap campaign.

Supporting re-use through community engagement

Increasing volumes of waste are being reused through a variety of activities, student-led initiatives and external partnerships. Warp-it, the online re-use platform, used to distribute unwanted items to staff has achieved financial savings of more than £100,000 and diverted over 13 tonnes of waste from landfill in under three years of use. The student-led Swap and Reuse Hub Cooperative was awarded funding of £89, 858 from the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund to continue its efforts to promote reuse in the student community. The University supported the opening of the Edinburgh Remakery in 2016, a unique re-use and repair store. As a project partner, the University donates computers to the social enterprise which are sold to the community at a low cost, making them highly affordable.