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Communities

Communities

We partner with communities, the public and the voluntary sector to tackle inequality and support social mobility.

A smiling student volunteer stands holding baguettes in front of Armley Junk-tion cafe with a person in a wheelchair going up a kerb in the background.

Working together to tackle local challenges

We work with community groups and the voluntary sector to ensure our civic activity is inclusive and responsive to the needs of our local communities.

Each year, we support thousands of student volunteers working across Leeds with vulnerable adults, in schools and on environmental projects. There are almost 5,000 students volunteering across the city. Read our student volunteer stories.

Students into Schools, our flagship programme, has seen more than 6,000 students work in local state schools to support classroom learning, act as role models and encourage engagement with extra-curricular activities.

Be Curious, our annual free activity day, invites families onto campus to learn more about our research with demonstrations and hands-on experiments.

Our initiatives apply research and student engagement to address real community challenges through collaboration and partnerships.

Work with us

Email the Civic Exchange team

Our partnerships in action

  • Early years: together we can do better

    Changing the future for children and young people is a topic we have been passionately driving forwards through research, influencing policy makers, charity engagement and collaboration with partners.

    The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, smiling and sitting at a table with students.

  • Making public parks more welcoming

    We're working with West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Council to explore how art and culture could help make parks more welcoming for women and girls.

    Several groups of students walk through Woodhouse Moor park in central Leeds. Trees are in full leaf.

  • Opening doors to oral health

    Our researchers partnered with stakeholders across the health and voluntary sectors to ask: how should dental services be designed to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness?

    A dentist treating a patient