Engagement opportunities
Organisations across Somerset bring local knowledge, trusted relationships and experience that can help shape better services, stronger communities and more meaningful involvement.
The opportunities below offer different ways to get involved. Some are looking for insight, feedback or local knowledge. Others are seeking partners, community connections or support to help shape projects, services and initiatives across Somerset.
Browse by topic or location to find opportunities that feel relevant to your organisation, your interests and the communities you support.
Select your areas of interest to filter the available opportunities.
Topics
Who is this relevant to
Locations
Project Lead
Rachel Hindmarsh
South West Peninsula Regional Research Delivery Network (SWP RRDN), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
Funding Opportunity: £1,000 to Help Bring ‘Be Part of Research’ to Your Community
The opportunity:
The South West Peninsula Regional Research Delivery Network is offering £1,000 grants to VCFSE organisations to help more people from communities currently underrepresented in research find out about and sign up to Be Part of Research (BPoR). We are looking for 1 trusted local partner in Somerset to make this happen in ways that feel natural, accessible, and relevant.
How organisations could get involved:
We know that you understand your communities better than we do. You therefore have creative freedom over your activities!
As a general guide, a £1000 project should aim to:
– Meaningfully engage 50–100 people with Be Part of Research;
– Generate 15–20 new BPoR sign-ups;
– Provide genuine interaction – an opportunity for people to ask questions, and to receive practical sign-up help (rather than just handing out flyers);
– Track simple outcomes: what you did, who you reached, sign-ups, and what you learned.
These are not rigid quotas, and we will provide training and support throughout the project. We are interested not only in how many people sign up, but in learning what helps people engage with research, what gets in the way, and what approaches work well in different communities.
If you are interested, please fill out the Expression of Interest form: https://forms.gle/KPGVBCdYTnuZCPgT8. Due to a problem uploading the form to the opportunity dashboard, we are extending the deadline until Friday 13th November at midday.
Ways to get involved:
Project Lead
Rory Baxter
University of Plymouth
End-of-life care in the rural and coastal communities of the South West Research Project
The opportunity:
Around one in five people in England live in rural areas, where accessing health and care services can involve longer travel times, fewer transport options and greater distances between services.
This research study is exploring how care is provided to people approaching the end of their lives in rural and coastal parts of the South West of England – including Somerset.
How organisations could get involved:
The project aims are to:
Understand the experiences of patients (in last 12 months of life), families, and professionals delivering end of life care in rural and coastal communities.
Explore the barriers and enablers to accessing and providing high-quality, compassionate care.
Generate practical recommendations for how care can be improved locally and nationally.
Ways to get involved:
Project Lead
Samantha Evans`
Edventure Frome
What do women really think about AI and work?
The opportunity:
We are inviting you to take part in research exploring how AI is affecting – or might affect – women’s working lives. You don’t need to use or understand AI to participate. We want to hear from enthusiasts, sceptics and everyone in between.
How organisations could get involved:
We are interested in the roles particularly susceptible to reshaping by AI, such as administrative, coordination, customer service and business support roles, where women are strongly represented. We want to know what affects women’s willingness to engage with it: whether it feels relevant and useful, levels of confidence and familiarity, concerns around issues such as privacy, bias, misinformation, employment or environmental impact, and how AI may affect professional skills, identity and the human side of work.
Ways to get involved:
Project Lead
Summer Bedford
University of Exeter
Veteran Connection Programme (VCP)
The opportunity:
Veteran Connection Programme (VCP) is a group-based, peer-facilitated programme that supports military veterans and service-leavers to manage the loss of identity and valued social group memberships that often comes with leaving the Armed Forces. This opportunity will allow those who serve veterans and military personnel soon to leave the forces to get involved in the development and testing of our programme to help shape the future of service provision during and after the military to civilian transition.
How organisations could get involved:
We are currently testing both whether VCP’s delivery works for veterans and service leavers and how exactly the envisaged train-the-trainer model should be implemented in the future, so it can be scaled up across the UK. What we learn from the current NIHR funded feasibility trial will help us design both a larger Randomised Controlled Trial testing the effectiveness of the programme in improving veterans’ wellbeing, but also it allows us to make appropriate recommendations for how service providers can use and integrate VCP in their own services.
Ways to get involved: