Summing up the summer at Byres Community Hub
Published: 28 August 2024
Susan and Ruby summing up the summer and looking ahead to September
The Hub has continued to have groups in all summer and Lorraine’s Community Knitted Christmas Tree project is coming along well with hundreds more squares donated. We also had another social session in the Hub with the U3A knitters who this time were joined by women from Visibility Scotland’s knitting group. Hub Mondays and ALISS in Wowland Friday’s have continued through the summer too. Please find a summary below.
Hub Mondays
Peer Research
At the end of July, we were joined by Garelochhead Station Trust to hear about their Veteran’s Mental Health Peer Research project funded by The Ideas Fund and about The Community Matters Highlands and Islands Network. Several organisations working with veterans in Glasgow and researchers interested in peer research, came along and many connections were made.
Sustainable Communities
Our first August Hub Monday brought together the School’s Planetary Health module, local community groups and The University of Glasgow’s new Eco-Hub. Thanks to Jana Anderson (SHW, nutritional epidemiology and sustainable protein sources), Lauren Crilly, (Coordinator, from the new Eco Hub), and Karyn Macdonald (local volunteer) for joining us and leading in the conversation and sharing practical things to do to help the local community environment.
The Eco-Hub, launching on the 12th of September on Level 2 of the Boyd Orr Building is a social café space that promotes sustainability on campus – we offer services that benefit both people and the planet. The hub is a meeting point for staff, students and the wider community to come together to discuss and build a more sustainable world.
Bring along your own travel mug and have a coffee or tea for just 50p a cup! Make use of our free community fridge with surplus food and our free swap shop with pre-loved clothes and homeware. The Eco-Hub hosts regular free activities such as bike repair sessions, clothes mending and sustainable crafting workshops that are open to everyone. The Eco-Hub has been introduced by the Sustainability Team, Student & Academic Services and GUEST. Keep an eye out on GUEST’s social media here to find out more about what’s happening!
Research Data Scotland
Just this week, Katie Oldfield from Research Data Scotland’s Public Engagement Team came to talk to us at Hub Monday. Their new fund launches on 2nd September and this time, they are going to have money ring-fenced for a community organisation to help with the public understanding of data and this will include support from the Team at RDS. We are displaying some films in the Hub from the recipients of grants last year:
Perinatal mental health data animation
SHINE data linkage research video
Further details about the Public Engagement Fund can be found on the Research Data Scotland website.
ALISS in Wowland
July with Bike for Good and Morris and Spottiswood
At the ALISS session on 19th July we were joined by Bike for Good and Morris and Spottiswood as part of our Community Spotlight. Bike for Good are a cycling charity that aim to encourage more people to cycle. They provide services on bikes, and various levels of cycle training. They provide bikes for those looking to learn or get out on their bike more often. Everyone was interested in Bike for Good's services and we discussed the challenges faced by cyclists and pedestrians and public transport issues.
Morris and Spottiswood are a construction company which provide charitable and social projects for local communities. They discussed how they could help groups to improve their facilities. Since then Morris and Spottiswood have met with Weekday WOW Factor and they are in discussions to improve the accessibility of one of the venue’s they use for their Daytime Disco’s.
August with Beatson Cancer Charity
ALISS sessions are always unexpected and inspirational. August was no exception. We were joined by The Alliance Digital Team, some new faces and our volunteers and members from Weekday WOW Factor including Elspeth who has raised thousands of pounds for the Charity. Our Community Spotlight was by Laura Murphy, Outreach Service Manager from Beatson Cancer Charity. Their Health at Work service led to a lot of discussion and we were pleased to hear that after linking this service to University of Glasgow Health and Wellbeing Manager, they will be delivering employer sessions.
Below are more information on services Laura talked about at ALISS
Solutions for Change
University of Glasgow’s Researcher Development Talent Lab along with The Open Lab team in CIVIS European University Alliance and Community and Public Engagement Professionals teamed up for ‘Solutions for Change’. This was a summer programme for PGRs and Research Staff to work in small interdisciplinary teams and use their research and emerging leadership skills to support local charities and social enterprises to solve real-life problems they are facing.
Teams worked with The Scottish Tech Army to investigate technology solutions for young carers, the role of artificial intelligence in the charitable sector for grant writing, the future of Glasgow’s historical Winter Gardens with their ‘Friends of’ campaigning group and Food Waste at the Advanced Research Centre and Clarice Pears Building in partnership with The Annexe in Patrick.
Each of the community groups were funded to be able to participate as experts by experience and this has meant the Cost of Living group at the Annexe being able to be kept going for another few months. The Food Waste project that Byres Hub were involved in came out of concerns for the food waste after catered events on our Western Campus and the barriers to donating this food to the local community. At the showcase in August, the team presented their recommendations, summarised in the poster below which included a ’Save our Sandwiches’ campaign on campus. This was something Glasgow Life who were present at the showcase were interested in adopting too.
View the reports from the other challenges including technology for young carers, the role of artificial intelligence in the charitable sector and the future of Glasgow’s Winter Gardens.
Well done to the Save our Sandwiches team headed up by Joanne Neary from The School of Education and a special shout out to School of Health and Wellbeing researchers who were part of the Solutions for Change initiative: Mirjam Allik, James Allen, Craig Houston and Yousef Salem M Aljohani.
Research Policy Payment
Projects like Solutions for Change and other research involvement activities will be made easier as University Finance have published a policy 'to set out the guiding principles for the payment of lay persons for their participation in research at the University of Glasgow, recognising the importance of such involvement in producing high-quality research'.
Internal staff can view the policy and forms on the Finance website.
Looking ahead to September
We have lots to look forward to in September including some community focused Hub Mondays with Evaluation Support Scotland, SPSHU researchers on Theory for Change, new exhibitions ‘Now sign your name’ and GP’s at the Deep End and the launch of our new Partick Communiversity peer research project ‘Move More’ - watch this space!
Explorathon Castlemilk Community Day
University of Glasgow with community partners, The Superheroes in Castlemilk are hosting a community day as part of Explorathon on the Friday of the Glasgow School’s September Weekend at Glasgow Club Castlemilk. With art, music, science, engineering and food the team behind the event including Byres Hub hope this free community event from 2.30pm – 5pm on 27th September will be a great day. Please help spread the word and come along to join us on the day at Glasgow Club Castlemilk.
View more information on the Explorathon website.
Hub Word Cloud
Words below from a recent survey of Hub users about the positive impact of the Hub on their organisations.
New Signage
We now have new signage on our Clarice Pears building that has our opening times and lets everyone know we are open to the public!
First published: 28 August 2024