University College London

Research Volunteer Consultancy

As a Research Consultant for the Community Research Initiative at the Social Impact Team, I led the design and implementation of an end-to-end service connecting UCL students with volunteer research opportunities in London’s community sector. My aim was twofold: to create meaningful pathways for students to develop research skills through real-world projects, and to offer local organisations a way to access research capacity they otherwise lacked.

Collaboration at the Core of Service Design

The project strengthened partnerships between UCL and local organisations, while creating a sustainable model for knowledge sharing and capacity building. Co-creation workshops and user testing played a key role in shaping a service that was both responsive to community needs and adaptable over time, ensuring ongoing improvement and impact

  • Adopting a user-centred and collaborative design approach, I worked closely with both students and community organisations to understand their needs, challenges, and aspirations. This process involved mapping user journeys, facilitating co-design sessions, and piloting initiatives to test assumptions.

  • I identified barriers to student participation, such as confidence, research readiness, and lack of real-world project experience and designed tailored interventions like virtual workshops, skill-building sessions, and onboarding resources.

    On the organisational side, I co-created a Research Volunteer Programme that allowed community partners to scope projects aligned with their strategic needs (like data collection and evaluation to literature reviews and user research) while creating a structure that supported students’ learning and ethical engagement.

  • I designed and implemented a scalable volunteer research service, connecting students to over 30 research opportunities per term.

    I also dveloped and launched a Pro Bono Research Programme, providing 12 PhD students with interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities and real-world project experience.