Community Engagement Partnerships
Find out how our research can drive your impact as an organisation and open doors for you as a student
What we do:
We connect students with organisations so that students can gain valuable work experience and our partner organisations can achieve their strategic goals.
The work our students and partner organisations do focuses on social issues that connect with political themes such as social justice and the impact of political decision-making at national and local levels.
For organisations
We've been helping organisations find answers to complex challenges for more than a decade. Our students and academics are here to connect the practical challenges facing community-based organisations with the world of political, economic and social research.
We deliver innovative solutions spanning research, marketing, fund-raising, and community outreach.
Will a partnership work for you?
- The work of your organisation should broadly relate to a social or political issue
- You should have a specific project in mind where you can gain genuinely useful outcomes from the partnership's findings
- Placements run from October to April
- The nature of the work depends on your requirements, with research work, marketing, fundraising, and event organisation among the possible options
Politics Work Placement
You can choose between one and four students to work for your organisation.
Our Politics Work Placement programme can help you:
- Find solutions to complex challenges and boost your impact as an organisation
- Gain insights and recommendations based on research tailored to your strategic goals
- Maximise your influence on political decision-making at national and local levels
Community-based Research
Our research partnership helps policy-makers and practitioners address knowledge gaps in their organisation.
Our Community-based Research partnership will:
- Collaborate with you to identify your knowledge gaps and choose a research topic
- Assign a student research team, guided by academics, to investigate your chosen topic
- Present a research report. The report includes insights and recommendations to help you meet your strategic goals
For students
Our Community engagement partnership programme can help you:
- Enhance your job prospects and employability
- Gain insight and add valuable real-world context to your theoretical research
- Create and nurture relationships with organisations you may work with in the future
- Make a positive and direct real-world impact with the work that you do
List of eligible degree programmes
Politics Work Placement
- L200: BA Hons Politics
- LL21: BA Hons Politics and Economics
- LL32: BA Hons Politics and Sociology
- L250: BA Hons International Relations
- L290: BA Hons Politics and International Relations
Community-based Research
- L200: BA Hons Politics
- L241: BA Hons Government and European Studies
- LL21: BA Hons Politics and Economics
- LL32: BA Hons Politics and Sociology
- VL12: BA Hons Politics and History
- 1439U: BA Hons Politics and History with placement year
- 1462U: BA Hons Politics and Economics with placement year
- 1464U: BA Hons Politics and Sociology with placement year
- 1465U: BA Hons Politics with placement year
- L250: BA Hons International Relations
- L290: BA Hons Politics and International Relations
- 1616U: BA Politics and History with study abroad
- 1694U BA Politics and International Relations with placement
- 1807U: BA Hons International Relations with placement
- 1819U: BA Hons Politics with study abroad
- 1820U: BA Hons International Relations with study abroad
- 1821U: BA Hons Politics and International Relations with study abroad
- 1823U: BA Hons Politics and Economics with study abroad
- 1824U: BA Hons Politics and Sociology with study abroad
Please note that all degree programmes are subject to availability
How to get involved
If you're on one of the degree programmes listed above and choose either of the following modules:
you'll gain valuable work experience with a charity, non-profit organisation or political party.
The work that you do will either be a research project, or something 'hands-on' involving work such as marketing, fund-raising, or social media development.
You'll usually be based in the North East, although we also have some placements further afield.
Awareness and Advocacy
- Show Racism the Red Card: Campaigns against racism, especially through education and awareness-raising in schools and sports.
- Voluntary Organisations’ Network North East (VONNE): Advocates for voluntary organizations, helping them connect with each other and with policy-makers to improve community outcomes.
Community Support and Wellbeing
- The Key: works with organisations who use KEY+ to empower young people to realise their potential, develop the skills they need to thrive, and recognise the positive impact they can make in society.
- Carers Northumberland: Supports unpaid carers by providing advice, information, and services.
- Changing Lives: Works with vulnerable individuals to break the cycle of homelessness and social exclusion.
- Shelter: Offers support for individuals facing housing issues and homelessness.
- Friends Action North East: Helps people with learning disabilities build friendships and access community support.
- Wearside Women In Need: Provides support to women affected by domestic abuse and other vulnerabilities.
- Youth Focus North East: Supports young people’s development through various services and activities.
- Children North East: Provides support for children and families facing hardship, promoting well-being and opportunities.
- West End Food Bank & West End Refugee Service: Provides food, support, and advocacy for those in need in Newcastle’s West End
Education and Volunteering
- Go Volunteer (Newcastle University): Encourages students to volunteer locally, gaining skills while giving back to the community.
- Workers’ Educational Association: Provides educational opportunities for adults, focusing on personal and community development.
- British International Studies Association: Supports academic research in international relations and global politics.
Environment and community
- Urban Green: An independent charity established in collaboation with Newcastle City Council in 2019. Previously responsible for the management and upkeep of 33 parks and over 60 allotments across the city, as well as nearly 60 buildings within the estate.
- Groundwork: Works on environmental and community development projects, with an emphasis on sustainability and social inclusion.
- Ouseburn Farm: Promotes environmental awareness and community engagement through activities that improve the local environment.
Political groups
- Blaydon, Wansbeck, and Newcastle North Labour Party Constituency Offices: Works to support the Labour Party’s policies at the local level, addressing community concerns and organising political action.
- North Tyneside Green Party: Political party with strategic goals to tackle (amongst others) the climate emergency, the environmental crisis, and social inequality
Youth Focus: North East - Loneliness Report
Our report written for the charity, ‘Youth Focus: North East’, exploring whether the implementation of mental health support mechanisms for students in Newcastle University are sufficient to combat the growing population experiencing loneliness and isolation.
Download the Youth Focus: North East - Loneliness Report (PDF: 402KB)
The Key - Youth Engagement Report
Engagement and participation of young people in the governance and decision-making processes of organisations.
Groundwork: Tyne Estuary Partnership Project
A placement student presentation on work carried out for Groundwork as part of collaborative project with the Environment Agency to build the Tyne Estuary Partnership (the Partnership) and develop priority projects for improvement.
Download the Groundwork: Tyne Estuary Partnership Project report (PDF: 394KB)
Groundwork: Tyne Estuary Partnership Project
Sport Northumberland: opportunities for sport and activity in Northeast
Research relating to the opportunities in the Northeast for sport and activities for young people and children, especially with special educational needs and disbilities.
Download the Sport Northumberland: opportunities for sport and activity in Northeast report (PDF: 720KB)
Sport Northumberland: opportunities for sport and activity in Northeast
Blaydon Labour Party Report on impact of Covid-19 on mental health in North East 2022
Research into the impact of Covid-19 in the Northeast with particular focus on mental health and the Blaydon Constituency
Download the Impact of Covid-19 on mental health in the Northeast report (PDF: 287KB)
Research into the impact of Covid-19 in the Northeast
"We've hosted students for the last five years. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile process from our point of view."
"Putting myself out of my comfort zone really helped me gain further knowledge into the working world and expand my experiences."
"The staff at Newcastle University made it a simple process to recruit and engage a student on placement with Groundwork"
"my placement helped me develop my communicational and organisational skills. I've learnt valuable lessons about operating in a working environment and adapting as a team to work productively."
Further information and contact
Work placement and research projects:
David Walker
Email: david.walker@ncl.ac.uk
About David
David is a Senior Tutor in Politics and runs the Politics Work Placement along with other modules such as The Politics of Happiness and Politics as a Way of Life.
Research projects only:
Stephen Elstub
Email: stephen.elstub@ncl.ac.uk
About Stephen
Stephen is a Professor of Democratic Politics and Director of Research.
His main research interests are in the theory and practice of democracy, environmental politics, public opinion, political communication, all viewed through the lens of deliberative democracy.