Supporting the community

The University puts aside a funding pot of £50,000 a year to support projects and events which celebrate the heritage of Oxford, enhance the experience of its communities and support educational achievement. At the time of writing over 50 local projects have been supported with grants ranging from £500 to £15,000.

Some of the exciting bids that have been successful in 2014–15 include:

Oxford City Christmas Light Festival

This has become the focus of Oxford’s Christmas, with the children’s lantern parade, choirs and live dance events in Broad Street and St Giles’, as well as a host of events at University venues such as the Ashmolean, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Bodleian and the Museum of the History of Science. The University has provided a grant for the last three years.

Oxford Open Doors

Every year buildings and spaces across the city, normally private, open their doors for one weekend to wider public. The event has grown to become one of the largest of its kind in the country, with over 20,000 individuals taking part over the September weekend in 2015. The 2015 event was on the theme of books and printing and featured the newly opened Weston Library.

The Story Museum

A magical centre for children of all ages to wander among stories, meet some of their favourite characters and explore writing for its own sake. The annual Alice’s Day has become a fixture in Oxford’s calendar, and the University has supported it over several years.

Yellow Submarine

An award-winning local charity which provides a range of support for children and adults with learning disabilities. The University provided funding for the training of four drivers to set up a community transport hub.

Cowley Road Carnival

From small beginnings the Cowley Road Carnival has become a major summer event on the streets of Cowley, with music, stalls, food and fancy dress. The University supplies a regular funding stream which helps to make the event such a success.

66 Men of Grandpont

Marking the anniversary of the First World War, a local group traced the history of the 66 men listed on the Grandpont war memorial and the stories behind them. This led to an exhibition and learning trail, which the University helped to fund.

Oxfordshire has more than 150 environmental community groups, probably the highest concentration in the UK. The University has several hundred environmental researchers, most living somewhere near one of those community groups.

There are many environmental challenges today, both locally and at a global level. The wealth of cutting-edge work being done across the academic, professional and community sectors in Oxfordshire gives good reason for optimism.

Stimulating environmental innovation

The agile-ox project is joining the dots between University research insights and enthusiastic entrepreneurs, innovators and co-ordinators in business, local government, the NGO sector, schools and myriad community groups in towns and villages. It is focused particularly on the areas of climate, biodiversity, food, water and energy.

A range of different engagement activities helps to facilitate agile-ox’s work. Whether it is hosting the annual skill-sharing day for Oxfordshire community action groups, bringing together air pollution and low-carbon researchers with local councils, co-ordinating a cycling hackathon or organising high-profile speakers for the local Green Business Breakfasts, agile-ox is catalysing ‘bring and share’.

The purpose is to help stimulate environmental innovation of economic and social worth, from the research bench to the village hall – and places in between. The agile-ox project is co-ordinated by the University’s Environmental Change Institute, home to the world’s largest climate-change citizen-science experiment and committed to connecting global science with local people.