Are you a community group who wants to connect with researchers? Are you a researcher who wants to connect with communities? If so, we want to hear from you.
News and updates
Funding Opportunity: Community Knowledge Incubator Fund (CKIF)
Grants of £5,000 - £10,000 for community‑led research
Do you want to explore the questions, stories, and challenges that matter most to your community? The Community Knowledge Incubator Fund supports community groups and individuals to lead their own research and work with University of Cambridge researchers when it adds value.
This fund recognises the deep knowledge held within communities and helps turn that insight into action, understanding, and positive change. Whether you want to uncover untold stories, test new ideas, or build a research partnership, CKIF can help you take the next step.
For more information and application guidelines follow this link
Deadline for applications February 19th (12 midday)
Join our Community Engagement Advisory Board
Could your ideas help guide new opportunities and collaborations? Join us to share your ideas and expertise.
We are building a group of advisors to help shape Community Engagement at the University of Cambridge. We would love to hear from members of the local community as well as researchers committed to working with communities. Please consider applying: applications are open until 5 September 2025.
For communities
Interested in putting on an event during the Cambridge Festival 2026 but don’t have the resources? You can apply for funding to support your ideas and activities. Contact the Festival Team to chat through your idea, and visit the Cambridge Festival webpage for more details.
What we've been up to recently
We've been busy over the last couple of years responding to ideas from local communities and exploring new ways of working together. Read about the projects we have been supporting and our hopes for the future in this blog.
Please get in touch if you would like to connect with us at communityengagement@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Our approach
Communities are too often excluded from research that affects them. Increasingly research is expected to include communities in meaningful ways to improve its impact and outcomes.
At the University of Cambridge we are are developing resources, opportunities, and support for communities and researchers to work together. In 2022 we commissioned an external report into our community engagement. Its insights and recommendations have given us much to reflect on, learn from, and act on.
We will be working together with communities to improve our engagement in research with the help and guidance of our new Community Engagement Advisory Board. We are committed to working in new ways to make our activities and programmes more accessible and inclusive.
In the early stages of our work, we reached out to local communities and researchers. We invested time and care into relationships, and learnt what people want and need from research collaborations. We are now beginning to put what we learnt into practice.
We are identifying the changes we can make within our own programmes and working with colleagues across the University to collectively make a difference. This includes working closely with our colleagues in Civic Engagement. We are connecting with and learning from communities, peers, and experts in this area to inform and improve what we do.
We are excited about what we will achieve working together in partnership. We will be sharing what we learn as we go and are keen to hear from you.
If you would like to find out more, please email us at communityengagement@admin.cam.ac.uk.