Latest news at Science Together

March updates

At Science Together, our work is all about connecting university research work with the community we live and work in. Everyone involved in the programme has a lot of ideas for how this can be done – but how do we measure if we're succeeding?

Each year, we strive to thoroughly evaluate the achievements of the programme and apply lessons learned for future improvement. We draw from a number of approaches to do this, including the widely used Theory of Change, and a few years ago one of our partners introduced us to the Oxford Old Fire Station’s training programme for the Storytelling Evaluation Method.

We were intrigued, and decided to join one of their workshops to find out more about it. And what we discovered made us excited, and determined to share this with everyone involved in Science Together…

These days, Storytelling Evaluation Method training is a regular event in the Science Together calendar. In previous years we have organised a half-day online session for all project team members to get involved in, and this year we ran a full-day in-person workshop at the Old Fire Station, and invited all project team members, along with other members of our community partner organisations who were interested and would also benefit from this training.

This is just one more way in which Science Together aims to enhance the engagement experience of our community partners, university researchers and facilitators as well as the wider team members supporting the whole programme. Want to know more, or join the programme in future? Get in touch by emailing ScienceTogether@mpls.ox.ac.uk 

February updates

As spring approaches, our project groups are all busy with activities which will start to deliver their objectives. Our wonderful Winter Celebration in January got us together for food and live music, and to see how each of the projects has developed from the early hopes and beginnings back in the autumn.

MuMo Creative’s ‘Dance for Dementia’ pilot programme is now almost at its mid-point, and the participants’ honest comments and questionnaire responses are great to hear. Just as the very first session began, MuMo Creative heard the wonderful news that they have been awarded National Lottery funding which will allow the programme to run for the next three years. What a fantastic way to celebrate the start of it all, knowing we can apply all the pilot sessions’ feedback and researchers’ analysis immediately to the next stage of the programme. Such great news!

The Green Arts Oxfordshire Network project group will hold their ‘Activation Workshop’ for later this month. This event will gather together members of the network in order to progress the objectives of the Energy Culture Consortium, and formulate a clear action plan of next steps as well as providing members with tangible energy cost saving measures. We will share another update soon with how it all goes!

In more fabulous funding news, this month Yellow Submarine received a £280,000 grant to continue their vital work in the months and years to come. See the article on the BBC news website here, which also touches on the healthy eating programme which is the focus of their current Science Together project. Congratulations Yellow Submarine!

Science Together features in key University report

A report emphasising the importance of the University's positive impact on Oxford and Oxfordshire features Science Together as a case study. The report is called "Beyond Town and Gown: Working Towards a More Inclusive Oxford" and was published in December 2024. It provides an overview of how the University shares its resources and collaborates with local partners to shape a more positive future. Read the report here.