Communities
Inspired by the Gaelic cèilidh — bringing people together — we connect communities, research, and culture to drive social change.
Science Ceilidh supports people across Scotland to be curious, get creative, and build knowledge and networks to influence wellbeing, climate change, and democratic processes.
We work alongside grassroots groups, community and cultural engagement professionals, youth workers and rural communities, providing facilitation, bespoke training and resource development to empower social action locally.
As capacity builders, connectors and system gatekeepers, we share our learning to inform, train and consult with national and international funders, practitioners, and organisations. Our goal is to advocate for more equitable knowledge and cultural democracy in Scotland and beyond.
Our work ranges from:
supporting New Scots in Edinburgh to explore and share art and science as culture with Multicultural Family Base
engaging young groups through creative STEM with our Curiosity Club
supporting equitable community-researcher partnerships around mental wellbeing and climate change
developing resources to support singing groups to be more mental health-inclusive in Singing Side by Side
delivering interdisciplinary community programmes and training
exploring the role of libraries and culture to support connectedness and research around social isolation and wellbeing with communities in the Western Isles
COMMUNITIES
Explore our programmes, specific projects, and key resources below to learn more about our work with communities across Scotland.
Community Knowledge Matters is a network bringing together people interested in community-led research shaping practice and policy change, especially in rural and island Scotland. As a network we are building connectivity and collective capacity through our regular network activities, collation of resources and wider opportunities along with specific programmes designed to build stronger community-led research systems – from new models of community-led priority setting for rural research, ethics processes led by lived experience rather than institutions and community data infrastructure.
Curiosity In Action was a two-year programme (2023-2025) involving building an evidence-base, capacity and a network in Scotland to explore the impact of STEM in youth work. The action research strand included pairing youth groups with researchers involved in STFC research in a collaborative action research process. Together, they planned and trialled activities, explored approaches to discover what works well and looked at the impact this work has on young people. This learning shaped a series of resources developed for Community Learning and Development practitioners, researchers and science educators.
We believe in the importance of culture in the widest sense to connect people. Our New Scots Connect programmes have been working in partnership with Multicultural Family Base for over 7 years building relationships and support through sharing arts, sciences, crafts, music, research, culture and stories for, with and by New Scots - people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds who are currently living in Scotland.
Get involved
Join CKM and CiA
featured RESOURCE
One key resource surfaced prominently - guide, toolkit, report, or recording most relevant to this section's audience.
featured training & Support
We support a network you can get involved in….X. If you’d like to have support/training we offer Y
Other case studies/projects
PAST PROJECTS
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EXAMPLE: This programme is facilitated by Science Ceilidh in partnership with Youthlink Scotland and a group of steering group members including Professor Catherine Heymans, Royal Observatory of Edinburgh (ROE) STFC, Abi Ashton, ROE STFC, Dr Xinran Liu, University of Edinburgh and UNDO, Dr Jean-Christophe Denis, University of Edinburgh, Dr Autumn Roesh-Marsh, University of Edinburgh Bink Hub, Professor Martin Hendry, University of Glasgow, Hilary Phillips, Youth Link Scotland, Dr Amy Calder, Youth Link Scotland and John Galt, Education Scotland. The Principal Investigator for the programme is Lewis Hou (Science Ceilidh Director). We also have developing collaborations including with SSERC Young STEM Leaders and University of Aberdeen, and are open to further connections.
This is a collaborative programme to help build momentum, evidence and connectivity across sectors to support the meaningful involvement of STEM in youth work and we’re still building collaborations and keen to connect with wider partners passionate about this work. If you’re interested in being more involved in the strategy of the network & programme please get in touch.