4. Provide services to our communities

Including key changes and impacts since 2020.

Since November 2020, we have made our sports and exercise facilities available to new, varied community groups; built closer connections between different communities and our collections; and rolled out support for apprenticeships and mentoring. Among this past year’s highlights, we piloted new physical activity initiatives for widening participation pupils and local Muslim women, brought our heritage collections to people with experience of the justice system, and had a record number of Career Ready volunteer mentors. 

  • Arts Awards, Craigmillar
  • Career Ready interns, 2025

Images show a student’s Arts Award drop-in in Craigmillar and a celebration of our Career ready interns.

In collaboration with our Widening Participation team, University of Edinburgh Sport has developed and delivered a dynamic programme of accessible physical activity opportunities for young people from the Edinburgh Sutton Trust Summer School. Sutton Trust summer schools are open to state school pupils from across the UK, including the local Scottish region. Coaches and staff from the Active Lives team provided guidance on how sport can support teamwork, leadership, and lifelong healthy habits. Students took part in a range of fun and engaging activities, from football to rounders, designed to ensure every participant regardless of experience or ability felt welcome and supported. Participants had the opportunity to explore the University’s sporting facilities and meet the Sport team.

2025 was also the year that University of Edinburgh Sport piloted a private, women-only exercise space in response to a request from a local group of Muslim women. We found a space at a time that could meet the requirements, identified a female Muslim instructor, and secured funding through our Sports Union to support a four-week trial.

Work by our Civic Engagement team, Talbot Rice Gallery and those involved with our MA Learning in Communities has widened access to our museums and galleries. Laura Beattie, Engagement Officer (Communities), has delivered heritage-inspired learning to students in His Majesty’s Prison (‘HMP’) Edinburgh. An MA Learning in Communities student ran an Arts Award drop-in at Craigmillar Library tied to our Main Library’s “Rooting” exhibition. This exhibition brought together historic and contemporary artworks by 30 different artists around the themes of the environment, ecology, and the relationships between economic and colonial legacies and the climate crisis. Talbot Rice Gallery facilitated creative workshops in collaboration with the Rock Trust, Crisis, and Granton and Clovenstone primary schools.

2025 has been a busy year for Career Ready mentoring. Career Ready is a charity that helps S5 and S6 pupils transition to the workplace by connecting them with mentors working in a range of roles. Our most recent recruitment drive resulted in forty-three University mentors – a record. This year, 35 Career Ready students completed internships across the University, supported by 36 staff mentors.


Commitment 24: “Expand our sports and exercise services and facilities offer to community sports groups, governing bodies and members of our local communities.”

University of Edinburgh Sport has made our sports and exercise facilities accessible to local communities in a variety of ways, including:

  • Hosting Prestonfield Primary School’s sports day at our Peffermill playing fields.
  • Partnering with the Edinburgh Giants Wheelchair Rugby League, who train and play their matches within our Pleasance Gym.
  • Targeting organisations like Edinburgh Young Carers and Broughton High School to encourage use of our climbing wall.
  • Running exercise workshops across five sites open to local communities.
  • Running BroSport, which offers S1 and S2 pupils from deprived areas opportunities for sports development activities outside school hours.
  • Providing local children with swimming lessons.

To find out more:

Commitment 25: “Better promote our University museums and collections to the local community and make performance space available for local charities at St Cecilia’s Hall.”

Charitable groups used St Cecilia’s Hall regularly, with some also using the venue for one-off events. The formation of the Civic Engagement team within Heritage Collections has been key to facilitating broad local community access to our collections, including St Cecilia’s Hall. Free tickets to our Anatomical Museum remain in demand and staff have run bespoke visits for local charities and community groups. Creation of a community engagement position in Talbot Rice Gallery has allowed exhibitions to reach more and different audiences.

Commitment 26: “Provide frameworks to support apprenticeships and career mentoring opportunities as part of the University’s Youth Employment Strategy.”

Our Human Resources department has created a Modern Apprentice and ex-apprentice peer mentoring programme. Colleagues have worked with a training provider that specialises in helping managers and young people to navigate the transition into the workforce and their ongoing development. We have developed tailored toolkits for both apprentices and managers. We renewed our Developing the Young Workforce (‘DYW’) Pledge (previously Young Person’s Guarantee) in May 2025.

Commitment 27: “Continue to support and grow student social enterprise in partnership with the Students’ Association, Edinburgh Innovations and local networks.”

Our student social enterprise support has evolved and is provided by Edinburgh Innovations and our Business School. Progress is summarised in our update for commitment number two. 


This article was published on