At the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) we work with departments across the University to match alumni volunteers with relevant and rewarding opportunities. There are so many different ways to get involved as a Bristol Volunteer and all of them make a huge difference to our community. Whether you give your time or expertise, you will be helping to enrich the lives of students and graduates alike.
Current volunteering opportunities are listed below.
Could you share your career insight with our students?
Bristol Connects Live
We are looking for speakers to share their expertise at Bristol Connects Live, our new online series of career development events. If you would like to share your insights on your industry or ways of working, then we would love to welcome you as a panellist, subject expert or event host.
Panellist and event hosts will speak live, whilst subject experts will provide insight through the event text chat. If you are interested in getting involved or would like to find out more information, please contact the Bristol Volunteers team at alumni-volunteers@bristol.ac.uk.
Bristol Connects: Share your Bristol experience as a Career Expert
Whether you work in the public or private sector, a multi-national company or for yourself, your career path could provide inspiration to others. It’s easy to become a Career Expert through Bristol Connects. If you choose to volunteer in this way, your profile, including your career history and your industry insight, will be available for students and alumni to view. You can choose to be available for students and alumni to connect with on a one-to-one basis, providing help on specialist topics and offering opportunities of your choice. Become a Career Expert today.
Student work placements
Through the Professional Liaison Network (PLN) in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, alumni can get involved with various engagement activities and work directly with students to enhance their educational experience. This includes the opportunity for organisations to get the benefit of students completing a project or relevant set of tasks, whilst students see their academic studies brought to life in real-world settings and gain a range of relevant skills and experience. We offer second-year students in the Schools of Education, Social Policy and Management the opportunity to undertake a work placement with an organisation, in a role that links directly to their degree; they are approximately 80 hours and take place between November and May 2021.
Final year undergraduate students studying Management can take part in the Management Consultancy Research Project, where they use their learning to solve a real management/ organisational challenge and learn about management research and practice. These projects will take place between January and June 2021.
We are starting to plan these opportunities for the 2020/21 academic year, so if you are interested in offering a work placement or a consultancy research project please contact Claire Horton, claire.horton@bristol.ac.uk for more information.
Offer your time as a mentor
Faculty of Engineering Mentoring Scheme 2021
A big thank you to all our alumni who are continuing to mentor our Engineering and Computer Science students online. We really appreciate your time, effort, dedication and flexibility, especially during these challenging times. Whilst we are still in the early stages of discussing the format for the 2021 scheme, keeping the latest COVID-19 guidance at the forefront of our minds, we are currently aiming for mentors to connect with their students three times between February/March and November in 2021. Like last summer, we will use the coming months to continue to develop the scheme based on recent student and mentor feedback.
While the format for the 2021 scheme will likely be adapted in light of the pandemic, our information, FAQs and timeline for 2020 will help to give you a general insight into the purpose and benefits of the scheme. If you are interested in mentoring our enthusiastic and curious Engineering and Computer Science students in 2021, please contact Huw Andrews, engf-ilomentoring@bristol.ac.uk.
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law Mentoring Scheme 2021
Through the Professional Liaison Network (PLN) in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, alumni can get involved with various engagement activities and work directly with students to enhance their educational experience. One of our largest activities is the Professional Mentoring Scheme which support students across the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law.
If you are a Social Sciences and Law graduate and would like to help students realise their future in the Social Sciences field, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Isabelle Halton, isabelle.halton@bristol.ac.uk.
Bristol Mentors applications are open
We are now accepting applications for Bristol Mentors 2020/21. Becoming a mentor is a great opportunity to share your valuable career insight and help students from underrepresented backgrounds reach their goals. Our alumni mentors support students for a couple of hours per month from October to June.
To apply, please complete the Bristol Mentors application form. For more information about the Bristol Mentors programme, please get in touch with the Bristol Volunteers team at alumni-volunteers@bristol.ac.uk.
Connect with your alumni community
Alumni have been volunteering their time to organise their own events and reunions over the years. Here is what one of our alumni had to say about volunteering his time from the last reunion he organised in 2019:
Our ‘Geog On 1976-79’ reunion of Bristol geographers last year brought together most of our year group a full 40 years on from our studies. It renewed old friendships and resulted in further events being planned. We volunteered to organise this for our peers- it just needed a few of us to get together once in a while to plan what turned out to be a very nostalgic weekend”. Nick Roberts, Co-Organiser, ‘Geog On 1976-79’
Whilst we are aware organising and arranging face to face reunions is not possible at the moment, we have some suggestions as to how you can stay connected virtually.
To keep up to date with our latest volunteering opportunities sign-up to Bristol Volunteers digest, or explore our ongoing volunteering opportunities online.