Community Research Hub volunteers support local charities and non-profits, while building real‑world research and data skills that prepare them for their future careers.
Throughout our local community, small charities are working tirelessly to provide essential services, such as supporting families in crisis, working with young people with additional needs and helping older residents who may be experiencing isolation. Yet many of these non-profit organisations don’t have the resources to access the research that could help them grow and fully understand the needs of the people they support.
That’s where Royal Holloway’s Community Research Hub steps in. The Hub matches students with charities and non-profits who need help with research or data collection. For many organisations this kind of research is simply out of reach, but through the Hub they receive it completely free of charge.
Turning lived experience into meaningful insight
One charity the Hub supported recently was Harry’s Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust (Harry’s HAT). During lockdown, they were contacted by parents who felt frightened and alone after their child received a diagnosis of hydrocephalus. They needed a resource that was meaningful, reassuring and captured real stories, not clinical leaflets.
Royal Holloway student volunteers were eager to help. They interviewed parents and adults living with hydrocephalus, gathered their reflections and helped shape these into an accessible book for families. This collaboration led to the creation of the book: Hydrocephalus: What I wish I’d known.
Caroline, Founder of Harry’s HAT, explained:
“The idea of the book came about during lockdown when parents contacted us to say how isolated and scared they felt. We then surveyed several other families affected by hydrocephalus who said that they wanted to learn from those who had walked this path before. When you have a child with a complex condition like hydrocephalus, you get lots of leaflets which are often clinical and can feel quite cold. The book is intended to be the opposite of that. This condition can make people who have to deal with it every day feel very isolated, but we hope the book will make families feel less alone and give them the confidence to ask questions.”
A transformative experience for student volunteers
The project had a powerful impact not only on the charity and the families they support, but on the students themselves. Many volunteers describe this as the first time they realised that their academic skills could have a direct, immediate effect on people’s lives.
Volunteering with the Community Research Hub gives students the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge to real-world challenges, build confidence, develop employability skills and contribute something meaningful to the community.
Over the past nine years, the Hub has supported dozens of projects from small local charities to national and international non-profit organisations.
One student volunteer said:
"Volunteering through the Community Research Hub was honestly one of the best experiences in my PhD, I loved it and the charity I worked with. I am still volunteering even though I have finished my studies."
A model of social purpose education
The Community Research Hub exemplifies Royal Holloway’s commitment to social purpose, community engagement and applied learning. The Hub enriches student learning by applying classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios and provides local charities and non-profits with high-quality research and insights that support their mission.
