Incubation from Student Hubs supports students with scoping, designing and launching innovative new social action projects in their local community. Many universities have extensive support for entrepreneurial skills, but social action is a key area which students are interested in where support and expertise can be lacking in existing university teams – this is the gap we look to fill.
Our approach
Local Hub staff support students through resources, training, advice, guidance and access to our Hub network to successfully scope, design and implement projects. We also connect students to existing community partners through our local networks and have the expertise to support them in making new connections if required. Incubation can involve piloting new projects as part of existing delivery, or may be a brand new project following a student identifying a particular social or environmental need. Hub staff support students throughout the process to make and lead the scaling of the activity, and find sustainable funding or support for it to continue.
Incubation support for social action can attract a different profile of student from those that typically engage in entrepreneurial activities, and can support students with unique perspectives to make change in a practical and impactful way. Support includes training, 1:1 engagement, our incubation framework and internal resources.
If you’re a student with an idea to create positive social change, get in touch with your local Hub.
If you’re a university staff member interested in our programme, find out more about partnering with us.
If you’re a member of a local organisation, contact your nearest Hub about partnership opportunities.
“Working with the Hub has greatly enhanced my experience at the university. I have been able to add a lot of skills to my CV [and] have learned a lot about how to work in teams and how to communicate effectively. Personally, I have particularly enjoyed the friendships I was able to build with other volunteers. We were able to build a tight-knit group among the volunteers which made our work so much more fun and made my university experience a lot better.”
Hans Dyckerhoff, University of Southampton student. Hans helped develop the original idea for Southampton Hub programme, Invent Plus, and went on to be our student leader for the programme at the University of Southampton.