King’s students, staff and community partners from across our home boroughs recently came together for the King’s Civic Challenge Grand Final at the Science Gallery London on our Guy’s Campus.
King’s Civic Challenge brings together teams of students, staff and community partners to collaboratively develop solutions to some of the challenges our neighbouring communities face today. Eight projects co-created with partners from our home boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Westminster have won funding to deliver positive change in King’s local communities
Teams submitted written proposals and video pitches in early April and a panel of judges from across Lambeth, Southwark and Westminster, alongside representatives from King’s, selected the winning teams. These teams have each received £5,000, as well as an evaluation package and ongoing coaching to help make their projects more impactful.
Find out more about the winning proposals below:
‘CAFÉ CRYPT’ AT INSPIRE hopes to tackle poverty and food insecurity in Walworth by providing affordable, healthy meals for the most vulnerable local communities, while simultaneously upskilling young people and educating parents on good nutrition.
Project team: Nigel Scott Dickeson, Steven Davies and Zara Lloyd from InSpire at St. Peter’s with Afsana Ali, BSc Economics, Social Science & Public Policy, Ayushi Meena, MA Public Policy, Social Science & Public Policy, Esther Talbourdet, BA/BSc Political Economy, Social Science & Public Policy, Jenny Ye, Management and Modern Language (German), Arts & Humanities, Madison Pollard-Shore, Service Transformation Officer, Professional Services, Suyeon Han, International Development BA, Social Science & Public Policy and Wenxiao Wang, Banking and Finance, King's Business School. With the support of King’s alumni coach Alexandra Caminer, lawyer, founder and CEO of JAG Cap Advisors.
Healthcare Heroes seeks to encourage Year 12 students in London to explore pathways to fulfilling careers in the health sector: students, teachers and parents will have the opportunity to meet a variety of medical and healthcare professionals. The programme will run regular events to help students and teachers learn more about healthcare roles.
Eireann Attridge, Hannah Redzimski and Laura Compton from The Elephant Group with Isaac Farnbank, Bsc/BA Politics, Social Science & Public Policy, Suwimon Boonrungsiman, Research fellow, Life Sciences & Medicine and Tae Ibrahim, Medicine, Life Sciences & Medicine. With the support of King’s alumni coach James Man, management consultant and bench scientist in biopharmaceutical research and development.
Carers’ Hub – Business and enterprise award
Lambeth Young Carers Card seeks to identify, support and connect young carers (aged 11-17) in Lambeth to information and help navigating services. The project will involve young carers themselves in the co-production and design of the Young Carers Card.
Alice Dias, James Holdcroft and Tu'shea Brown from Carers’ Hub with Kim Piper, Dean for Education, Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, Joe Keane, MA Public Policy, Social Science & Public Policy and Rashi Mitra, MA International Child Rights and Development, Social Science & Public Policy. With the support of King’s alumni coach Aneeta Williams, a human rights lawyer and international development and humanitarian practitioner.
ClearCommunityWeb CIC – Health and wellbeing award (Joint winner)
The aim of ClearCommunityWeb’s Safety Surgeries is to help to reduce anxiety about technology and online safety for older people, vulnerable adults and carers in London and to empower them to feel safe, stay connected and improve their overall wellbeing.
Caspar Kennerdale and Eve Miller-Biot from ClearCommunityWeb with Cristian Escudero, MA Political Economy, Social Science & Public Policy. With the support of King’s alumni coach Bobby Dixit, founder of AIMS, a platform for location-based authentication.
Age UK Lambeth – Health and wellbeing award (Joint winner)
Age UK Lambeth aims to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation among the elderly in Lambeth by recruiting them to volunteer in their befriending scheme. The team proposes a three-step marketing strategy to attract, connect and build confidence in the elderly.
Liv Barnett and Tayla Estelle-Davis from AGE UK Lambeth with Alice Dunham, BSc International Management, King's Business School, Anselm Au, MSc Bioethics and Society MSc, Social Science & Public Policy, Sihaam Osman, MBBS Medicine, Life Sciences & Medicine and Yiyu Wu, Cultural & Creative Industries, Arts & Humanities. With the support of King’s alumni coach Hugh Deighton, retired physicist in the space industry.
Housing for Women seek to empower women, provide them with a safe space to speak up, and share their stories about what home means to them. The project aims to build new meaningful relationships and create a sense of community.
Maria Galan from Housing for Women with Hana Efendic, MA International Peace and Security, Social Science & Public Policy, Maïssa Abidi, BA Politics, Social Science & Public Policy, Megan Widjaja, Political Economy, Social Science & Public Policy and Sarah Farrow, Chaplain to the St Thomas' & Waterloo Campuses and Vice-Dean, Professional Services. With the support of King’s alumni coach Nathalie Ho, Global Director for Learning & Development, Diversity & Inclusion and Compliance at Clarks.
This unique project is an initiative to improve the mental health and wellbeing of 15 to 25-year-olds by creating a temporary portable theatre structure and hosting various cultural programming and creative activities.
Daljinder Johal, Ine Van Riet, Pavlos Christodoulou and Rob Drummer from Boundless Theatre with Arushi Dubey, LLM Law, The Dickson Poon School of Law, Esra Kayandan, LLM Law, The Dickson Poon School of Law, Nahuel Alexis Durante, Project Coordinator, Life Sciences & Medicine and Thalia Ignatova, MSc Digital Marketing, King's Business School. With the support of King’s alumni coach Lindsey Whittle, associate solicitor at Hamlins LLP.
RJ4ALL aims to organise a cook-off to increase community engagement and create a vibrant future for the centre as a place where residents can meet, find support and cultivate a yearned-for sense of community spirit. The team plan to provide an event blueprint that the centre can use again to foster engagement and bring new people to the centre.
Anna Simon Serra from Restorative Justice for All with Daniel Robson, Student Experience Manager, King's Business School, Emin Deniz Baskaya, BSc Economics, Arts & Humanities, Katherine Blackledge Luz Rodrigues, LLM Law, The Dickson Poon School of Law, Luke Matthews, BA History and International Relations, Arts & Humanities and Rio Harada-Parr, BA Philosophy, Arts & Humanities. With the support of King’s alumni coach Jake Adams, coach and attorney practicing international financial, investment, and commercial law.