In this post, Sebastian and colleagues, Roisin McKelvey, Katie Nicoll Baines, Rebecca Shade, Bjorn Spain, Ollie Cahya, and Ash Scholz, showcase the Community Conversations – a joint project between EUSA, Student Experience Services, HR, the Staff Pride Network and the University’s LGBTQ+ Committee, funded by the Student Partnership Agreement. The Conversations sought to empower LGBTQ+ students and staff to co-facilitate question/conversation-based sessions exploring and mythbusting LGBTQ+ experiences within and outwith the University. The funding was used to remunerate students for their time as facilitators and experts in their lived experience. This post is part of the Student Partnership Agreement 2025 series.
Why Community Conversations?
The University of Edinburgh is a large and diverse community who strongly hold and use their student and staff voice – often this is a constructive and powerful exchange of ideas, but other times it isn’t. The Conversations aimed to “foster good relations” by taking the discussion off-line, person-to-person and with a true core of positive curiosity and learning. The aim: to make people from the LGBTQ+ community, and those from outside the community, feel able to talk and explore LGBTQ+ identities constructively and confidently at Edinburgh.
Conversations in numbers
We asked Departments and Schools to nominate themselves for the pilot. Ten took up the offer, with eight Conversations delivered within the funding window. We had Conversations with nearly 100 staff and students by the close of the project.
Across the project there were 24 LGBTQ+ facilitators -12 staff and 12 students – from right across the LGBTQ+ umbrella and from a range of areas/subjects of the University. These were all supported by three Lead Facilitators and by dedicated optional mental health support from the Student Wellbeing Service.
Making a difference
Understanding if these made a difference was a key part of the project’s design. This evidence was not only for the LGBTQ+ Community Conversations themselves, but to also demonstrate that the simple Q&A format is impactful and could be a blueprint for other Community Conversations by/with other communities.
The impact speaks for itself… Before the sessions the % of people who said they were ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ was only 19% for both questions. After the one-hour sessions, these figures had jumped to 60% (knowledge/understanding) and 50% (conversations) with the near total elimination of ‘not confident’ and ‘not confident at all’ responses as people shifted to either ‘neutral’ or ‘positive’ responses.
It was great to see that 100% of people who participated in the Conversations would recommend others to take part in future Conversations – can’t get much better than that! 91% of facilitators found the Conversations a positive experience overall, and 100% said they would like to see more Conversations in the future.
A very welcome, yet unplanned, outcome was bringing together LGBTQ+ students and staff who otherwise would likely not have met each other. During the mandatory facilitator training, and all the Conversations, it was clear that many facilitators were coming to such an activity for the first time, seeking much-needed positive community, confidence building and simply being part of the coming together of a broad range of people who may otherwise not have engaged in established student/staff voice activities.
In their own words…
Sharing lived experiences and asking questions in a safe space taught me a lot and made me have a stronger sense of belonging and acceptance within the staff community. (Participant)
The session opened up a really safe and educational environment. The panel facilitators were absolutely amazing, and shared some fantastic insight to the staff and student experience (Participant)
My participation as a facilitator has been one of, if not the, most impactful activity I have done. Getting to actually speak to people, share our stories and opinions, and promote a culture of openness and honesty within our community has been such a privilege. (Student Facilitator)
Many people make snap judgments about us without ever having tried to meet us or understand our material reality… I hope that by demystifying myself as a trans man, I can help others within the University to see us as fully human. So far, I’ve felt that the work has been very positive, but I want to see… action (Student Facilitator)
Facilitating… has given me the confidence to talk openly, frankly and quite introspectively about how queerness – both my own and generally – intersects with working at an institution like the university. This isn’t something I would have felt comfortable doing even 2 – 3 years ago, but [now] feels… necessary. (Staff Facilitator)
I think the ethos behind the project, about the importance of open, respectful communication and the value it has in allowing others to ask questions, better understand lived experience, and reflect on their own assumptions/beliefs, is really important. It is all too easy for different communities to feel divided, and/or for people without lived experience of a particular identity to feel uncertain, or anxious, about asking questions to learn more about lived experiences that they don’t share. (Staff Facilitator)
BVS was delighted and intrigued to participate… [the] LGBTQ+ facilitators shared personal insights, fostering an enlightening dialogue in a safe and open environment. Should you have the opportunity in the future, I highly encourage you to join these valuable conversations. (Bio & Veterinary Sciences)
What next?
The project ended in summer 2025 with a business case submitted in the autumn. While initial funding was not successful, we’re looking to embed the learnings and approaches into the incoming EDI Roadmap and its associated activities across our student and staff communities.
Sebastian Bromelow
Sebastian is Senior HR Partner for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and Employee Relations & Employment Policy.
Roisin McKelvey
Roisin is Co-Convenor LGBT+ Sub-Committee.
Katie Nicoll Baines
Katie is Chair of Staff Pride Network.
Rebecca Shade
Rebecca is Assistant Director of Development & Inclusion (DLSS).
Bjorn Spain
Bjorn is Welfare and Liberation Coordinator (EUSA).
Ollie Cahya
Ollie is Trans & Non-Binary Officer (EUSA).
Ash Scholz
Ash is 2024/25 President (EUSA).
