Watch all staff talk celebrating our volunteers

Colleagues involved in volunteering shared their experiences of how their work has benefitted them and the University in June's all staff talk.

The session was held to recognise all our colleagues who volunteer or manage links between the University and local charity groups. Many others across the University also give their time to charitable causes and some examples were shared by attendees in a lively Q&A.

This talk followed the University's first ever Celebration of Volunteering event held in May, which saw dozens of colleagues, students and alumni recognised for their work.

Joining Robert for the session were:

• James Magee (Associate Director in Technical Services), who volunteers with Launchpad, a Reading homelessness charity, and recently arranged a visit to the University for its members. Robert is also a patron of Launchpad.
• Ruchi Goyal (Lecturer in Henley Business School), who has volunteered in several ways over the years and now supports Age UK in Reading.
• Claire Newbold (Lecturer in Mathematics & Statistics), who has turned her love of floristry into support for Smart Works, a Reading charity that supports women to gain employment.
• Molli Cleaver (Community Engagement Manager), who was part of the team who organised the Celebration of Volunteering event. She spoke of some of the volunteering successes she has seen within our community and how these support the University's strategic aims.

A recording of the talk is available on this page.

New way to find volunteering opportunities

As a result of many attendees asking where they could find out more about volunteering opportunities for themselves, a new Volunteering channel has been set up within the Community Action Partnership(CAP)  MS Teams channel. New members can click to join the CAP channel, and the Volunteering channel can be found in the left-hand side menu.

Colleagues can use the channel to share volunteering opportunities - on or off campus - they are aware of, ask questions, and tell their volunteering stories to inspire others.

You can also visit the Reading Voluntary Action website, which lists a wide range of opportunities.