August 18, 2023
As we outlined in our blog back in June we’re looking for six people to join our Allies Group, we hope to have them in place by our next meeting in October. We have had a working group focussing on trying to make the application process as inclusive and accessible as possible. We are doing this by providing multiple different ways to apply and by making the process anonymous to prevent any possible bias on the part of the panel assessing applications. (We always try to challenge ourselves to do better and are learning all the time, so please ask if there is something you would like to know, or if you have a suggestion for us to make use of in the future. - This blog was updated on 23 August with some clarifications as a result of questions asked). If you would prefer to listen to this blog rather than read on please use our audio file version.
The Allies Group act as advisors to Co-Production Collective. The Group is a sounding board, bringing their different experiences and expertise to guide our development. They support us to make connections, identify opportunities to raise awareness of our work, and help us ensure our future sustainability. The group currently has two interim co-chairs, Cristina Serrao & Marc Stears and five other members, who are a mix of people from our community, who are part of external partner organisations or are UCL staff with a range of different backgrounds and experience. (Once our six new members have been recruited, we will look to recruit new co-chairs in early 2024).
The Allies Group generally meets three to four times a year online for two hours per meeting. After each meeting we share the notes on our website – the latest ones are the June 2023 meeting notes. If you would like to know more, please have a listen to Mandy’s overview (a 1.44 minute audio recording) of what it is like to be a member of the group.
This role is about acting as an advisor to Co-Production Collective, bringing your experiences and expertise to guide our development. For further information please read the Allies Group Member Role Description, available as:
Remuneration of £100 per meeting (in line with Our Payment Policy of £25 per hour to cover a 2-hour meeting and reading time in advance) is offered to those joining the group in a personal capacity.
If you would like to chat more about this role, please read on or feel free to contact coproduction@ucl.ac.uk and we will organise this with you.
We are looking for people who are proactive, open to new ideas/ways of working, and passionate about our mission to create social justice and lasting change through co-production. You can either be a lived experience member of our community or someone who works either for UCL or an external organisation. Please be aware any lived and or learnt experience you might have is considered important evidence (if you wish to share it) as to your experience in relation to this role.
We have six roles on offer:
We actively encourage applications from global majority candidates who are underrepresented in our community and at UCL including but not exclusive to non-graduates, disabled, D/deaf and neurodivergent people, LGBTQ+ people, people from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities. We also welcome applicants from a range of educational backgrounds and therefore do not require a minimum formal qualification for this role. We embrace and value all forms of knowledge including lived experience knowledge.
Please complete the following steps in order to submit an anonymous application.
Please note: the deadline for applications is 17:00 (UK time) on Tuesday 5 September 2023.
Steps for application:
We are aware that if you share your lived experience as part of this application that there is a chance that this may impact on your ability to remain anonymous. If this is the case, please generalise your experience as much as possible so that you are not identifiable.
Please note, you can submit your response by one of the following methods*.
a) Filling in our application form (a Word document) and emailing it back to us.
b) Sending us an email with your responses to the questions outlined in the application form and in bullet point 3 above.
c) Narrating your response to the questions outlined in the application form and above via a WhatsApp or Zoom video or voice note/audio file (we want to keep this an anonymous process so these will be transcribed by someone not involved in the application review process).
*Please restrict your answers to approximately 500 words/one side of A4 or 2 minutes of a video or audio recording in total.
Be aware, the deadline for applications is 17:00 (UK time) on Tuesday 5 September 2023.
If there is anything we can do to make this process easier for you to take part in, please let us know – we are happy to help. You can contact the Co-Production Collective team via email on coproduction@ucl.ac.uk or by calling us on 0044 7741 671 200.
Applications will be matched against the following three areas and scored from 0-3 with those scoring highest invited to proceed to the next stage. We are currently working on developing the next stage of the process to ensure that it is inclusive and friendly.
The areas we will be scoring your application against are:
Please submit your application as outlined above via email to coproduction@ucl.ac.uk. We’ll be in touch with next steps as soon as possible after the deadline date.
The key dates are as outlined below:
No, I’m afraid we won’t be offering payment to take part in the next stage of the Co-Production Collective Allies Group members recruitment process but, we are happy to offer £5 per 2 hours to cover internet costs if required.
Yes, we will share the plan for the next stage of the process (including details on panel members) a week in advance of the date for the next stage with everyone who proceeds to this next stage.
It is fine with us if you are part of another group similar to the Co-Production Collective Allies Group, but you might also want to check with the other organisation if you are currently part of a similar role.
This application process for the recruitment of Co-Production Collective Allies Group members is being co-produced by a Working Group of eight people from the Co-Production Collective community. We are working together to plan the whole process including the writing of this blog and the role description. We have not listed the members of the Working Group in order to try and be fair to everyone as some people looking to apply for this role may know these people whilst others may not.
If you have further questions, please contact the Co-Production Collective team via email on coproduction@ucl.ac.uk or by calling us on 0044 7741 671 200.
Image credit: Photo by Edgar Chaparro.
Interested in finding out more or exploring how we could work together?
Co-Produce with us