DUSVO Projects
Each year we have 20+ student-led projects available for students to join. These projects and their leaders can be found below.
Educational Projects
Education Chair: Ciara Metcalfe, [email protected]
| Project | Description | Project Manager(s) (PM) | |
| 1-2-1 Tutoring | 1-2-1 Tutoring, the largest educational volunteering project at Durham University, pairs students with state-educated pupils to enhance their academic opportunities and to foster a sense of fulfilment and contribution to the community. The volunteers dedicate one hour per week tutoring a Pre-GCSE, GCSE or A-Level student(s), in their own chosen subject(s), either in-person or online. | Julita Gajewska, Marco Leung | [email protected] |
| Code Club | Code Club runs after-school clubs throughout County Durham where children ages 7 – 13 learn to code. Our volunteers run weekly sessions in Scratch, HTML/CSS, Python, and more! | José Stewart | [email protected] |
| Tutor for Ukraine | Tutor for Ukraine is an educational initiative, offering English language tutoring to children displaced by the current conflict in Ukraine. This project offers flexible opportunities for students to help Ukrainian children maintain some continuity in their foreign language education and to help them to communicate and integrate with others in their current host countries. | Jake Robins, Isma Shahid, Alicja Zon | [email protected] |
| Students4Students | Students4Students, founded by university students in 2015, champions the mission of addressing educational inequality in the UK. Through one-on-one tutoring by university students, we aim to level the playing field for primary pupils struggling in maths or English. Our goal is a society where every child, regardless of background, reaches their utmost potential. | Xinting Feng | [email protected] |
| Early Years | Based in Durham city, early years volunteers support staff at a local nursery in the care taking of 0-5 year old children, helping to carry out activities and games. | Lydia Firth, Izzy James | [email protected] |
Social Inclusion Projects
Social Inclusion Chair: Ezme Till, [email protected]
| Project | Description | Project Manager(s) (PM) | |
| Once A Month | DU Once A Month is a student-led volunteer project aiming to help tackle period poverty in County Durham. We fundraise and collect period products to provide to local charities and food banks in need of donations. | Emily Hales | [email protected] |
| Generations Together | Generations Together is a volunteering project aimed for elderly. Our projects run once a week, with Computeas (drop in sessions in claypath library to help elderly with technology related problems) and Service visit (2 volunteers to 1 elderly, so feel free to join with a friend). We also have a PenPal scheme if you enjoy writing letters to elderly. | Audrey Lee, Charlotte Wan, Linus Cheung | [email protected] |
| Children Achieving Through Student Support (CATSS) Primary | CATSS provides respite day and residential trips for underprivileged children in local North Eastern schools. It is comprised of separate Primary (ages 7-11) and Secondary (ages 11-16) groups, planning and carrying out activities and experiences that children from hard-to-reach background may otherwise be unable to access. | Imogen Withey, Victoria Woodhouse, Nina Jones | [email protected] |
| Children Achieving Through Student Support (CATSS) Secondary | CATSS provides respite day and residential trips for underprivileged children in local North Eastern schools. It is comprised of separate Primary (ages 7-11) and Secondary (ages 11-16) groups, planning and carrying out activities and experiences that children from hard-to-reach background may otherwise be unable to access. | Rosa Aziz, Natalie Gaunt, Sophia Barton | [email protected] |
| Beyond Boundaries | Beyond Boundaries is a charity operating out of a beautiful farm in the Yorkshire moors offering enrichment and educational skills to local adults with learning disabilities. Our project takes Durham students to the farm to engage with service users and foster meaningful relationships via farm activities such as walking and feeding the animals, arts and crafts, games and much more. | Eleanor Wallace, Cecilia Barnes Gosling | [email protected] |
| Girls Friendly Society | GFS is about connecting young women to young girls, in a safe space where they can do activities to build their confidence, team work, and communication skills, to empower and support them from beyond the group itself | Billie Shearman, Nicole Longstaff | [email protected] |
| DUSVO Bakes | We are a DUSVO project that provides bakes for underprivileged people in the local community as well as for university bake sales. Joining our project is a great way to share your love of baking or even try a new skill whilst helping those who need it most | Ingrid Lam, Amy Church | [email protected] |
| Warm Hearts | Warm Hearts a charity project which endeavours to support local NHS hospitals and services, alleviating pressure from the NHS. We are comprised of a warm and welcoming group of volunteers, that are always happy to help and welcome new members. | Ele James | [email protected] |
Environmental Projects
Environment Chair: Olivia Hong, [email protected]
| Project | Description | Project Manager(s) (PM) | |
| Gardening Project | Gardening Project is a community-based project which helps look after green spaces from historic gardens to council spaces, to local cemeteries and resident’s gardens. It is flexible, rewarding and relaxing! No equipment required and those of any skill level are welcome. | Lottie Gravelsons | [email protected] |
| Environment Club | Volunteers will conduct informative workshops with primary school students to help educate the next generation about the environmental issues facing our planet today. | Mansi Bhavsar | [email protected] |
| Beyond Food | Volunteers work alongside the Trussell Trust’s Durham food bank to provide food parcels for disadvantaged families in County Durham. | Maddie Meehan, Ella Jay | [email protected] |
| Hedgehog Friendly | Hedgehog Friendly Durham aims to achieve the British Hedgehog Preservation Society ‘Hedgehog Friendly University’ accreditation, beginning with Bronze, Silver to Gold. | Kathryn Dawes | [email protected] |
Cultural Projects
Cultural Chair: Zhihan Liu, [email protected]
| Project | Description | Project Manager(s) (PM) | |
| The Auckland Project | The Auckland Project is a regeneration charity working to establish Bishop Auckland as a heritage visitor attraction, mainly through galleries, historic sites, food, events, education, and nature. | Ghala Timraz, Yoyo Lam | [email protected] |
| Durham Global Schools | DUSVO Cultural Project to celebrate global diversity! It could provide any international student who love to celebrate cultural diversity a platform to share their countries cultural with young school children and contribute to our local community. | Zhihan Liu | [email protected] |
| Wikimedia | Wikimedia Project seeks open knowledge. It runs events that introduce said volunteers to Wikimedia projects and facilitates collaborative work towards their open knowledge goals. | Merak Cai, Hoh Shan Poh | [email protected] |
| Durham for Refugees Kids Club | We are a weekly drop-in centre designed to support child refugees in County Durham. Every Saturday we run loads of fun activities and are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help with arts and crafts, football and many more. We also provide tutoring for children of all ages, helping them prepare for exams or consolidate writing skills. | Armaan Haji, Lucy Faber, Ellie Simester | [email protected] |
Health and Wellbeing
Health and Wellbeing Chair: Lilly Whipp, [email protected]
| Project | Description | Project Manager(s) (PM) | |
| Otters Swim Club | Otters Swimming Club is a project that allows individuals with disabilities, who are unable to attend public swimming lessons, to learn to swim and have fun in the water. As a Volunteer you will help to provide a safe and fun environment for the service users, by engaging in different games and by supporting individuals in the water. This is a flexible volunteering opportunity with 3-4 volunteers needed each session. | Freya Lovric-Kemp, Laura Golding | [email protected] |
| Durham Minds | Durham Minds is a student-led project aiming to raise awareness on mental health and reduce stigma associated with mental health in Durham. We promote positive well-being within Durham University and the wider Durham community. | Emily Jubb, Aparna Sah | [email protected] |
| Parkinson’s Pals | Parkinson’s Pals is a brilliant way to briefly escape from the ‘Durham Bubble’, form valuable bonds with new people and learn more about living with Parkinson’s Disease. For clarity, Parkinson’s Pals works by volunteers having the opportunity to get involved with activities, such as big monthly sessions at the local community centre and some regular home visits starting this year. It should also be said that Parkinson’s Pals is an extremely rewarding scheme as you’ll be part of a national movement to combat the loneliness and stigma sometimes associated with Parkinson’s disease by simply engaging in friendly conversation through face-to-face visits. We hope you will consider joining Parkinson’s Pals for this academic year and help grow the charity with us. | Patrick Hughes, Arthur Robinson | [email protected] |
| Move Mates | A walking buddy project that makes getting out for a walk a reality for people who otherwise would not be able to. All you need is 1-2 hours/week and a passion to support the local community. Full training and support provided. | Hester Poon | [email protected] |
| Community Wellness | This project allows university students to volunteer with a range of sport/exercise classes for disadvantaged adults in the community. The project currently works with service users from Waddington Street Centre, Lanchester Road Hospital and County Durham Drug and alcohol recovery services. The project is also looking to expand the scope of its activities. | Looking for a PM – please contact [email protected] if you are interested |