There three different ways Societies, as a whole, or individual Society members can collaborate or volunteer with us, click the tabs below to learn more:
You may have attended one of our Culture Days before, such as Welsh Culture Day, Jamaican Culture Day, Open Iftar or Thai Culture Day, for example, and we’d love to work with you to bring more events to life. Our “Culture Days” are a great way for you to celebrate your community and help others learn more about your culture.
The Global Lounge aims to deliver authentic events, working closely with volunteers who can share their own experiences to make an event come to life. This opportunity is open to all students, home and international.
For these events you could either collaborate with us on the whole event as a society or, if individual members would like to get involved, we can work with them as individual volunteers. We are looking for volunteers who either:
- Are of the nationality of the culture being celebrated; or
- Have significant links to the culture being celebrated; or
- Have a significant understanding of the culture being celebrated.
We don’t expect you to be a representative or an expert for the whole culture, but to share with us your own experience of it. The Global Lounge will help you bring it to life with our event-planning expertise, space, and funding. As volunteers, we would ask you to support in the following areas:
- Help create a presentation about your culture/particular subject
- Suggest activities we could run in the Global Lounge as part of the event
- Help us choose appropriate decorations, food, and snacks linked to the event
- If you are available, to come to the event and assist with delivering our activities and presentation.
Please reply to this email with a Culture Day idea or to express your interest in volunteering/collaborating with us at an upcoming 'Culture Day'.
The Global Lounge hosts “Friday Hangouts” sessions as a recurring event, every Friday between 14:00-15:30, during term-time. There are currently 4 different themes that we rotate: Cultural curiosities; Boardgames and brain teasers; Sports and indoor games; and Arts, crafts and other hobbies.
We are looking to work with Societies and/or individual volunteers to help co-create the "Cultural Curiosities” sessions for term-time. The sessions are laid-back and aim to bring students together on a Friday and meet new people. For Societies, “Friday Hangouts” sessions are a great way to show others all about their group and interests, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and attract new members.
If you are interested in volunteering with the Global Lounge at “Friday Hangouts – Cultural curiosities” please reply to this email to express your interest.
The Global Lounge hosts “Language Café” sessions as a recurring event, every Wednesday between 14:30-16:00 (English only) and 17:00-18:30 (all languages). It is a space for people to come together and practise a language in a friendly environment, with free hot drinks and snacks. At Language Café we work closely with volunteers from across the world to run the different language groups available.
We are currently looking for more Language Café volunteers to join us for the new academic year, 2025/26. If you are interested in sharing the language you can speak and make friends along the way, this is the perfect opportunity for you. The sessions are laid-back and are shaped around your availability. Training is provided.
If you’re interested in volunteering with the Global Lounge at “Language Cafe” please submit your application online or reply to this email to let us know.
Why collaborate/volunteer with us?
- We will celebrate your culture with you.
- We will promote the event university-wide.
- We can offer funding for collaborative projects.
- You can meet people from outside your circles – our events are open to entire University community, so you can meet people from different courses.
- We work with students from around the world and from diverse backgrounds, it is an opportunity to collaborate with people from different backgrounds – and improve your intercultural communication skills.
- You can improve your team working, leadership, presentation, public speaking, intercultural communication and other skills.
- Collaborating/volunteering with us will allow your society members to develop your skills profile, gain hours to log for Bristol PLUS Award, and is a great way to enhance your CV.
If you are interested in volunteering or collaborating with us, or have any questions, please email global-lounge@bristol.ac.uk as an initial expression of interest.