The Public Engagement Fund supports projects that bring people and data together.
Initially piloted in 2022-23, the RDS Public Engagement Fund supports projects that bring people and data together. by helping professionals to engage and involve the public with data.
There have been two funding rounds in total so far, one running from 2022-2023 and the second running from 2025-2026. The aims of these included:
Communicate the impact of data research
Showcase cutting-edge data research
Involve new audiences
Create new partnerships
New for the 2025-26 fund, a portion of the total fund was ringfenced for a pilot community fund, supporting a community organisation to engage people in data research. In addition to funding, the community project was be further assisted through guidance from RDS professionals.
RDS is considering options for the Public Engagement Fund in 2026 and beyond, and we welcome discussions with any organisations who would be interested in collaborating with us on it. Please contact us to speak to a member of the team.
Led by: Greater Govanhill CIC
Funding awarded: £9,650
The Greater Govanhill CIC team equipped participants with journalism skills to dig into data around issues that they care about, and to tell these stories in their free community magazine.
Led by: The SCONe project, University of Edinburgh
Funding awarded: £6,925
The SCONe project team worked with people of a range of ages to explore the implications of using – or not using – health data in research.
Led by: Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh
Funding awarded: £7,927
This project brought together care experienced individuals and researchers to discuss how administrative data about care experienced young people is used.
Led by: University of Stirling
Funding awarded: £3,841
Researchers engaged with Polish people living in Aberdeen, using LEGO to break down language barriers and explore perspectives on data science.
Led by: Generation Scotland
Funding awarded: £5,970
Generation Scotland - Scotland’s largest family health and wellbeing study - developed resources for use in schools to engage young people in discussions around health and data research.
Grampian Regional Equality Council worked to deliver a series of workshops with minority ethnic community groups in Aberdeen.
SHINE worked with young people, parents/carers and teachers to produce video and infographic materials around data linkage.
This project carried out focus groups with people who use drugs to explore perceptions of the use of administrative data in research.
Linking to their longitudinal study on family health and wellbeing, Generation Scotland created resources to engage the public at large-scale events.
Through a series of workshops, this project focused on identifying gaps where data may not reflect lived experiences.
This project is using Minecraft to empower young people to explore pandemic preparedness and how large-scale data can be used to inform policy.
Building on population-wide statistical analysis, this project generated resources around perinatal mental health timelines.
People Know How trained five volunteers to become citizen researchers and deepen the field of research around digital inclusion.
Note: Funding from the RDS Public Engagement Fund 2022-23 was also awarded to CodeClan, an Edinburgh-based digital skills academy, which since sadly entered liquidation and ceased trading. The project was therefore unable to continue.
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