Lauren Roberts

Lauren Roberts

Advocacy Lead

“Loh-ren Roh-berts” | she/her

Lauren leads on all of our advocacy work across the Foundation.

You can go to her with any questions on our employability work, about speaking at events, on our offer to young people and charities, or about supporting our bursary alumni.

She is super passionate about supporting charities and those who come from less advantaged backgrounds to thrive through better more equal opportunities for training and work.

When she’s not at work, Lauren enjoys exploring new cultures, eating yummy food, getting stuck into a good book and channeling her creative side through creating art.

positivity | developer | strategic | connectedness | adaptability

The latest stories from Lauren Roberts on the City & Guilds Foundation website:

Funding four exceptional craftspeople through Heritage Crafts bursary

Funding four exceptional craftspeople through Heritage Crafts bursary

by | 2 Oct 2024 | , , ,

We are delighted to announce funding for four exceptional craftspeople through the Heritage Crafts bursary scheme. The City & Guilds Foundation provides up to £4,000 per person to support heritage crafts trainees whose talent might otherwise be lost to the sector were it not for vital additional hands-on training at the start of their career. This round we were happy to fund Ayham Aldoghim, Ziyaad Lorgat, Exauce Mondo, and Marcia Vidal. Ayham Aldoghim, from Bristol, is originally from...

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What we learned about making applications more accessible – for refugee women and for all

What we learned about making applications more accessible – for refugee women and for all

by | 30 Jan 2024 | , , , ,

Access to training and learning opportunities is one of the barriers for refugee women with experience of seeking safety to start or progress their professional lives in the UK. This includes financial barriers, as well as other barriers related to accessing education. City & Guilds Foundation have therefore started a partnership with Routes, to support women in accessing opportunities through the City & Guilds bursary. A significant step in overcoming the financial barrier of the...

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Applications are open for the Young Learner Advisory Team

Applications are open for the Young Learner Advisory Team

by | 21 Mar 2023 | , ,

As an organisation all about supporting skills development across a range of employment sectors, we want to hear what learners think and are searching for a team of six current, or recently qualified vocational learners to join the City & Guilds Learner Advisory Team. The newly formed Young Learner Advisory Team will become an extension of our Board of Trustees, with a key role of embedding experience and perspectives to enable a strong sense of the learner voice being at the heart of all...

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Supporting young carers in employment

Supporting young carers in employment

by | 15 Mar 2023 | , , , , , ,

Young carers provide unpaid care and support to family members or friends who have a disability, illness, mental health condition, or substance misuse problem. According to our partners the Carers Trust there were 177,918 young carers in England and Wales at the last census and additionally there are 29,000 young carers in Scotland. However, this is widely believed to be the tip of the iceberg, with some estimates suggesting that as many as one in five schoolchildren are young carers...

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Interview with Jordan Stevenson, City & Guilds Diversity & Inclusion Lead for Product

Interview with Jordan Stevenson, City & Guilds Diversity & Inclusion Lead for Product

by | 17 Nov 2022 | , ,

We caught up with Jordan to find out more about how we are changing the way we design products at City & Guilds to make sure everyone – whatever their background – has the best opportunity to succeed. As a Foundation, we are dedicated to removing barriers for people who to gain skills and get into work, so we are hopeful that this innovative, thoughtful, and practical activity will make a big difference – especially for those who are underrepresented and with less advantage. What inspired...

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City & Guilds Foundation & The WOW Show release new wellbeing resources for students

City & Guilds Foundation & The WOW Show release new wellbeing resources for students

by | 12 Sep 2022 | , , , , ,

With the new school year in full swing and student wellbeing a priority, the City & Guilds Foundation have teamed up with The WOW Show and partners Votes for Schools to launch an exciting new film and classroom resources to help young people build self-confidence. The animated film - The skills you didn’t know you had! - features a cast of near-peer characters in everyday situations underlining messages about the skills that are inside us all – if only we recognise them: Resilience,...

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Widening participation in heritage crafts: training bursary for Black and ethnically diverse makers

Widening participation in heritage crafts: training bursary for Black and ethnically diverse makers

by | 2 Aug 2022 | , , , , ,

The City & Guilds Foundation sponsors the Heritage Crafts training bursary targeted at Black and ethnically diverse makers, which is an under-represented group in heritage crafts. This guest post is by Daniel Carpenter of Heritage Crafts. For more information, see their website: heritagecrafts.org.uk. It is still the case that the UK craft sector does not accurately reflect the diversity of the UK as a whole and, for this reason, we are taking positive action to target this grant at Black...

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Unlocking refugee talent to access skilled people looking for work

by | 11 Jul 2022 | , , , , , ,

The City & Guilds Foundation recently ran a virtual event with our partners The Launchpad Collective to examine how to unlock refugee talent to access skilled people looking for work. The Launchpad Collective (TLC) connects employers with refugee talent. Steered by refugees, for refugees, working side-by-side with both job seekers and employers so that roles are filled and refugees are empowered to contribute positively to society. TLC also...

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City & Guilds Foundation supports new bursary for Black and minority ethnic trainees

City & Guilds Foundation supports new bursary for Black and minority ethnic trainees

by | 26 May 2022 | , , , ,

The City & Guilds Foundation and Heritage Crafts are delighted to announce a new bursary for Black and minority ethnic trainees in heritage crafts. The first bursary is being awarded to Nkosi Kerr, who moved to the UK from Tobago in 2019. An incredible talent, he was taught carpentry by his father, a well-respected craftsman. With the support of the bursary, Nkosi will complete a Level 3 Bench Joinery course at the Building Crafts College in London setting himself up to make...

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