One conversation at a time: Lesley Caldwell and the power of community
When you speak to Lesley Caldwell, one thing becomes clear almost immediately: community is not an abstract concept to her. It’s something lived and tended to, one conversation at a time.
As Head of Community Engagement and Social Responsibility at the University of St Andrews, she occupies a role that is both strategic and empathetic, bringing together people, priorities and purpose, often in transformative ways.
Lesley’s path to St Andrews was anything but linear.
“I would always have called myself a jack of all trades,” Lesley says with a smile. “Someone told me ‘generalist’ was a nicer way to put it.”
Before joining the University seven years ago, Lesley spent her career in Scotland’s third sector, shaped by the realities of funding cycles and time limited posts. She worked across a range of charities, from small local organisations to national initiatives, all with a common thread: people.
Her first job after studying Fine Art at the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design was a short-term admin role helping a business relocate offices. It led her to Falkland Estate, where she took on an admin post and then moved into event planning. There, in a small but ambitious team, she helped deliver Scotland’s National Stewardship Festival.
“It was everything – local food, local music, education sessions, school visits. One minute you were organising exhibitors, the next minute laying track or putting up fencing. Exhausting but so rewarding. It grew every year. I even got to meet the King, who was Prince of Wales at the time.”
Lesley moved into community-led volunteering projects in Perth & Kinross, helping establish time banks in rural towns like Aberfeldy, Coupar Angus and Stanley. She then joined Project Scotland as a relationship manager, matching young people with volunteering placements. Redundancy struck, but the very next day, Dundee’s Third Sector Interface offered her a job.
In Dundee she helped three separate organisations integrate their work, laying the foundations for collaboration long before “Teams meeting” became household vocabulary.
“We spent a year trying to work out how to use Microsoft Teams, then Covid happened and overnight everyone was on it!”
When funding for that project ended, Lesley stayed on with Volunteer Dundee, supporting volunteering awards and developing a corporate social responsibility knowledge-exchange project to match business skills with charity needs.
And then came St Andrews.
“I thought the job sounded perfect, but I doubted whether I’d get it. It was a big step up. But I worked hard to prepare, and I remember leaving the interview thinking: even if I don’t get it, I’ve done my absolute best.”
And of course she did get it.
“At the time I couldn’t quite believe it. I’d like to think now I can.”
A role born from change
Lesley joined in July 2019, stepping into a brand new post. It emerged during a moment of organisational reflection, as the University sought to strengthen ties with the local community and ensure social responsibility was considered institutionally, not incidentally.
“Everything in community engagement is socially responsible, but not everything socially responsible is community engagement. They go hand in hand, but they’re distinct.”
Lesley’s position bridges both: one strategic, one operational; one looking outward, one shaping internal culture.
“Part of the role was easing pressure on the Director of Communications -now Vice-Principal Communications – whose community workload had grown beyond capacity. But it was also about creating a consistent, credible presence, someone trusted locally and recognisable internally.”
Early priorities included establishing the University Community Fund, something the Principal was keen to deliver within the first year. The Fund, still going strong, remains one of Lesley’s favourite parts of the job.
The Fund provides grants of £250 to £3000 to support grassroots organisations and community projects across Fife, enabling the University to listen to local needs and contribute to initiatives that deliver tangible social, environmental, cultural and educational benefits.
Each year the University contributes £30,000 to the Fund, supplemented by donations, with two funding rounds annually and decisions made by a formal panel of University staff.
Since launching in 2020, the Fund has supported more than 190 local groups and organisations, providing more than £300,000 in funding for projects that improve wellbeing, sustainability, community cohesion and local opportunities. “It can mean a lot of admin – working with different systems, different people – but when the panel meets, it feels like a breath of fresh air. These are colleagues dealing with incredibly heavy workloads meeting to read applications from charities and organisations about small ideas making a big difference. It feels meaningful.”
If the Community Fund is the rewarding centrepiece, the day-today work is wider and more fluid.
“You never know where I’m going to pop up in the institution. Wherever a community perspective is needed. That might mean advising colleagues on the likely impact of construction work, rewriting a letter to local residents, or simply giving someone space to vent about noise or disruption. Giving people time changes relationships. Internally and externally, listening matters.”
Lesley works closely with teams across sport, student experience, estates, and more — whoever needs guidance on community impact or socially responsible practice.
“I love getting to know colleagues. I like being the person who can say: I think I can help. Let me know what you need.”
The hard bits no one sees
Community work can be hard work. And community politics, as anyone familiar with committees knows, can be dramatic.
“Everyone usually wants the same thing, just not the same way!
“The third sector landscape adds complexity. It’s changed so much. You can’t just be well-meaning. Groups need governance, business thinking, sustainability. Boards are harder than ever to fill.”
Lesley sits on several boards herself as a University representative – something she describes as mutually enriching: “Volunteering isn’t one-sided. You give something, but you learn so much too.”
Ask Lesley about passion projects and she doesn’t hesitate.
“Staff time off for volunteering. St Andrews staff already volunteer widely, but I’d would like to see that effort acknowledged and supported, whether through opportunities with local groups, governance roles, teambuilding volunteering, or even internal roles such as at museums. It sends a powerful message to staff and to the community.”
Success, for Lesley, is movement.
“I never want to feel the job is the same every year. I always want something new being achieved, however small. Another strong Social Responsibility publication. Another year of the Community Fund. Another gap bridged, misunderstanding eased, or new relationship formed.
“Success for the University is having someone who knows what’s happening locally, who can share it internally, who understands how it fits together. That makes a difference.”
Achieving things. Being useful. Making things better is exactly what community engagement is, and Lesley lives and breathes it.
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