Our Projects

Read more below to find out about our projects and the work that we do.

Anti-racism schools campaign for Teesside schools

Teesside Trailblazers was in partnership with Middlesbrough FC Academy. The U18s worked with us to inspire young people across the region to create anti-racism charters through schools’ events and challenges. Find out more here

Online event for secondary schools where pupils ask urgent questions about world events.

Less than two weeks after the Ukraine war started, Russia expert Bridget Kendall helped young people in more than 100 secondary schools to make sense of the world. Find out more here

Illustration showing a group of mixed age bell ringers to represent the Ringing Remembers call to action to inspire at least 1400 new recruits to bell ringing in memory of the 1400 ringers who died in the First World War.

UK-wide bell ringing recruitment campaign to mark the centenary of WWI

Big Ideas partnered with the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers to commemorate the 1400 bell ringers who died during the First World War by recruiting 1400 bell ringers to ring for the centenary of Armistice day. It was the biggest bell ringing event in history. Read more here

Players at Street Soccer Scotland community football tournament hold a Tull100 poster making their commitment to overcome barriers © Jen Martin

Nationwide community programme commemorating Black footballer and WWI officer Walter Tull

Tull100 – Football Remembers: in partnership with the FA, the Premier League, and the English Football League, Tull100 celebrated and commemorated the life of the first Black officer in the British infantry, professional footballer Walter Tull. Read more here

BBC Presenter Kevin Fong stands with Space Flight panellists David Parker from European Space Agency, NASA’s Adam Steltzner and ISRO’s Anuradha TK in front of the 700-strong audience in Imperial College Great Hall during The Engineers event in 2019.

Annual engineering panel event with Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and BBC World Service

The Engineers: Big Ideas has worked with The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 since 2016 when they staged the first edition of The Engineers at the Victoria and Albert Museum in partnership with the BBC World Service. Read more here

A screengrab from the Food and Feelings training video shows Big Ideas’ Sophie Pester holding the facilitator session plans for creative nutritional education activities offered as part of the Holiday Activities and Food Programme.

Activities and Resources for Free School Meal Holiday Programmes across the country

Holiday Activities with Big Ideas: from ‘at home’ packs to facilitator session plans. ‘At home’ boxes are given direct to young people by councils with fun food, family and fitness activities to bring friends together. The facilitator resources provide fun and engaging session plans themed on food. Read more here

A colourful screengrab from the St Mary Magdalene Academy Sixth Formers’ presentation at the end of their Deloitte Business Insights programme at Big Ideas. This screen shows a review of a community workshop the students delivered during their time with Big Ideas.

Work placements with Deloitte Business Insights school scheme

Business Insights: Big Ideas offers a Business Insights experience to St Mary Magdalene Academy Sixth Formers as part of the Deloitte run scheme. Young people spend time every fortnight for six months getting first hand experience of our business and sharing their insights with us.

A drawing shows a group of pupils holding a banner and advocating for change against a bright yellow background. The banner signposts the content: GameChangers CPD (Continuous Professional Development) which is a Mayor of London initiative from Team London, #iwill and Big Ideas. It is part of the Team London Young Ambassadors programme.

CPD Teacher Training with the GLA

Gamechangers CPD: Big Ideas provides Continuous Professional Development opportunities for teachers to embed social action opportunities for pupils in their schools. GameChangers is a Mayor of London initiative from Team London, #iwill and Big Ideas. It is part of the Team London Young Ambassadors programme. Find out more here

The Yoruba language group are pictured wearing #I’m a Yoruba Mother WW1 t-shirts and showing creative work using collage and block print fabric which will be showcased at the Motherhood, Loss and the First World War conference.

Community programme resulting in unique community/academic conference

Motherhood, Loss and the First World War: Exploring the experiences of the bereaved during WW1, participants shared their findings at a community-academic conference in partnership with the Centre for Public History at Royal Holloway, University of London. Read more here

Children march in a playground holding banners showing what they care about as part of Summer Camps with Big Ideas for Westminster City Council.

Delivery of activity camp for Free School Meals holiday programme

Summer Camps with Big Ideas: in-person enriching activities for young people taking part in the Holiday Activities and Food programme funded by Westminster City Council. We also provided resources / training for the London Borough of Barnet’s summer camp facilitators. Read more here

A screengrab of the Arsenal Guest Speaker event shows Holocaust survivors Ivor Perl and Miriam Freedman in conversation with Academy players.

Youth-led digital event with Arsenal FC Academy

Guest Speaker Event with Arsenal Academy: Big Ideas worked with Arsenal Academy players to devise and deliver a digital event with special guests. Inspired by ‘Strong Young Gunners’, the players explored the question ‘What is strength?’ with Holocaust survivors.’ Read more on the Aresenal website

NASA engineer Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, one of the robotic engineers in the Aspire programme, is shown at work with a prototype mars rover.

Annual nationwide engineering/STEM schools competition

Aspire to Engineer: In partnership with the Royal Commission for 1851, Big Ideas delivers schools outreach featuring the panellists from the Engineers event as inspiration and prizes! Photo: © NASA_JPL-CALTECH. Read more here

A photo collage of stills from video entries to the Great Exhibition at Home challenge. The images feature young people taking part in STEM activities and presenting their findings to the camera

Engineering activations for pupils at-home during Covid

Great Exhibition at Home: Big Ideas and the Royal Commission of 1851 worked in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering to create a schools project for young people to take part in ‘at home’. See the winners here

British Nigerian members of Coventry University are working together at a computer in this image from the Nigeria60 digital awards campaign celebrating the successes of the university’s dynamic Nigerian alumni.

Nigeria60 Alumni digital campaign and competition with Coventry University

Nigeria60: This digital campaign reconnected Coventry University with their Nigerian diaspora alumni. Special Nigeria60 Awards celebrated this alumni cohort with the Lifetime Achievements, Rising Star and One to Watch awards. Read more here

Front covers of the Living Shakespeare series showing booklets featuring words in Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin and Roman alphabets.

Eminent essay series marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death

Living Shakespeare: Big Ideas worked for the British Council to commission 8 essays giving a contemporary take on Shakespeare from writers and artists around the world, as part of a partnership with the BBC and the Open University marking Shakespeare400. Read more here

UK and Canada mark JohnMcCrae150

150 years after his birth more than 13,000 young people in the UK and Canada took part in online workshops to discover and respond to his story. Their poems and drawings are the basis of a social media day – with some poems being read by John McCrae’s great great nephew and others by the British High Commissioner to Canada and Canada to the UK. Read more here.

A smiling boy faces the camera with the pitch at Wembley Stadium behind him. He wears a special orange UEFA Euro’s strip and holds the tournament ball. He has been selected as a player escort by his school as part of the No Barriers project from Big Ideas funded by the Greater London Authority.

Activation in Schools for UEFA EUROs with the GLA

No Barriers 2021 – inclusion in sport for the UEFA Euros: London schools programme tied to the UEFA Euros. No Barriers connected young people in London schools with one of the world’s greatest sporting events and promoted inclusion in sport. Funded by the Greater London Authority. Read more here

The image shows a group of young people in primary school jumping in the air holding letter cards which spell No Barriers. Funded by the Greater London Authority and the FA of Ireland No Barriers was piloted in Irish schools where this photograph was taken.

Sport meets Social Action – activities for schools

No Barriers gave schools in London and the Republic of Ireland inclusion activities inspired by examples of players from the world of European football. Tied to the UEFA Euros, it launched before the pandemic andwas made available for pupils at home during 2020 lockdowns. Read more here

A row of pupils are working at computers with posters and papers in front of them on their desks, as they devise their social action plans for the GameChangers programme.

Youth Social Action in London Schools with the GLA

Gamechangers: Big Ideas’ schools programme empowering young Londoners to run their own social action projects, tackling the issues they care about head-on. GameChangers is a Mayor of London initiative from Team London, #iwill and Big Ideas and the Team London Young Ambassadors programme. Read more here

A close up of photos from a Middlesbrough FC community Trailblazers poster showing young people taking part in their Trailblazers project, celebrating the first Black players at the club.

EDI programme with Premier League Charitable Foundation

Trailblazers: Grassroots community football clubs from the Premier League’s Kicks and Inspires networks discover and celebrate the first Black or Asian player from their Club. Participants take part in anti-racism discussions. Big Ideas provides resources and ‘train the trainer’ support throughout. Read more here

Young people taking part in Great Exhibition Squared meet Imperial College researchers and present their ideas using a scientific investigation model.

STEM project for under-represented schools – with Imperial College

Great Exhibition Squared: young people create an innovation to present to an Imperial College researcher for feedback. They can exhibit their design at the Great Exhibition Road Festival. Read more here

Three female pupils in Birmingham present at a Trailblazers inspirational women workshop in 2018.

Schools and communities activation celebrating pioneering women from WWI

Trailblazers: Inspirational Women from the First World War – this project profiled amazing women of the First World War and invited participants to respond and identify Trailblazing women in their communities today. Read more here

Black Panther Movie Actor John Kani as guest speaker on Revive week

Guest Speaker talks to inspire and motivate

Revive Week: During the 2020 December lockdown, Big Ideas ran Revive Week – a week-long series of guest speaker talks including from Holocaust survivors talking about Happiness, and Black Panther actor John Kani reflecting on the film’s impact it on young people. Read more here

Two young Remember RAF100 participants stand in front of a display of hundreds of colourful paper planes holding their own paper plane submissions to the commemoration project.

Nationwide activation for children to mark 100 years of the RAF

Remember RAF100: Discover Explore Remember the First World War’s RAF graves across the UK. Schools and community groups made paper planes for each grave, displayed at the National Army Museum. Read more here

Musician Hugh Masekela plays Hambe Kahle, or the African Last Post, to honour the memory of those who died in the SS Mendi tragedy for The Unremembered project in 2017.

UK-wide commemoration of the labourers of WWI

The Unremembered: this programme commemorated the labourers of the First World War. Mainly men from across the continent of Africa, India, the Caribbean, and beyond, The Unremembered ensured their service was included in the UK’s WW1 centenary commemoration. Read more here

Manchester City and Manchester United Academy players stand together with framed and signed 20 and 21 football shirts marking the year 2021 as part of their special City United / United City truce tournament on 11 November 2021.

Annual Premier League Education Challenge

The Truce Education Challenge: Each year Big Ideas runs an U12s education challenge for the Premier League Education team. Premier League Academies respond to First World War history with a very special prize: to qualify for the flagship Christmas Truce tournament. Read more here

A painting of Samuel Pepys, who wrote a diary of the plague in the 1660s, features a quote on social distancing that reads, ‘But Lord! How sad a sight it is to see the streets empty of people… and about us two shops in three, if not more, generally shut up.’

Lockdown Lookback – wellbeing activities with Manchester United

Manchester United FC: Lockdown Lookback – Manchester United Academy players met the Big Ideas team on zoom to create a diary of the lockdown taking inspiration from past and present.

Football Remembers WW1’s young footballers present in the German parliament with special guests Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron in November 2018 to mark the centenary of the Armistice in a televised event.

European education trips with Premier League Academies to mark the centenary of WWI

Football Remembers WWI: Big Ideas worked with the PL education team and the German War Graves Commission (VDK) and young footballers from across Europe. They featured in the German Parliament event to mark Armistice100. Find out more

The cover of the Trailblazers resource pack featuring archive photographs of three of the league’s first Black players, Walter Tull, Cyril Regis and Brendon Batson against a bright background.

EDI programme with Premier League Charitable Foundation

Trailblazers: Grassroots community football clubs from the Premier League’s Kicks and Inspires networks discover and celebrate the first Black or Asian player from their Club. Participants take part in anti-racism discussions. Big Ideas provides resources and ‘train the trainer’ support throughout. Read more here

A young person participating in a JLGB workshop produced by Big Ideas smiles at the camera whilst taking part in a bubble activity with a plastic glass and a paper straw.

Youth programming for Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade (JLGB)

JLBG: Big Ideas is commissioned by the Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade (JLGB) to write and produce interactive sessions for JLGB brigades to use across the country. JLGB young leaders download the sessions and run them in person / online.

Young people in steel pan band from St Michael’s Youth Project in Brent rehearsing in their church for the Last Post Project for the First World War centenary.

Nationwide community music and WWI commemoration events programme

The Last Post Project: supported community groups across the UK to hold local events where the last post was played on any instrument to commemorate local WW1 heritage in 2014 and 2015. Read more here

Hands come together holding painted Foundation Stones as young people make their contribution to the new national memorial to the Holocaust.

UK-wide public engagement for the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation

Foundation Stones: Everyone in the UK was invited to paint a stone in remembrance of those murdered in the Holocaust, as well as all other victims of Nazi persecution and of subsequent genocides. Foundation Stones will become part of the new memorial. Watch the film here

Innovative immersive 3D map to explore British connections to Holocaust history

With support from google.org this map features 3D rendered ‘Foundation Stones’ in street view settings across the British Isles enabling users to discover heritage across the country.

Festival goer uses her phone to take a picture of the 3D print of Crystal Palace which is the centrepiece of the Royal Commission of 1851’s Great Exhibition Road Festival tent in 2019.

Interactive public tent for Great Exhibition Road Festival

The Original Great Exhibition tent at the Great Exhibition Road Festival: Big Ideas worked for the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to create their Great Exhibition Road Festival tent in 2019, a space which celebrated innovation past and present including a 3D print out model of Crystal Palace. Read more here

Two young academy players from Chelsea FC sit with former Chelsea player Tommy Docherty as he looks at a vblack and white photograph of himself as a player on the Chelsea first team

Intergenerational film series with Premier League Academies and WWII veterans

Football Remembers WWII: Eleven player-veterans were filmed meeting today’s young footballers. The films inspired wider engagement across the Premier League and were presented as a national media campaign to mark 75 years since the end of WWII. Read more here

The Duke of Cambridge meets Brent teacher Oweda Harrison and her pupils in Willesden Cemetery where they are laying flowers for the Living Memory project to remember a Commonwealth War Grave from the First World War.

UK-wide community programme with Commonwealth War Graves Commission

CWGC Living Memory: Discover Explore Remember – in partnership with the CWGC Big Ideas raised awareness of 300,000 CWGC war graves in cemeteries and churchyards across the UK. Read more here

A screengrab of the Arab Digest website.

Consultancy for online MENA news analysis website

Arab Digest: Big Ideas consults on digital marketing and strategy for the Arab Digest team as they build their global audience, offer new digital content via their podcast and attract new members.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge speaking with guests at an India Remembers event at India Gate in New Delhi, India.

Commemoration programme in India and UK

India Remembers: in partnership with USI of India and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laid the first marigold wreath at India Gate in 2016. The project raises awareness of the role of India in WW1 and WW2. Read more here

Schools across Teesside discover how chemists are changing the world.

More than 2000 young people from primary schools across Teesside marked National Chemistry week with a bang. The Chemistry4Change event connected 31 schools with three inspirational chemists from the Royal Society of Chemistry who are each using chemistry to protect the environment. Read more here

Pamukey artist Ethan Brown sits surrounded by his paints as he works on the Pocahontas gourd which shows Pocahontas entering the spirit world for the Pocahontas 2017 project.

Public season marking the presence of Pocahontas in England

Pocahontas 2017: In 1607 Pocahontas visited London, fell ill and died at Gravesend. Big Ideas worked with stakeholders including the US Embassy, The British Library and the Institute of Historical Research to remember her life. Read more here

A still from a video shows a man on screen in a flat cap giving his opinion to camera on proposed location of new national Holocaust Memorial and Leaning Centre being built in Victoria Tower Gardens, London

Public consultation on new national memorial plans

Your Voice: What do people in Westminster think about the plan to build a new national Holocaust memorial in the borough? We gathered views from people near the proposal site in Victoria Tower Gardens and raised awareness of the planning process. Funded by UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation.

Writer and theatre director Lina Al Tal prepares to take part in the British Council BBC the War The Changed the World event in Amman, Jordan.

Event series with the British Council and BBC World Service exploring impact of WWI

The War That Changed the World: Big Ideas worked for the British Council to deliver events in Amman and Washington in partnership with the BBC World Service as part of a series exploring the impact of the First World War around the world. Read more here

Brighton Hove Albion academy players stand together holding a wreath they created with poppies and football boot laces to commemorate those who died during the battle of Passchendaele.

Creative community commemoration programme to mark Passchendaele100

Passchendaele at Home: Community groups marked the Passchendaele100 by identifying the UK graves of soldiers who were wounded at the battle, were brought home for treatment and sadly died in the UK. Read more here

Respect for women and girls in schools

No Barriers 2022 is “Inspired by England 2022” and invites primary schools to mark the UEFA Women’s Euros by celebrating women footballers and championing respect for women and girls in the classroom, playground and community. Find out more here