We are always meeting associates.
CometX runs on a small core team and a wider network of senior associates. If you are a researcher, evaluator, accessibility specialist, facilitator or equity practitioner — or a graduate student looking for a supervised placement — we would like to know what you do.
- Paid
- Contracted per engagement, at agreed rates
- Credited
- Named authorship where you do the work
- Open
- Published CC BY 4.0, so you can reuse it
Named engagements, not a talent pool.
We do not keep a roster warm for its own sake. Associates are brought in for specific pieces of work with a defined scope, a contract and a fee agreed before anything starts.
- Facilitation
Sessions and workshops
Half-day to multi-day, in person or online, sometimes as part of a longer engagement.
- Audits
Accessibility reviews
WCAG 2.2 AA audits of sites, documents and learning material, with remediation advice.
- Research
Study design and fieldwork
Instrument design, interviews, analysis, and co-authoring the write-up.
- Writing
Briefs and plain language
Turning findings into something a busy decision-maker will finish reading.
- Advisory
Review and challenge
Reading a draft honestly, including when the finding is inconvenient.
The nine areas we assemble around an engagement.
You do not need all of them. Most associates are deep in one or two and comfortable alongside the rest.
Applied research & methods
Study design, sampling, mixed methods, analysis.
Evaluation
Developmental, formative and summative; theory of change.
Digital accessibility
WCAG 2.2 audits, remediation, document and media accessibility.
Equity, diversity, inclusion
Strategy, review, policy, and programme design.
Facilitation & engagement
Workshops, deliberation, community and staff sessions.
Learning design
Curriculum, instructional design, assessment.
Knowledge mobilization
Plain language, briefs, dissemination, uptake.
Data & analysis
Quantitative analysis, administrative data, visualisation.
Community practice
Community-based research, partnership, lived-experience leadership.
What we owe you in return.
Associate networks have a reputation for being one-directional. Here is our side of it, in plain terms.
- Paid work, contracted. A written scope and fee before the work starts. We do not ask for speculative proposals or unpaid "collaboration".
- Named authorship. If you did the analysis or wrote the brief, your name is on it.
- Work you can reuse. Almost everything we publish is Creative Commons BY 4.0. Your contribution stays available to you.
- An honest answer. We reply within two weeks, and we say plainly if there is no fit rather than leaving you on a list.
- A network. Associates meet, review each other's drafts, and are introduced to work we cannot take.
What every associate signs up to.
These are not aspirational. They are the terms of the relationship, and we would rather you read them before writing to us than after.
Say what the evidence supports
Including when it is inconvenient for the client, the funder, or the centre's own prior work.
Declare conflicts
Prior relationships, competing engagements, and any interest in the outcome are disclosed before an engagement is accepted — and at intake, on the form below.
Do no extractive research
Communities are not a data source. If a community carries the burden of a study, the benefit comes back to them in a form they chose.
Accessible by default
Every slide, document and session an associate produces meets WCAG 2.2 AA before it goes out — not on request afterwards.
Confidentiality
Client material stays client material. Anything published is generalised, anonymised, and cleared in writing first.
Hand the work over
The measure of an engagement is whether the client can do it next time without us. Associates build for that from day one.
Supervised placements.
We take a small number of graduate students each year on supervised placements — practicum, co-op, capstone or independent study. You work on a live engagement with a named supervisor, not on a made-up exercise.
- A named supervisor and a scheduled check-in, not ad-hoc mentoring.
- A defined term agreed with your programme, usually one or two semesters.
- Real work with a real deliverable, and credit where you contributed.
- Paid where funding allows; we tell you which before you commit.
If your programme requires a placement agreement or a supervisor sign-off, say so on the form and we will work to your institution's paperwork and timelines.
A short note is enough to start.
Nothing here is a formal application. We read everything, reply within two weeks, and keep your details on file so we can come back when a relevant engagement lands.
We particularly welcome practitioners from communities under-represented in research and consulting, and people with lived experience of the systems we are asked to assess.
- No CV required at this stage — a link to something you made is more useful.
- Fields marked with an asterisk are the only ones we need.
- Your details are held under our privacy policy and are never shared or sold.