Join Bristol One City as a Board Member
Are you passionate about making a positive impact on the lives of people in Bristol? Do you have the expertise, leadership, and commitment to help shape the future of our city?
An Expression of Interest (EoI) process has opened for anyone interested in taking up a role on one of three of the One City thematic boards and we invite applications for:
Be part of the One City Approach
Board members collaborate to develop, shape and influence the One City Plan. One City Boards influence policy, coordinate projects, and foster partnerships across various sectors, including public, private, and voluntary organisations.
Who should apply?
Applications are encouraged from individuals in strategic or senior leadership role, a key thought-leader and/or influencer or a representative of key service users’ groups in an organisation that is based in Bristol. Applicants should demonstrate their strategic leadership in representing their business and the wider city, the ability to influence the delivery of the One City Plan and meet the criteria specified within the Terms of Reference for the given One City Board.
Board Member Term and Refresh Process
Members of each board are appointed for 18 months after which a refresh process takes place. This ensures that the boards remain dynamic and responsive to changing environments, allowing an opportunity to hear new voices and consider different ideas.
We are looking for board members from a range of organisation types and sizes to ensure diversity in voices and perspectives that represent different sectors, backgrounds and professional experiences. For more information, please refer to our One City Blog post on the principles underpinning the refresh.
Co-Chair Roles
Each board is co-chaired by two board members:
a) The corresponding political Policy Committee Chair from Bristol City Council
b) An external expert partner.
Applications are also open for the external partner co-chair role. If you are interested in the co-chair role please complete the board member Expression of Interest form and then the additional Co-Chair Expression of Interest section. Please note, if you want to apply for the co-chair role, you must also apply for the membership role.
Commitment Expectations
Board members are asked to commit to quarterly in person board meetings which last 2-3 hours. In addition to this, they may be invited to participate in Task & Finish groups and other ad-hoc cross-cutting workshops to make progress on One City Goals. There is also the opportunity to attend the One City Gathering, a bi-annual half-day conference that showcases the One City approach and invited wider participation.
Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
The One City Boards recognise and encourage the valuable and enriching contribution that people from all backgrounds and experiences bring to the city and will strive to make membership of the Board representative of the city.
The Boards strive vigorously to remove conditions which place board members at a disadvantage and will actively challenge bigotry and discrimination. We encourage One City board members to consider the ways in which they can support the Board’s equality, diversity and inclusivity aims and enable a broad range of perspectives such as by offering their place to their deputies, particularly those with protected characteristics. We can also support specific accessibility request and other reasonable adjustments such as BSL interpreters or providing online options for meetings.
Expression of Interest Process
Board members are selected through an open Expressions of Interest process. Interested partners and stakeholders are asked to submit an online Expression of Interest form. The form will ask you to detail, in no more than 2500 characters, how you meet the application criteria outlined below.
All expressions of interest will be jointly reviewed by a representative from the City Office Team, the Political co-chair and a senior relevant expert from Bristol City Council.
Bristol City Office welcomes expressions of interest from all qualified candidates, and particularly encourages applications from disabled and neuro divergent people, young people aged 18-24 (we also work with the Youth Council, ages 11-18), and people from Global Majority communities, that risk being underrepresented on One City boards.
A small offer of financial support is available for board members who have financial barriers to attend meetings. Please contact the City Office team if you require further information about the support available: city.office@bristol.gov.uk
Additional information about the One City Approach, Plan and Boards is available via the One City website:
Application Criteria
Your application will be benchmarked against the following criteria:
Board members should:
1. Have leadership roles or influence within their business, organisation or sector, for example:
- A senior role in a related business or organisation in the city
- A key policy or regulatory body
- A key thought-leader and/or influencer, with an ability to shape or influence public, Business and/or organisational opinion
- A representative of key service users’ groups within the city to ensure that the needs of citizens are at the heart of the work of the Board
- Having other relevant influence in the city, region or country
2. Have skills/expertise in different aspects of the relevant board’s sectors.
3. Show willingness and an ability to engage with stakeholders beyond their own organisation and in line with the One City Approach.
4. Have agency to affect change and have an ability to influence outcomes within their own organisations and/or in other forums.
5. Be committed to contributing to the One City Plan and Goals for 2025/2026 and provide strategic direction for the next iteration of the plan.
6. Be committed to recognising and encouraging the valuable and enriching contribution that people from all backgrounds and experiences bring to the city.
To complete your application, please do so via the online form.
The deadline for submitting Expressions of Interest is Friday 11th October.
There will be a separate section in the online form for you to complete if you want to apply for the Co-Chair role.
If you would like to be directed to the advert for a specific board, please click on the below: