Public Engagement with Research Dr Jamie Gallagher-

Public Engagement Officer

jamie.gallagher@glasgow.ac.uk

@jamiebgall

Public Engagement

Public Engagement with research - What is it? - Why might you engage? - Who might you engage with? - How can you engage? - Have you been successful?

Public Engagement

Routes to Impact

What?

Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit.

Public Engagement

Knowledge Exchange

Routes to Impact

- Two way process - Any audience

- Two way process - Stake holders

What?

Public engagement tends to work with groups not already actively invested in the research whereas Knowledge Exchange works with those already invested and connected to the research topic

Public Engagement

Knowledge Exchange

Routes to Impact

What?

Sometimes areas overlap but it doesn’t make them interchangeable terms in every senario.

Public Engagement

Public Engagement

Outreach

Widening participation

Communication

Knowledge Exchange

Participant Recruitment

What?

Public engagement is a two way process around research. There are lot of interactions with external groups which have different goals. It is important to understand the forms and goals of the interaction.

Public Engagement

Why? It is important to articulate your motivations as these will help develop your aims of the interaction

Public Engagement

Why? Funders

Data

Skills

Profile Enjoyment

Impact

New Perspectives

Inspire

Understand Landscape

Challenge Misconceptions

There are many reasons why you might want to engage, articulating them is essential

Impact

Why?

Impact is a change. Engaging externally can have an impact on your own skills, your research and on the external community.

Impact

Why?

The Research Councils have identified a number of areas in which researchers can foster change.

Impact

Why?

Public Engagement featured heavily in the REF. It is possible to have Public Engagement led case studies. However engaging solely for the purpose of a case study is a risky and difficult path. At each stage do your best to maximise the potential of your research- if this results in a case study then it is a bonus

Impact is defined as ‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society,

culture, public policy or services, health, the

environment or quality of life, beyond academia’.

Impact

Why?

REF definition of Impact

Public Engagement

Who? It is essential to identify a target audience. Think carefully about who you will be trying to engage with. Age, experience, background, sex, education level, work status, health, socioeconomic background etc.

The Public

Policy Makers

Industry

Academia Education

Audience

General Public

Interest groups

Who?

Don’t target Everyone at once. Think about your audience, their background and their interests. The more focuses the interaction is the better the chance that it is fit for purpose

Who?

Who is your audience? Where do they go? What do they read? Who do they interact with? Can you frame your work in a way that it aligns with their current interests or fits with their current media consumption

How?

How?

Writing

Lecture

Audio

Object

Arts

Video

Performance

Book

Online

Posters

Leaflets

Museums

Discussion

Story telling

There are many ways in which you can engage, some are in person and some are remote. You must choose a format that suits yourself, the work and the audience. There is no one-size-fits-all template for successful engagement. Look to see what methods you like.

Partners How?

Is there an internal/external partner who could help broker relations with an external group? The Glasgow based groups above all have access to large audiences, to start with could you work out a project that would be mutually beneficial to all parties?

Success Success?

You can only measure or demonstrate success but capturing information. Try to capture information that will 1) Help improve future initiatives 2) Demonstrate whether the aims of the project have been met

Capture Impact Success?

Information can be gathered in many ways. Choose one which is suitable for the information you require as well as your audience. Make sure the evaluation is a straightforward and positive experience for all participants.

Capture Impact - innovate Success?

If evaluation can be built into the initiative itself the audience may feel happier about contributing to it without feeling that they are being interrogated. Make it interesting and intuitive.

Maximising Engagement

What do you want? What do they want?

Find the middle ground

Articulate 3 or 4 aims that you have. Articulate 3 or 4 aims the audience have (why are they going to engage with you, what do they want?) Work to meet BOTH of these lists to get a mutually beneficial/rewarding experience.

Engagement process

Who?

How? Success?

Why?

Starting point

Use a stepwise approach to think logically about your engagement to ensure that it is a powerful and worthwhile experience. Each step will help inform the next try to take learning away from each interaction to make the next more useful

JUST DO IT.

Engagement process

Experience helps. Start somewhere and work your way up. Familiarise yourself with the engagement process.