March 22 – April 20, 2014
Think Corner is a ground-breaking public engagement project which will take research out of the confines of campus and instead showcase it directly within the local community for a period of one whole month. Think Corner will be a ‘pop-up’ shop in the city centre that will provide a space for the research community to engage the public of Birmingham in a two-way dialogue about research: encouraging discussion about the value and importance of University of Birmingham research and the roles that the public have to play in benefiting from or helping shape this research.
We envision a whole range of research-themed activities taking place here including talks, workshops, experiments, demonstrations, installations, exhibits, performances, films, discussion panels and more. In fact the content is up to you, so you can be as creative as you like! We invite you to write a short, easy proposal for the type of activity you would like to run as well as apply for funding to help you achieve this. Funding might cover workshop materials or pay for the design or construction of a special prop, for example. We would like you to keep in mind your audience (might you like to invite along a specific business/industry/patient/age/minority group?) as well as how you will look to ensure that you achieve what you set out to do. It is important to consider your own learning and skills development, and we suggest taking effort to evaluate the relative success of your activity so that you can adapt your methods in future if needed. Think Corner is an exceptional chance to get public engagement training and experience, so make the most out of it! Funding between £200 and £1500 is available. Deadline for applications is Saturday 1st of February 2014!
If you would like further information or would like to get involved please contact Caroline Gillett (c.d.t.gillett@bham.ac.uk).