Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge
Application deadline: 1 June 2015
This new Wellcome Trust workshop is specifically aimed at newly independent and other mid-career researchers and will provide the opportunity to explore the role of engagement within your research and how you and your group can engage with people outside academia in an effective and rewarding way.
The programme will address the wider societal context of public engagement with research and discuss how to engage and partner with different communities (e.g. cultural organisations or community groups). Participants will explore how best to engage relevant public groups with their research, improve their own communication skills, and be introduced to a range of tools to better measure the impact of their public engagement activities. The course will incorporate a mixture of workshop-style sessions, individual reflections, panel discussions and short talks from prominent researchers (including Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellows) who have successfully embedded public engagement within their work. The aim is to provide inspiration and support to enable newly independent researchers to develop a personalised and strategic action plan for public engagement that has impact.
Applicants must hold a research-related position at a research institute (or equivalent) or higher education institution. Priority will be given to newly independent researchers (PIs) and intermediate level researchers who are keen to embed public engagement within their research activities. The workshop is open to researchers from all disciplines, with a limited number of bursaries available for applicants funded by the Wellcome Trust or the Royal Society. To optimize discussions and interactions between tutors and participants, numbers are limited; therefore, early application is advised.
Topics will include:
- The context of public engagement
- Understanding audiences
- Inspiring conversations
- Engagement at the front line
- How to engage
- Making the most of partnerships
- Community partners and patient groups
- Cultural organisations
- Strategic evaluation
- Public engagement – turning your plans into action
- Evidence of impact
Programme committee:
Karen Bultitude, University College London, UK
Sophie Duncan, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, UK
Chloe Sheppard, Wellcome Trust, UK
Confirmed tutors and speakers:
Kim Aumann, Boing Boing Community Interest Company, UK
Dan Bird, Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, Whitefire Associates Ltd, UK
Paul McCrory, Learn Differently Ltd, UK
Mary Chambers, Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Vietnam
Paul Fletcher, University of Cambridge, UK
Sara Houston, University of Roehampton, UK
Erinma Ochu, University of Manchester, UK
Steven Hill, Higher Education Funding Council for England, UK
Averil Horton, Brunel University, UK
