Author: charlefd

As part of the NERC-funded ENCOMPASS public engagement project led by geologist Dr Carl Stevenson, project partner Citizens UK will be offering researchers interested in community engagement the opportunity to take part in a training day focused on learning about the concepts, principles and practice of community organising, with a focus on listening campaigns.

Date: Tuesday 18^th Sept, 2018

Time: 09.30-16.30

Location: Education Room, Lapworth Museum on campus (tbc)

If you are interested in securing a space please contact encompass@contacts.bham.ac.uk

On 3^rd July the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) held a day-long event at ImpactHub in Digbeth to explore the potential for partnerships between local community groups and Midlands-based researchers. Public Engagement Officer, Leah Fitzsimmons, and several University of Birmingham academics went along to find out more.

The event, which was open to applications from any interested academics and community groups was part of a scheme called the Community and Universities Partnership Initiative, or CUPI. The idea for CUPI came from two previous NCCPE initiatives; the Schools and Museums and Universities Partnership Initiatives (or SUPI and MUPI, respectively). The format for all three schemes has been to convene a range of researchers and potential partners in a neutral venue in order to develop skills and ways of working, before exploring the potential for new partnerships to arise between attendees. Each initiative consists of several of these matchmaking events held around the country and CUPI meet-ups were also held in Bristol, Manchester and London. The icing on the cake of this format is small grants were available to support budding collaborations formed through the event.

It’s easy to understand why it might be impactful for communities and researchers to come together to collaboratively identify areas of local need and importance and then work together to find evidence-based methods to effect a direct improvement in the lives, wellbeing and/or economics of an area or community. However, these types of projects are not always straight-forward. Whilst we know that community collaboration can enormously enhance research and make valuable differences to society alike, these different groups often have very different methods of working, different timescales and different aims. Community groups often feel that there is a massive power imbalance between them and that they get lost in the academic infrastructure. Additionally, community groups rarely have a clear idea of the importance of or role they can play in academic publishing, which can further alienate groups from one another. However, we also heard a lot of positive experiences and once the participants had been encouraged to open up about their needs and expectations, their motivations and their timescales, the conversation flowed and some really exciting quickly ideas began to take shape.

The final session of the day saw the attendees challenged to create 3 minute Dragon’s Den-style funding pitches for ‘Thinking Fund’ grants of up to £1,000 in small groups consisting of at least one academic and one community partner. It turns out that there’s nothing like to potential promise of funding to focus the mind, and from the bustle and excited exchange of ideas emerged nine brilliant proposals, of which University of Birmingham academics contributed to two. From helping social enterprises and churches with evaluation methods, to exploring the cultural and economic heritage of rail; I was impressed and pleasantly surprised by the creative and innovative projects that for formed over just a few short hours. Of the nine proposals pitched, up to seven will be funded, with outcomes to be announced by the NCCPE in mid-July. Those successful applicants will then have four months to explore their idea before having the opportunity to apply for a further £5,000 of seed-corn funding to begin to get the project off the ground and we really hope to see some of our UoB research helping to make a difference locally through this scheme.

And if you couldn’t make it on the day, there’s also good news – community partnerships can come from anywhere, at any time and the Public Engagement Team can provide support and help identify potential funding schemes to resource them. From the CUPI event itself, several community organisations expressed a wish to ‘call out’ to our academics so please look out for opportunities which we will be sending out through Twitter, our Team newsletter as well as school and College communications. We would also love to develop methods for communities to let us know of their needs on an ongoing basis so please do let us know your thoughts or ideas on this.

Our PGCARMs course is coming to an end for our students and following the great response last year we’re opening up their end-of-year presentations to interested observer’s again!

Are you a researcher looking for inspiration, curious to see how others go about public engagement or simply curious to see what we’ve been up to – come along!

This is your chance to support our students, gather ideas and we’ll even include lunch – what more incentive do you need? Register to ensure your place HERE.

Any questions, get in touch with the UoB PER Team at engage@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

The Royal Society of Biology Outreach and Engagement Awards will be closing for applications at the end of the month!

The Awards aim is to reward outreach work carried out by researchers who inform, enthuse and engage with different audiences. The Awards are open to scientists working in any sector of UK biosciences, from universities, institutes or industry.

There are two award categories each with a cash prize: New Researcher (£750) and Established Researcher (£1500).

Applications close on 29th June. For more information and to apply, please visit the Society’s website HERE.

It’s National Clean Air Day on 21^st June and there will be an event held on campus to highlight and celebrate all the great work going on at the University around the subject of air pollution – whilst also engaging staff, students and the local community.

If you would like your research to be featured, or for more information on the day please contact Peter Edwards on P.Edwards.1@bham.ac.uk.

For further information on the national initiative please click here.

An evening on the 23rd May 2018 exploring, facilitating and initiating collaborations between scientists, artists, creatives, academics and curious organisms of all varieties. We will be investigating public engagement opportunities across sectors, debating their value and hopefully fostering some new collaborative projects.

Leading the evening is Charlotte Jarvis, an artist who collaborates with scientists and lectures at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College. Charlotte has seen her own heart beat outside of her body, grown her own cancer in a dish and recorded music onto DNA.

The event is being held at the Digital Humanities Hub at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2SD from 17:45 to 21:00.

To avoid disappointment we kindly request that you register (for free) as places are limited, click here to register.

Evening Schedule:

Are you involved with public engagement in higher education? Do you have an inspiring image you want to share?

The NCCPE is delighted to launch a new national competition, Images of Public Engagement 2018.

We want to invite you to join in with the NCCPE’s 10th anniversary celebrations and help us capture the breadth of fantastic public engagement work taking place throughout UK universities. From collaborative research to culture change, our image competition offers the opportunity to celebrate and share what public engagement means to you.

Whether you’re an engaged academic, student, public engagement professional or someone who partners with universities, we’d love to see your images and stories of public engagement. This is a chance to share inspiring engagement activities, culture change initiatives, and the people involved in public engagement.

Submit your image by 16th July and be in with a chance of winning a ticket for the NCCPE’s Engage Conference, or new photography and art materials!

Winning entries will also be showcased as part of our 10th anniversary celebrations, featuring on our website and in a new-look Manifesto for Public Engagement.

Find out more & apply on the NCCPE website

For any enquiries, please email laura2.steele@uwe.ac.uk.