The PE Team designs, organises and delivers training sessions and workshops throughout the year.
We value interdisciplinarity and the learning that can come from mixing different interests, expertise and perspectives. For this reason, our training opportunities are open to researchers and professional service staff from across all Colleges.
Leading to Engage – New year long training programme for 2023
LEADING TO ENGAGE is a programme that will recruit enthusiastic, forward-thinking researchers with a passion for public and community engagement. Over 12 months the cohort of 16 researchers from across varied academic disciplines will be trained to deliver sector leading public and community engagement programmes which will provide public users of research with unique access to University of Birmingham (UoB) research.
The programme has been designed to catalyse culture change and provide participants with an opportunity to test and pilot new approaches to public and community engagement. Over the year long programme each researcher will be provided with a grant to deliver an engagement project in partnership with a community organisation in Birmingham with outputs of their projects exhibited in a new Community Gallery at The Exchange in Summer 2024.
The participants of the programme will act as leaders in public and community engagement and exemplar case studies for their peers both at UoB, and within their disciplines. After completion of the programme they will provide active, ongoing, mentoring to their teams and colleagues in public and community engagement excellence.
Mid-career candidates are invited to nominate themselves for inclusion in the cohort. Expressions of interest should be completed by 22nd March 2023. Please complete the expression of interest here. Please note that this opportunity is not suitable for PhD/ Masters students or those on teaching only contracts.
Participation in the programme will require a definite time commitment which includes attendance at all provisional training dates below and time allocated to work in collaboration with a Birmingham based community organisation which is likely to be at least 2 working days.
Provisional training dates for programme:
20th and 21st June 2023: Leadership retreat including overnight stay near Bristol
13th July 2023: Visits to Birmingham based community organisations to meet those delivering innovate community engagement programmes
20th September 2023: Visit to QMUL and ICL to meet with those delivering sector leading Public and Community Engagement projects
11th October 2023: Public and Community Engagement project planning session at The Exchange
17th January 2024: Skills training session at The Exchange, including performance skills and introduction to evaluating public and community engagement
20th March 2024: Visit to University of Manchester to meet with those delivering sector leading Public and Community Engagement projects
15th May 2024: Review of programme and reflection session at The Exchange
Getting Started in Public Engagement – Designed for those new to public engagement this in session, which is presented online and in in-person formats, focuses on simple, practical information to get started in engaging different audiences with your own research. The training is open to University of Birmingham staff and students and when in person will be delivered at an on-campus venue.
Aims of training:
- Participants understand the benefits of PE to them, their research and to the public
- Participants gain an awareness of audience types and their needs
- Participants experience developing messaging for their research
- Participants gain and increased understanding of activity planning process
- Participants network with other engaged researchers and supportive public engagement professionals
Upcoming dates and details of how to register:
Wednesday 1st March 2023 , 14:00 – 15:30 – register for this online session here: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtdumqqDovH9MLRD3b3AYY0bbEbe4-wMZM
Grants and Public Engagement, online training session – Designed for those applying for money to fund public engagement activity. The session is designed to provide the knowledge required to incorporate PE into grant applications and how to source PE specific funding. The sessions will be delivered via Zoom.
Aims of training:
- Participants understand the benefits of PE to them, their research and to the public.
- Participants understand the different ways PE activity can be funded.
- Participants understand how to include PE activity within research grants.
- Participants are aware of reporting and evaluation expectations for funded projects.
Upcoming dates and details of how to register:
Tuesday 28th February 2023, 12:00 – 13:00 – register for this online session here: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkduGorjItHdJVFr10f0g4cbZreRu3mSmP
Upcoming drop-in Forums – We also offer monthly Breakfast Brainstorm drop-in support.
Ad-hoc and Bespoke Training – PE Team have also delivered a range of other sessions and/or can bring in external experts where there is sufficient demand. Let us know if you require other types of training not currently listed here and we will endeavour to help, though we do require a minimum of 10 attendees.
