This document discusses public engagement in research. It defines public engagement as connecting higher education institutions and researchers with the public to increase involvement in research design, delivery, and dissemination, generating mutual benefit. It outlines why public engagement is now a national priority for research funding, as public money supports research. Engaging the public can help make research more effective and increase impact. The document advises that now is a good time to get involved in public engagement as major research funders increasingly require and support engagement activities.

1. Public engagement
Who? What? Why? Where? When?
Eliot Marston, Research & Knowledge Transfer Office

2. What do we mean by “public engagement”?
National Centre for Coordinating Public Engagement definition:
“Public engagement describes the many ways in which higher education institutions and their staff and
students can connect and share their work with the public. Done well, it generates mutual benefit, with
all parties learning from each other through sharing knowledge, expertise and skills. In the process, it
can build trust, understanding and collaboration, and increase the sector's relevance to, and impact on,
civil society.”
Research Design
Patient & Public Involvement
Discussion with potential
beneficiaries of research, as
well as other lay audiences, to
design research with clear
pathways to impact, e.g.
• Intervention studies
• Clinically-relevant research
Research Delivery
Research Dissemination
Patient-based research e.g.
• Trial participation
• Lay members of trial
steering committees
Public presentations e.g.
• School lectures
• Science Fairs
• Community events
Co-production research i.e.
research projects in which
members of the public are
trained/involved in delivery
of certain aspects
Offline media e.g.
• Newspaper articles
• Radio/TV interviews
• Radio/TV programmes
Online media e.g.
• Websites
• Twitter or blogging

3. Why get involved in public engagement?
Or, more aptly, why is it now a national priority in relation to research funding?
RCUK research funding = ~£3 billion annually
HEFCE research funding = ~£1.5 billion annually
Charity research funding = ~£750 million annually
This is all public money, and there is a growing need to justify why the public should invest!
Research Design
Research Delivery
More effective design:
• Sustainable interventions
• Patient-focused rather than
theory-based endpoints
Increasing recruitment:
• Trial participation
• Steering committees can
help address problems
Increasing impact:
• Identifying unanticipated
potential outcomes, e.g.
social or economic benefits
Increasing impact:
• Study sizes and significance
of results
• Identify additional potential
outcomes and new areas for
investigation
Improved chances of funding!
Research Dissemination
Increasing awareness:
• Public knowledge of
beneficial outcomes
Raising profile:
• Individual
• Institutional
Increasing impact:
• Policy makers
• Industrial collaborators

4. Institutional public engagement

5. Public engagement vs “impact”?
“Public engagement” = the connection of HEIs and researchers with members
of the public to increase access to, and involvement in, research design,
delivery and dissemination
“Impact” = the beneficial application of research to achieve social, economic,
environmental and/or cultural outcomes
PAST
REF:
• Backwards-looking exercise
to evaluate the “impacts” of
research and institutional
strategies to support the
delivery of these impacts
• Public engagement can be a
component, but does not
equate to an impact by itself
PRESENT
Patient & Public Involvement
• Designing new research
studies with input from those
users who are likely
beneficiaries to ensure best
chances of effective
implementation and
sustainability
FUTURE
RCUK Pathways to Impact:
• Forward-looking exercise
to identify the potential
beneficial consequences of
your research, and more
importantly how you will
personally ensure that it
reaches the key target
audiences who can effect
these consequences

7. Why is now a good time to get involved?
Research funding now has an increasing focus on public involvement/engagement:
• NIHR will not fund unless it is a clear part of proposal design
• RCUK support preferential funding for applications with strong Pathways to Impact
• Charity funders are very supportive of activity, and may make it a more obvious element in
application procedures
• The HEFCE Research Excellence Framework will likely make Impact even more significant in
subsequent assessment exercises
The University is taking its responsibilities seriously, and investing in supporting infrastructure:
Alice Roberts appointment
RCUK Catalysts application
Wellcome Trust ISSF support
The Research & Knowledge Transfer Office is here to help: please get in touch to find out more