The document describes a half-day public engagement workshop for researchers. It begins with an introductory discussion about public engagement activities at participants' institutions. Researchers then work in pairs to present each other's research topics before selecting one topic to present to the group in two different styles. The goal is for researchers to practice communicating their work to non-specialists. Other public engagement activities discussed include working with schools, participatory action research with communities, public events, competitions, and working with the media.

1. 21 MARCH 2016
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Putting the
Message Across
Researchers engaging with the public

2. 8 February 2016
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
''Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in
which the activity and benefits of higher education and
research can be shared with the public. Engagement is
by definition a two-way process, involving interaction
and listening, with the goal of generating mutual
benefit.'‘
Definiton by National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement. www.publicengagement.ac.uk
What is Public Engagement?

3. 8 FEBRUARY 2016
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Do researchers have a moral obligation
to communicate their research?

4. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Aims
• Be aware of methods to support researchers to
communicate their own research to non-specialists
• Gain an insight into issues surrounding public
awareness of and participation in research
• Be aware of some of the opportunities for public
communication

5. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
What Public Engagement
Activities Take Place In Your
Institution?
Process
• Group discussion on each table (15 minutes)
• One person to take notes
• Each table reports back (10 minutes)

6. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
A Half-Day Public
Engagement Workshop
Begins with discussion exercise that
introduced this session.
Could also include a short talk on
presentation skills.

7. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Aims
• Be better able to communicate their own research
to non-specialists
• Gain an insight into issues surrounding public
awareness of research
• Be aware of some of the opportunities for public
communication
• Have fun!

8. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Your Task
• Participants initially work in pairs to make a short
presentation of their partner’s research topic to the
rest of the group.
• The group then selects one research topic to develop
for presentation to the whole course.
• The group must produce two different presentation
styles to report the research work to the whole course
• There will be prizes for the best group.

9. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Presentations
• Presentation styles - news conference, radio news
report, drama documentary, ….
• Half the group work on each style of presentation
• All participants must take part in one of these final
presentations.
• Groups set their own timetable for preparation.
• 2 x 3 mins + 1 min to answer questions
• Researcher whose work is presented cannot answer
questions.

10. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Timetable
14.00 Initial discussion
14.20 Explain your research project to your
partner
14.50 Give a 90 second presentation to your group
on your partner’s project
15.10 Group decides which topic to take forward
15.15 Prepare two presentations
16.30 Group presentations
17.00 Wrap up and prizes

11. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Video of Sofia Workshop

12. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Discussion
Could you use this with your researchers?
What skills are the researchers
developing?
What might you follow this up with?

13. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Other Public Engagement
Activities

14. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Researchers Working In
Schools
• Demystifies the scientist
• Encourages science as a subject choice
• Could be working in a schools for a short period (2 or 3
days)
• Or a longer period 1 or 2 terms) – but need to secure
funding
• All requires good support to prepare researchers for
the classroom

15. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Participatory Action
Research
Participatory Action Research is collaborative
research, education and action used to gather
information to use for change on social or
environmental issues. It involves people who are
concerned about or affected by an issue taking a
leading role in producing and using knowledge about
it. See e.g.
www.dur.ac.uk/resources/beacon/PARtoolkit.pdf

16. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
PAR is distinct because:
• it is driven by participants (a group of people who have a
stake in the environmental issue being researched), rather
than an outside sponsor, funder or academic (although
they may be invited to help),
• it offers a democratic model of who can produce, own
and use knowledge,
• it is collaborative at every stage, involving discussion,
pooling skills and working together,
• it is intended to result in some action, change or
improvement on the issue being researched.

17. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Public events
e.g. European Researchers’ Night –
ec.europa.eu/research/researchersnight/about_en.htm
National showcases – e.g. Royal Society Summer Exhibition
royalsociety.org/events/summer-science-exhibition/
Local events – Durham University runs a successful Science Week
www.dur.ac.uk/celebrate.science/

18. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Competitions for
Researchers
3 Minute Thesis Competition - threeminutethesis.org/
Poster competitions
• Physical
• On-line
• Local
• National – e.g www.setforbritain.org.uk/index.asp

19. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330
Working With The Media
Press releases
Radio and TV interviews
Convert academic monograph into popular work
Short webchats about their research –
institutional web sites, youtube, commercial web
sites
Social media presence

20. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 643330