NCCPE Public Engagement Ambassadors Scheme

Are you passionate about HEI public engagement? Are you keen to develop your own experience and skills in this area? Would you like to inspire your institution to develop their public engagement work?

Public Engagement Ambassadors will be supported to develop their own understanding and experience of public engagement, act as change agents within their own organisation, share their expertise and enthusiasm for public engagement nationally and to contribute to the work of the NCCPE.

Ambassadors will be able to access:

  • Ambassadors Fund:  Public Engagement Ambassadors can apply for funding to attend relevant conferences and events – to develop their own learning and understanding about public engagement. To apply applicants fill in a simple application form, and a small panel assesses the application and make the awards. Successful applicants would demonstrate how they can benefit the network eg by creating a case study, doing a presentation at an event, interviewing a keynote speaker etc, and will be asked to contribute to the development of the Ambassadors project. In partnership with the Bristol Natural History Consortium and WWF:UK we have supported three people to go to the Communicate conference.
  • Ambassadors Toolkit: We will work with the Ambassadors to create relevant resources to support them to be ambassadors for public engagement in their own university eg powerpoint presentations that could be tailored for use, research, case studies etc. We would ask participants to let us know what they were using the resources for – and would offer support where possible
  • Ambassador Events which will bring people together for training, to develop resources and to consult on work that the NCCPE is doing

Who is it for?

Anyone passionate about HEI public engagement including people working in HEIs (eg support staff, senior managers, academics, students, researchers etc) and people working with HEIs. 

Why get involved?

There are key benefits to participants including:

  • Support for your own work
  • Opportunity to meet others, and develop skills and understanding
  • Support to act as change agent within own organisation – and be supported to do so
  • Funding to develop your own skills, as well as opportunity to contribute to the network
  • Keep up to date with current thinking re PE and how it relates to HEIs eg REF, Science for All etc

How do I join?

Please fill in the application form (221kB) and email it to Sophie Duncan. Successful applicants will be sent information about how they can apply for funding.

Why is the NCCPE facilitating this?

The NCCPE sits at the heart of the Beacons for Public Engagement Initiative which is seeking to stimulate a culture change in how universities engage the public. To this end we believe that it is important to recruit and support ambassadors to support PE within their own institution. This scheme is a first step to developing a way of supporting publicly engaged university staff and students to make a difference.