What Makes Beacon North East Unique?
Fellows
We currently have 13 Beacon North East Fellows who are current members of staff from Newcastle or Durham universities. The Fellows are funded to carry out innovative public engagement projects. Beacon North East buys out Fellows from their normal duties for the equivalent of three months, taken in a variety of forms, in order to deliver new public engagement projects that contribute to the Beacon North East vision.
One fellow, Dr Amelia Lake has big ideas about working with young people to influence research and policy around food and nutrition. Amelia was awarded a Beacon Fellowship in October 2008 to establish an 'expert' panel of young people who will influence public health research. (Picture courtesy of North News & Pictures)
Theme Leaders
Beacon North East has three themes for public engagement, these are: energy and the environment; social inclusion and social justice; ageing and vitality. Each theme has a theme leader at both Durham and Newcastle universities who is responsible for co-ordinating and promoting public engagement under these themes.
Co-Inquiry
Beacon North East recognises all forms of public engagement but our main focus is trying to promote a particular type of engagement called co-inquiry or co-production of knowledge. Ultimately, we would like to see members of the public bringing their issues to academics at the two universities and the two groups using their unique expertise and experiences to develop solutions together. A great example of this is our Centre for Social Justice and Community Action case study.
Links with 'the community'
Within the Beacon North East team we have staff dedicated to working in our local communities, including a Youth and Community Manager and a Community and Project Officer. We would like our project to make a difference to everyday people in the North East and beyond. We would also like the research being carried out by our universities to matter to the people within these communities and to solve real problems. To this end, we also have an Advisory Group. The Advisory Group are members of the public who advise the Beacon North East on ways of working with local communities - they help us to identify the best way of doing things and tell us if we get things wrong. Our Advisory Group is at the heart of our project and acts as a true critical friend.
Small Grants Programme
The Beacon is encouraging communities and academic staff to apply for grants to help them work together on collaborative projects. Examples of projects that may be considered for funding include: projects that actively involve community groups in research; projects that identify barriers to engagement and how they can be overcome (from a community and/or university perspective); projects that give people a voice on decisions that affect them and then act upon the feedback they receive.
Website
Funded by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust. About our funders