Sign up for our newsletter

‘Public engagement has been a critical part of universities since their foundation. This high energy conference will provide opportunities to learn together and ensure universities continue to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with the public, bringing significant benefits to their work, their staff and their students and to society .’

Paul Manners, Director, NCCPE

Engage 2011: Making an Impact - Public engagement and the 21^st century university.

Universities are increasingly looking to improve their engagement with the public.  Developing an outward-facing, dynamic and two-way exchange with the world outside the academy is being encouraged by a host of external policy drivers – but also by the values of many in the sector, who believe that universities are there to ‘make a difference’ and to transform individuals’ lives. 

The sector is currently facing a range of challenges including: the expectations from research funders to maximise and demonstrate the impact of research they fund; the Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research which outlines the support universities should provide for engagement activities of staff and students; the changes to how universities are funded, and the implications of this on students, access, and sustainability; and the need to better demonstrate the value of the work universities do. The NCCPE’s second national conference will explore the critical role of engagement in addressing some of these challenges. Delegates will have an opportunity to explore effective models for engaging with the public and ways universities and research institutes can support staff, students and the public to engage in mutually beneficial ways. Contributions are invited from the full range of subject disciplines, university staff, and partners across research, teaching and learning, volunteering and knowledge exchange.

Programme

Our programme is now available along with a list of the workshops. Please click on the following link to see our two day programme: Engage 2011 Programme (PDF 707kb)

Conference Aims:

• To explore the relevance of public engagement to HEIs
• To showcase and evaluate different approaches to embedding public engagement within HEIs (drawing on the work of the Beacons, Manifesto Signatories and others)
• To explore what effective public engagement looks like, and how it generates impact
• To discuss challenges for the engaged university in creating and sustaining meaningful partnerships

Outcomes

Delegates will have had the opportunity to

• Share and learn from other delegates about public engagement
• Learn more about the Beacons for Public Engagement, and draw on the learning from this project
• Learn about the funders expectations regarding public engagement
• Develop effective strategies for supporting or doing public engagement in their own institution
• Network with others
• Discover the many ways engaging with the public can enhance research, teaching and learning

Delegates

The conference is open to HEI staff and students, and to partners who work with HEIs.

Themes

1. Making an impact with your research

Over the past 18 months, the sector has had to develop a deeper understanding of how to ensure that research has demonstrable impact. The launch of the Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research, the requirement in the Research Excellence Framework to demonstrate impact, and the need to plan for impact when applying for research funding have led to a wide debate on what impact is, and the many ways that impact can be planned for and measured.

The conference will provide opportunities for delegates to explore the impact agenda, the implications of the Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research, and how colleagues are developing strategies to ensure that their research makes a difference.

2. Creating an engagement culture

Four years ago, the Beacons for Public Engagement were funded to inspire a culture change in how public engagement was supported within the Beacon HEIs. As part of this project the NCCPE launched the Manifesto for Public Engagement, which drew on the learning from the beacons and the vinspired students project, and invited institutions to sign up to support engagement more effectively.

We will be celebrating and sharing all that has been achieved through the beacons project, and exploring how universities and research institutes have embraced the challenge to embed engagement into their work. From involving students, developing effective HR processes, and leadership challenges, we will explore what more could be done, to ensure that HEIs develop an engagement culture, the barriers to doing this, and how these might be managed.

3. Effective partnerships

Public engagement is about developing mutually beneficial partnerships that have relevance to all involved. Developing such partnerships can take time, and requires a range of skills. The conference will provide a platform for delegates to learn from others, and share effective engagement in practice. It will bring sector and community partners together to reflect on the challenge and opportunities of developing partnerships with universities and research institutes, and provide an opportunity to explore how to maximise the benefits to all involved.

4. Engaging students

With the dramatic changes to the funding landscape, there are changing expectations of what universities will offer students. Supporting volunteering; community based learning; employability and enjoyability; retention; involvement of students in institutional governance are important things to be considered. Find out about how universities are developing more effective ways to involve and support students in their engagement activity, and some of the challenges that result. The NCCPE developed a Public Engagement Attributes framework that detailed the attributes needed to engage effectively with the public. Drawing on this framework, delegates will be able to explore how engagement can enhance teaching and learning, create opportunities to develop key employability skills, and develop effective long term benefits to all involved. 

We had an overwhelming response for our workshop and taster case study call. We would like to thank everyone who submitted a proposal to us.

Venue: The Bristol Hotel, Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4QF

If you would like any further information or if you have any queries, please get in touch with Lisa Adlington on 0117 9150165 or lisa.adlington@uwe.ac.uk

Find out more about Engage 2010, our recent national conference.