Engage Academy
Our sector-leading, 7-month development programme for public engagement professionals.
About the Engage Academy
The Engage Academy - our flagship programme - is for those whose role primarily involves supporting others to engage. Running over 7 months, the Academy focuses on the role of being a ‘change maker’ within organisations and provides engagement professionals with the opportunity to network amongst peers, explore common challenges, and build the skills and strategies needed to enhance their approach.
Engage Academy will help you to:
- foster a culture of engagement in your organisation
- support others to engage with the public and communities
- develop your agency and capabilities
Applications for the 2025 Engage Academy open in September 2024.
About the programme
Engage Academy provides a stimulating, flexible environment, encouraging thoughtful engagement with content, informal networking to recreate those 'coffee queue' moments, and opportunities to access content at times convenient to you.
During the 7-month programme we will support participants to:
- Interrogate the high-quality public engagement principles including Purpose/Process/People/Evaluation
- Explore theory and practice around topics such as ethics, power, partnerships and cultural change
- Develop a strategic approach to embedding engagement at their organisation
- Explore their role as a ‘change maker’
- Develop a strong and supportive network
The programme content, curated by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE), provides innovative and inspiring insights from expert sector leaders.
The programme components include:
- Two one-day, in-person events focused on peer sharing and networking (held in Bristol, and also offered online for anyone unable to attend the in-person events)
- Two interactive online workshops
- Four optional webinars led by sector experts, which can be accessed live or in your own time. Includes opportunities to meet the webinar contributors
- Up to 6 Small group surgeries with sector experts
- Peer learning groups with support from an experienced mentor
The Academy requires approximately 6-7 days commitment during the 7-month programme.
Workshops and webinars allowed us to get into the weeds of some really challenging and complex topics and theories. I really appreciated that the Academy placed a lot of emphasis on personal reflection and practical application, giving us the opportunity to apply what we've learnt directly to our own work and to share ideas and problem-solve with others.
Bursaries
Costs and Bursaries
For Academy costs, we can support you to make a case internally for securing investment in your professional development, and also offer an installment option for payments.
We are committed to supporting people to be able to access the Academy. We offer bursaries (50 percent of the early bird and regular fee) for those who would find the costs a barrier and can make the case for this.
For me, seeing the questions and challenges across the group, and ideas how to overcome them, were very useful. I got a lot of inspiration for facilitation and specific exercises too.
