Practical tools

Part 1.1 Personas

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  1. Introduction
  2. How to Use the Personas: self reflection exercise
  3. The Personas

Explore the PEP Personas, the first part of the PEP Capabilities Framework.

updated on 08 Sep 2026
4 minutes read

Introduction

The personas provide a way of understanding the different roles that public engagement professionals often play in their work.

They are not job titles, organisational positions or fixed categories. Instead, they describe distinct ways of contributing to successful public engagement practice. Each persona highlights a combination of strengths, approaches and attributes that practitioners may draw on throughout their careers.

The personas are intended to help practitioners and teams recognise the diversity of skills that contribute to effective public engagement and provide a starting point for reflection, discussion and development.

How to Use the Personas: self reflection exercise

  1. Read each persona in turn. Consider how closely it reflects your role, strengths and approach to public engagement.
  2. Highlight the personas that resonate with you. Most public engagement professionals will see themselves in several personas, not just one.
  3. Capture examples from your work. For each persona you identify with, note down activities, responsibilities, projects or achievements that demonstrate it in practice.
  4. Identify your strongest personas. Which personas best represent your current role and the contribution you make day to day?
  5. Spot gaps and opportunities. Are there any personas that are less familiar to you but represent skills, experience or ways of working you would like to develop?
  6. Reflect on your overall profile. Consider how your combination of personas reflects the breadth of your practice and where your greatest strengths lie.

Remember: most people will recognise elements of multiple personas, and these may change over time as responsibilities, interests and career paths evolve. Some personas may feel more familiar because they reflect your current role, while others may represent areas you would like to develop.

The Personas

The Facilitator

“I help people think, learn, and create together.”

Approaches 

  • Enables collaboration by designing purposeful engagement that adapts to audience needs and power dynamics
  • Uses participatory and co‑creation methods, ensuring decisions are genuinely shared.
  • Skilled at reading group energy, enabling psychological safety, and balancing voices.

Indicators

  • Develops a lecture into a co‑design session with shared outputs.
  • Produces artefacts that show participant influence (maps, priorities, prototypes).

Attributes

  • Empathy
  • Curiosity
  • Inclusivity
  • Relational awareness 
  • Presence and attentiveness
  • Adaptability

Areas to develop

  • Strategic influence 
  • institutional navigation

The Ethics guardian

“I ensure engagement is safe, respectful, equitable, and well‑designed.”

Approaches

  • Embeds accessibility and EDI from the first design step, not as an add‑on.
  • Uses risk assessment, trauma‑informed practice, and safeguarding as enablers, not barriers.
  • Ensures data, consent, and participant rights are consistently respected.

Indicators

  • Creates inclusive, accessible materials; runs ethical checks; documents decisions.
  • Partners feel safe, respected and able to contribute.

Attributes

  • Inclusivity 
  • Authenticity 
  • Relational awareness 
  • Kindness and compassion 
  • Self-awareness 

Areas to develop

  • Culture change work
  • Strategic storytelling

The Partnership Builder

“I build trust-based relationships that last.”

Approaches

  • Understands community motivations, histories, and tensions.
  • Brokers connections, clarifies expectations, and repairs trust when needed.
  • Maintains CRM logs, closes feedback loops, and enables reciprocal value exchange.

Indicators

  • Strained partnerships stabilised via clear ways‑of‑working agreements.
  • Partners describe the relationship as reliable, fair, and transparent.

Attributes

  • Empathy 
  • Relational awareness 
  • Authenticity 
  • Dependability 
  • Encouragement and appreciation 
  • Kindness and compassion

Areas to develop

  • Evaluation 
  • Evidencing impact

The Evidence Translator

“I help people learn from their work and make better decisions.” 

Approaches

  • Designs proportionate evaluations using logic models or other frameworks
  • Synthesises data into usable insights (e.g., one‑page “data stories”).
  • Builds learning loops across teams (after‑action reviews, retrospectives).

Indicators

  • Evaluation findings shape changes in programme design, not just reports.
  • Creates playbooks, learning briefs, or reusable templates.

Attributes

  • Curiosity 
  • Self-awareness 
  • Pragmatism 
  • Reflectiveness 
  • Encouragement and appreciation

Areas to develop

  • Political / strategic influencing

The Strategist

“I align engagement with institutional and civic priorities.”

Approaches

  • Horizon scans, frames opportunities, and aligns engagement with mission and local priorities.
  • Advocates effectively with evidence and narratives.
  • Designs governance structures, sponsor groups, KPIs, and roadmaps.

Indicators

  • Produces clear options papers or time‑bound pilots.
  • Helps senior leaders understand public engagement as an enabler, not an optional extra.

Atrributes

  • Curiosity 
  • Pragmatism 
  • Authenticity 
  • Self-awareness 
  • Relational awareness
  • Adaptability

Areas to develop

  • Community and partnership depth

The Systems Enabler

“I make engagement reliable, visible, and easy for others to deliver.”

Approaches

  • Horizon scans, frames opportunities, and aligns engagement with mission and local priorities.
  • Advocates effectively with evidence and narratives.
  • Designs governance structures, sponsor groups, KPIs, and roadmaps.

Indicators

  • Produces clear options papers or time‑bound pilots.
  • Helps senior leaders understand public engagement as an enabler, not an optional extra.

Attributes

  • Dependability 
  • Pragmatism 
  • Self-awareness 
  • Boundary-setting 
  • Encouragement and appreciation

Areas to develop

  • Community and partnership depth.

The Research Translator

"I help research travel from academic contexts into outcomes for people.”

Approaches

  • Understands the whole research lifecycle, spotting engagement opps. at each stage.
  • Bridges different knowledge worlds — research, policy, practice, community

Indicators

  • Builds a logic model or theory of change linking research aims with real‑world outcomes.
  • Produces a public‑friendly research narrative, visualisation, or co‑developed brief.

Attributes

  • Curiosity 
  • Inclusivity 
  • Empathy
  • Authenticity 
  • Presence and attentiveness 
  • Reflectivity

Areas to develop

  • Operational consistency and handovers, Letting go of being the “bridge” and empowering others to translate.

The Tactician

"I make small amounts go a long way, by aligning people, agendas and opportunities.”

Approaches

  • Spots leverage points: existing events, comms cycles, institutional priorities, civic agendas.
  • Builds coalitions across researchers, professional services and external partners.
  • Articulates value in ways that resonate with senior leaders (risk reduction, visibility, civic alignment, REF/KEF outcomes).

Indicators

  • Turns a £2k pilot budget into a cross‑faculty programme by aligning with an existing initiative.
  • Gets researchers invested by framing engagement as solving their problem, not adding work.

Attributes

  • Pragmatism 
  • Diplomacy
  • Relational awareness 
  • Boundary-setting 
  • Dependability 
  • Self-awareness

Areas to develop

  • Deep craft in creative facilitation or EDI detail.
  • Protecting boundaries to avoid burnout.

Continue exploring the framework

Go back to the main page or move onto part 1.2