Mind the gap: Can a professional development programme build a university’s public engagement community?

Amy Seakins,Alexandra Fitzsimmons

doi:10.14324/rfa.04.2.11

Abstract

A number of ‘gaps’ may be present within public engagement with research – disparity of skills, priorities and knowledge between research staff and engagement practitioners, as well as differences between institutional ambition and departmental reality. Such gaps are often perceived as problems – deficits to be addressed through training and culture change initiatives. The design and delivery of Imperial College London’s Engagement Academy with 12 members of research, teaching and professional services staff sought to explore and work across such gaps. We propose that these areas of disconnect within and across universities may be challenging, but they may also be structurally necessary, and potentially even a source of rich public engagement.

Highlights

A number of ‘gaps’ may be present within public engagement with research – disparity of skills, priorities and knowledge between research staff and engagement practitioners, as well as differences between institutional ambition and departmental reality
Key messages Diverse roles are involved in public engagement within universities, including those working in research, academia and professional services, at institutional and departmental levels
While two senior members of academic staff applied to the Academy, they were later unable to take part due to other commitments, and the absence of senior academic staff in our cohort is a limitation in our study

Summary

Introduction

A number of ‘gaps’ may be present within public engagement with research – disparity of skills, priorities and knowledge between research staff and engagement practitioners, as well as differences between institutional ambition and departmental reality. While more researchers feel that public engagement is important to their role, the level of participation in public engagement varies and shows a much slower growth (Hamlyn et al, 2015) Within these large and diverse institutions, there are two areas of disconnect that may present challenges for engaged research – these can be considered as structural and cultural, and they are introduced below. It is within this context that a team at Imperial College London developed a new internal engagement initiative, the Engagement Academy, to better understand and respond to these gaps and support further public engagement

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Conclusion