Abstract
The primary focus of the Higher Education Institution (HEI) is the generation and dissemination of knowledge. This knowledge is generated and shared throughout the research community and to students specifically enrolled in university programmes. Public engagement with science enables and ensures the generation and sharing of knowledge throughout a wider community.Public engagement with science has enjoyed an increasingly heightened profile in recent years with six „Beacons for Public Engagement‟1 being established across HEIs in the UK, including a National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement2 hosted between the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England In addition, public engagement is a component in the „Pathways to Impact‟ statements3 which have been introduced into all RCUK research funding applications.However public engagement, and in particular public engagement with science, can often be perceived as an add-on or „Cinderella‟ activity to be undertaken only by the dedicated and often only in their own time. This paper argues that public engagement with science is a legitimate area of academic practice in HEIs which complements and extends research and teaching. The paper outlines key principles which underpin public engagement with science and describes effective work practice
Highlights
Higher Education institutions are establishments in which knowledge is generated and disseminated
That knowledge often remains „hidden‟ within the confines of the academic community. This creates the phenomenon of the „ivory tower‟ in which the knowledge generated by a university remains within the academic community and can even remain within individual disciplines
It could be said that, in some instances, the ivory towers are created from the inside by the academic community themselves
Summary
Higher Education institutions are establishments in which knowledge is generated and disseminated. That knowledge often remains „hidden‟ within the confines of the academic community. This creates the phenomenon of the „ivory tower‟ in which the knowledge generated by a university remains within the academic community and can even remain within individual disciplines. It could be said that, in some instances, the ivory towers are created from the inside by the academic community themselves. Public engagement enables the sharing of knowledge with a wider, non-specialist community, regardless of the level of previous knowledge of the community and, as a practice, can enable the enrichment and understanding of knowledge by viewing it from different perspectives. Public engagement with science is an extension of the knowledge generation and dissemination of an HEI and lies on a continuum (in the dissemination of knowledge of an HEI) rather than being a completely separate entity
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