Theme: Public Engagement

We’ll be looking at the what, why and how of public engagement and introducing you to ways to plan an effective public engagement project. Topics:

• The what: definitions of public engagement, who are the public, what activities count as engagement, what are the goals?
• The why: University commitment to PE, REF, Funders
• The how: the Logic Model approach to planning PE, practical considerations, moving engagement online and opportunities at the University.

This course will be led by Dr Lucinda Spokes, Head of Public Engagement.

This is an in-person event.

This training will introduce you to the world of visual communication. We will look at visualising data versus visualising abstract concepts and think about appropriateness! How can you simplify a huge body of research into something that is visually enticing to people outside of your field? In this training you will learn how to create visual metaphors that illustrate your research as well as the basics of frame by frame and stop motion animation so that you may turn these illustrations into short animated gifs.

Engaging young people with your research can be very worthwhile and rewarding. This training session will support you with your public engagement work with schools by introducing you to the UK school system and discussing how public engagement work can fit with existing school priorities. We will consider ways in which your work can make an impact and briefly consider how public engagement can work with underrepresented groups and contribute to diversity and inclusion initiatives. You’ll be introduced to ways in which the University already works with schools to provide you with ideas for collaboration. Lastly, we’ll begin to think about how to plan and design activities suitable for school audiences.

At the end of this session, you’ll hopefully feel more confident about how to work effectively with schools and can start thinking about your own public engagement work. The group session will be followed by the opportunity for a one-to-one 15-minute session with the trainer where you can discuss your projects, ideas and questions and get project specific help.

This course will be led by Diogo Martins Gomes. Diogo is a Public Engagement and Communications Manager at the University of Cambridge with experience of working in the higher education industry.

Are you an academic, researcher or PhD candidate who would like to build a media profile and take your research to a global public audience by writing for The Conversation?

The Conversation is a news analysis and opinion website with content written by academics working with professional journalists. It is an open access, independent media charity funded by more than 80 UK and European universities.

In this interactive session we'll take you through what The Conversation is - our origins and aims; what we do and why.

We’ll look at why you should communicate your research to the public and take you through The Conversation’s unique, collaborative editorial process.

We’ll give you tips on style, tone and structure (with examples), look at how to pitch (with examples) and look at different approaches and article types.

• To book your space head over to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/university-of-cambridge-the-conversation-media-training-registration-636403338517

This training will introduce researchers to the importance of quality public and patient involvement in their research and look at current best practice. You will find out about local support available in the region to help plan, deliver and build PPI into research, so as to improve research for patients, services users, and carers. The session will include examples and case studies of how local researchers have incorporated PPI into their research.

The training will be led by Dr Amanda Stranks, the PPI/E Strategy Lead at NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:

• engagement types and the appropriate format to engage effectively and collaboratively
• engagement opportunities
• extensive training portfolio for researchers and professional staff to build skills and confidence
• funding schemes and resources to inform and support develop projects, events and activities

These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions.

Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:

• Dr Tana Joseph, Public Engagement and Impact Manager for the Schools of Arts and Humanities and Social Science - Monday, 15:00-15:30 and 15:30-16:00
• Dr Lucinda Spokes, Head of Public Engagement, all areas and schools - Monday, 16:00-16:30 and 16:30-17:00
• Dr Diogo Martins-Gomes, Public Engagement and Communications Manager, Clinical School and School of Biological Sciences - Wednesday, 12:00-12:30 and 12:30-13:00
• Dr Claudia Antolini, Public Engagement Manager, School of Physical Sciences and School of Technology - Thursday 14:00-14:30 and 14:30-15:00

The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance.

Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder.