This face to face course is run by the Researcher Academy

The Researcher Academy courses are very popular and the majority are run in both semesters to give you the opportunity to attend at a time of the year that suits you. 

Target Audience: Researchers at any stage of their career seeking to become more involved in public engagement activity. Those looking to develop their engagement skills and knowledge in order to make more impactful engagement. Attendees should have a basic understanding of public engagement and its purposes.

Participants should have a basic understanding of public engagement and its purposes or should have attending the “Public Engagement with Research: The Basics” session.

Overview: Engaging non-specialist audiences in your research or specialism can be a highly enjoyable and rewarding experience, but at the same time, it can be very daunting, requiring a very different skillset that most researchers may not be used to using.

This session will look more in depth at key skills covering all aspects of the public engagement process; from planning activity in off campus environments and finding and securing funding, to developing content, effectively evaluating the impact of your activity and more. It will cover key “do’s and don’ts” and is tailored towards those with a basic knowledge of public engagement and its purposes who want to enhance and refine their engagement work.

The session will be led by Dr Matt J Young, Public Engagement Manager for the University of Lincoln. Matt has produced and delivered public engagement projects large and small, from city-wide festivals such as Pint of Science Nottingham to subject-specific events for families at the Cheltenham Science Festival and even science comedy at the Green Man Festival.

Prep task: All attendees should prepare a concise summary (500 words max) of the public engagement activity they are working on or a current research topic (either their own or a topic of interest) to bring with them on the day.

The summary should briefly outline what the specialist topic is, what its relevance is to the context of your work/activity and what about your topic you want a non-specialist audience to know and why.

Aims: This course aims to give those working on existing engagement projects or seeking to develop new and more involved engagement activity the tools with which to create opportunities for high quality engagement.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this session you will:

• Better understand how to develop, curate and deliver a successful engagement project.
• Know how to build an evaluation framework into your project to effectively assess the impact of your work.
• Know what types of funding are available for public engagement projects and what major funders expect from you.
• Understand how to effectively publicise and promote your activities.
• Be able to run a public event professional, safely and successfully in novel, off-campus environments.
• Know what support is available to you at the university

Accessibility

The following table shows a summary of what is needed to participate in the course. 

If you feel you will experience any difficulties participating, please let us know via the ‘special requirements’ tab, providing as much information as possible. The special requirements tab can be completed when you book your place. Alternatively, you can contact us directly at ra-training@nottingham.ac.uk.

Access and/or complete self-study/ pre-course tasks prior to main session
Print off pre-requisite paperwork/ resources & bring them to the course
Bring your own laptop/ PC to the course
Access seminar room on campus
Attend the course at the specified date and time
Watch and listen to the course tutor(s) and/or other attendees
Follow presentation slides during the course

Booking Conditions

Latecomer policy

Researchers should plan to arrive prior to the advertised course start time. Except for exceptional reasons, there will be no admittance to a Researcher Academy or Faculty Training Programme (FTP) course 15 minutes after the advertised course start time.

Importance of booking commitment

When booking on to a Researcher Academy short course you are entering into a commitment to attend. If you find that you are no longer available to attend you MUST cancel your place (on the system if more than three days before the course) or if at short notice by emailing ra-training@nottingham.ac.uk. This will ensure that your place can be offered to another researcher on the waiting list. Failure to cancel a place results in other researchers missing out on places through the waiting list process.

It is unacceptable for researchers to just not attend when booked onto a course. The Researcher Academy maintains records of those who repeatedly do not attend courses they have booked. This may affect future eligibility to book onto further Researcher Academy courses and will affect considerations for Researcher Academy funded opportunities.

Pre-Requisites

Prep task: All attendees should prepare a concise summary (500 words max) of the public engagement activity they are working on or a current research topic (either their own or a topic of interest) to bring with them on the day.

The summary should briefly outline what the specialist topic is, what its relevance is to the context of your work/activity and what about your topic you want a non-specialist audience to know and why.