Public engagementWho? What? Why? Where? When?

Eliot Marston, Research & Knowledge Transfer Office

What do we mean by “public engagement”?National Centre for Coordinating Public Engagement definition:“Public engagement describes the many ways in which higher education institutions and their staff and students can connect and share their work with the public. Done well, it generates mutual benefit, with all parties learning from each other through sharing knowledge, expertise and skills. In the process, it can build trust, understanding and collaboration, and increase the sector's relevance to, and impact on, civil society.”

Research Dissemination

Public presentations e.g.• School lectures• Science Fairs• Community events

Offline media e.g.• Newspaper articles• Radio/TV interviews• Radio/TV programmes

Online media e.g.• Websites• Twitter or blogging

Research Delivery

Patient-based research e.g.• Trial participation• Lay members of trial steering committees

Co-production research i.e. research projects in which members of the public are trained/involved in delivery of certain aspects

Research Design

Patient & Public Involvement

Discussion with potential beneficiaries of research, as well as other lay audiences, to design research with clear pathways to impact, e.g.• Intervention studies• Clinically-relevant research

Why get involved in public engagement?Or, more aptly, why is it now a national priority in relation to research funding?

Research Dissemination

Raising profile:• Individual• Institutional

Research Delivery

Increasing recruitment:• Trial participation• Steering committees can help address problems

Research Design

More effective design:

• Sustainable interventions• Patient-focused rather than theory-based endpoints

Increasing impact:• Policy makers• Industrial collaborators

Increasing impact:• Study sizes and significance of results• Identify additional potential outcomes and new areas for investigation

Increasing impact:• Identifying unanticipated potential outcomes, e.g. social or economic benefits

Improved chances of funding!

RCUK research funding = ~£3 billion annually

HEFCE research funding = ~£1.5 billion annuallyCharity research funding = ~£750 million annually

This is all public money, and there is a growing need to justify why the public should invest!

Increasing awareness:• Public knowledge of beneficial outcomes

Institutional public engagement

Public engagement vs “impact”?

FUTURE

RCUK Pathways to Impact:• Forward-looking exercise to identify the potential beneficial consequences of your research, and more importantly how you will personally ensure that it reaches the key target audiences who can effect these consequences

PRESENT

Patient & Public Involvement• Designing new research studies with input from those users who are likely beneficiaries to ensure best chances of effective implementation and sustainability

PAST

REF:• Backwards-looking exercise to evaluate the “impacts” of research and institutional strategies to support the delivery of these impacts• Public engagement can be a component, but does not equate to an impact by itself

“Impact” = the beneficial application of research to achieve social, economic, environmental and/or cultural outcomes

“Public engagement” = the connection of HEIs and researchers with members of the public to increase access to, and involvement in, research design, delivery and dissemination

Why is now a good time to get involved?

The University is taking its responsibilities seriously, and investing in supporting infrastructure:

Alice Roberts appointment RCUK Catalysts application Wellcome Trust ISSF support

Research funding now has an increasing focus on public involvement/engagement:

• NIHR will not fund unless it is a clear part of proposal design• RCUK support preferential funding for applications with strong Pathways to Impact• Charity funders are very supportive of activity, and may make it a more obvious element in application procedures• The HEFCE Research Excellence Framework will likely make Impact even more significant in subsequent assessment exercises

The Research & Knowledge Transfer Office is here to help: please get in touch to find out more