The Engagement@Manchester Inclusive Practice session brought together colleagues, students and community partners to explore inclusive approaches in public engagement practice. The session featured two projects offering different perspectives.

At the start of the session, key principles of inclusive practice were shared that drew upon on guidance from the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). Attendees then reflected and discussed the following provocations:

• What does inclusion mean to you?
• How do you create accessible or safe spaces?
• How can reflective time and multiple perspectives be built into activities?

Dr Bridie Davies shared ‘Sensing Volcanoes’, an exhibition that was developed for the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Bridie shared how inclusive practice was considered throughout its development. The focus and key themes for the exhibition were shaped by a long-term collaborative project Curating Crisis which had taken place for over a decade and has involved many contributors.

‘Sensing Volcanoes’ celebrates volcano observers past and present, recognising the valuable contributions local communities have in scientific research. The exhibition was informed by personal accounts, hidden histories, narratives from those affected by volcano eruptions and included many sensory elements offering multiple ways for audiences to engage with the research and those that contributed to it.

This project highlighted how important it is to think about inclusivity at the outset of an engagement project and create space for ongoing reflection throughout the duration of the project. It also demonstrated how volunteers can be supported through training, resources and guidance to facilitate conversations around sensitive topics.  

Hazel Gardner and Dr Nick Weiss shared practice from the Linguistic Diversity Collective, which champions linguistic diversity both locally and globally. The Linguistic Diversity Collective focus on documenting languages, understanding how people use language in multilingual settings, and protecting languages through research and policy.

Community engagement is central to their activities and they often take place in spaces where multiple languages are already being spoken. Their engagement is designed to be accessible and welcoming and to recognise and celebrating language diversity. They shared  examples of their engagement activity, the Festival of Libraries that celebrated community languages by inviting speakers to share the meanings of words in their own languages and how definitions vary across languages. Another example was the ‘Looking for Languages’ trail at the Manchester Museum, which encouraged primary-aged children and their families to explore linguistics through museum exhibits while reflecting on their own languages.

Dr Nick Weiss also shared the ‘Inspiring Language Communities’ project from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, which looks to connect international bilingual researchers with local communities within Greater Manchester to share their research in different languages.

Inclusive Practice Top Tips

Watch the video to explore practical advice and examples of creative practice in engagement.

Do you have a project to share? Please contact Dee-Ann and Kathryn: engagement@mancheter.ac.uk