PEAs in Pods – Co-production of community-based public engagement and Artificial Intelligence (AI) research is a UKRI EPSRC funded project (EP/W033488/1) with ambition to empower the Greater Manchester R&D community to engage meaningfully with traditionally marginalised communities and embed co-production methods into individual and institutional research processes and governance. This will be achieved through the delivery of public engagement activities around the theme of ethical Artificial Intelligence and data-driven technologies, enabling traditional marginalised communities to have a voice in this field.

The Opportunity

Working with the interdisciplinary research team, you will:

• Receive Public Engagement and Co-production Training (4*4-hour sessions) – (April/May 2023) so that you can adopt co-production as a pioneering research methodology in your own research to improve quality and impact. You will become a PEA (Public Engagement Ambassador) and be part of a Pod!
• Learn by Doing – Engage with local traditional marginalised communities though a participatory ideation event (1 day June/July) with community participants that will develop ideas for three separate, coproduced, community based programmes of inspirational public engagement events/activities about data science and AI (£7k budget per project). As a PEA you would be invited to join one of three community teams and take part in 4x2h planning meetings over 12 months.
• Coproduce a “Data Ethics and AI in a Box” legacy resource for on-going self-guided learning and researcher engagement about data-driven and AI technologies and ethics across communities.
• Receive one-to-one mentoring (seven sessions), complete a personal mentoring journal and develop your own 12-month public engagement plan related to your research.
• Be invited to take part in co-development with Universities (MMU, Manchester and Salford), other PEAs and communities to integrate sustained researcher-community interaction into research processes.

What we are looking for and how to apply:

This opportunity is open to PhD students, early career researchers, new and mid-career academics, and SMEs. This is NOT a project that involves technical skills in Artificial Intelligence! We are looking for enthusiastic people from interdisciplinary backgrounds, who are open to doing things differently. You will work together with the research team on all aspects of the project and be well supported throughout the programme.

Applications are through a short application form – see here for online details.

Closing date for applications of interest: 7th February 2023

For more information: please contact the project Public Engagement Champion, Prof Keeley Crockett: K.Crockett@mmu.ac.uk