The Guardian Higher Education Network invites you to join their experts on Friday 31 May from 12pm BST to discuss Public Engagement – benefits, drawbacks, media, message and innovative practice.
What does public engagement actually mean? It’s one of those terms for which it’s hard to find a single definition that reflects its wider purpose and the many forms it takes within the higher education sector.
The National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement has given it a go and come up with this: “Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit.”
If sharing research and university news with society communicates the benefits of higher education, is a simple press release a form of public engagement – or is the process more sophisticated? What innovative and exciting ways are universities putting engagement into practice, or making their practice engaging?
A few come to mind which have made particular waves: Bright Club, which started at UCL and is now running in seven locations around the UK, encourages researchers to take to the stage and describe their work in a funny way. One of Bright Club’s 10 commandments reads: “If the audience and performers don’t leave cleverer than they arrived you’re doing it wrong.”
Humour is one way of disseminating information to lay audiences, but, of course, not everyone is (or wants to be) funny. Technology is another way to get your message across. Professor Martyn Poliakoff CBE has become a YouTube sensation with his Periodic Table of Videos channel, which has more than 66,000 subscribers and over 20 million views in 200 countries.
What is the best approach for institutions and academics to take – and to what ends? In this live chat, we want to dissect the meaning of public engagement, look at the potential rewards and drawbacks, and focus on what universities are doing to develop their strategy and skills base in this area.
With REF (Research Excellence Framework) looming and research impact a major drive for many institutions, we want to discuss innovative practice, from real-time events to media exposure and digital interaction, as well as asking what role collaboration between institutions, departments and individuals plays in successful public engagement?
Join our live web chat Friday 31 May from 12-2pm BST in the comments section and share your thoughts on what public engagement means to you. You can also follow the debate live on Twitter using the hashtag #HElivechat.
Source Acknowledgement: www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/2013/may/24/public-engagement-higher-education-debate