Public engagement/dialogue

The term public engagement with research (PER) is typically used to describe the wide range of ways in which university researchers and members of the public engage with each other. This could imply something as relatively simple as a one-off public lecture or a school visit. It could also imply a much more complex and longer term arrangement, such as a highly participatory research project in which members of the public help to design the research and participate as researchers. Read more about public engagement.

Public dialogue is more specific. This typically refers to the participation of members of the public in a range of deliberative processes relating to a specific policy context (for instance, pensions or a novel technology), often alongside policy people and experts. Read more about public dialogue.

I have been observing and doing research in these areas since the early 2000s, when they first began to gain policy impetus in the UK. I have been involved in PER and public dialogue both as a researcher and a practitioner. 


Research on PER and public dialogue

My own research on PER has focused on understanding researchers' own perspectives, experiences and understandings of PER. I have also written a 'history' of the UK PER policy trajectory, as part of the 'Factors affecting' literature review (see below).

ScoPE: Scientists on public engagement: from communication to deliberation
This project was funded by Wellcome Trust (2006-9). It was one of the first to examine the perspectives of researchers (in this project, researchers working in bioscience and biomedicine) on public engagement and public dialogue. 
You can read the final report here.

Factors affecting public engagement by researchers
This consultancy project (2015-6), funded by a consortium of UK research funders, led by Wellcome Trust, also focused on the perspectives of researchers (across all academic disciplines). There is more information and links to the outputs here.

The roles of social science in public dialogue
In 2008, I was funded by the HEFCE Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) to conduct some exploratory research and hold a stakeholder workshop on the role of social science in public dialogue. From this work, I produced a workshop report and a paper.
Workshop report 
Paper: A helping hand or a servant discipline?







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