The always impressive NCCPE Engage Conference took place in Bristol on Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 May, this year on the theme of “Innovating Practice”. The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) advocates for the role of public and community engagement in building a more inclusive higher education sector, and they are tirelessly committed to challenging inequity.

Workshops and plenaries were varied and included a brilliant session on Community Engaged Learning from our friends at York University, Sarah Rafferty and Kate Harper; UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research, Budd Hall, who at the age of 80 has spent a lifetime working towards a more equitable society based upon the knowledge of everybody; and Glasgow Caledonian University’s Ima Jackson, who has worked tirelessly to develop strategies to counter systemic racism in Scotland.

Particularly inspirational to me, perhaps because my own mother has lost her sight from macular degeneration, was Bath Spa University’s Dr Tanvir Bush, who is visually disabled. Tanvir reflected on how taking a new approach to how we view disability could transform inclusivity. 24% of the UK population is registered disabled with many more people not recognising themselves as being such, making people with some form of disability the largest minority in the UK, intersecting with all other groups in our community, yet the most overlooked and underrepresented. By reframing the way we view disability as being something that we ALL experience at different points of our lives (perhaps due to aging or injury), and demonstrating compassionate empathy for everyone, we can remove barriers and increase inclusivity.

Formal sessions were interspersed with a less structured “Poster Party”, allowing for a more creative free-flow resulting in discussions with a wider range of people and topics. I particularly loved finger-knitting with Evelyn Broderick and talking about how creative workshops can make space for inter-generational knowledge and skill sharing, which in turn can lead onto both mental and physical benefits within communities.

As always, the event was professionally yet creatively put together with Sophie Duncan and Paul Manners at the helm and the whole NCCPE team providing the behind the scenes “pipe work” to make the event run smoothly! Delegates from all corners of the globe departed Bristol, feeling inspired and motivated to ensure that community involvement must always be at the heart of all university research in order to be of equitable value to all.