Training Academics in Engagement
In September 2024 several members of the PEP Network to share their experiences in training academics in engagement and discuss challenges they’ve encountered in this work. We invited the speakers to share their work in this blog for the PEP Network.
The event consisted of presentations from members of the PEP Network about their work, each presenter also brought a challenge or question to think through with attendees in small discussions, for example;
- What engagement skills do academics really need?
- How can we get academics to attend training?
- How do we balance diversity and commonality across disciplines, career stages or institutions withing training sessions?
The event was an opportunity to hear how PEPs are approaching training academics; building capacity for engagement and undertaking practical culture change work. Some of the highlights for the NCCPE were;
- There are alternative ways of delivering training, it doesn't need to be a 2 hour workshop, we can use creative methods such as podcasts, short videos, coaching conversations and peer learning.
- Create safe opportunities for academics to try out engagement where its OK to get things wrong and try again.
- Don't under value the skills knowledge PEPs bring to academia and be empowered to share them,
Liverpool John Moores University
Gemma Reed, LJMU, and Jackie Winchester, NCCPE, showcased the LJMU Engage programme, a transformative initiative supporting researchers passionate about public engagement. Delivered with the NCCPE, the programme combines philosophical principles with practical tools to help participants build competence, confidence, and meaningful connections. Highlights of Year 1 included in-person sessions with NCCPE associates and staff, online modules covering topics like partnerships and ethics, a field trip to the Eureka Science and Discovery Centre, and a ‘Finale’ event in June. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive: 100% of participants felt the programme met or exceeded expectations, strengthened their connections, and inspired their future engagement activities. The programme has gained significant support and recognition within LJMU, having recently been granted the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Knowledge Exchange Support 2024.
Insights from the first LJMU Engage programme emphasise the importance of training being tailored to meet diverse needs of learners whilst ensuring a sustainable legacy for engagement efforts. Adopting a multi-pronged approach—combining in-person and virtual sessions, resources, and reflection opportunities—proved effective in addressing a diversity of learning styles and fostering collaboration. Mid-point evaluation and regular check-ins played a critical role in refining the programme and incorporating emerging needs and helped participants maintain focus on their engagement goals. To ensure lasting impact, the programme culminated with a ‘Finale’ that encouraged learners to reflect on their journey, solidify their connections, and identify next steps for their personal and collective engagement strategies. Creating a legacy through a community of practice and continued professional development opportunities ensures the skills and relationships fostered during the programme endure far beyond its conclusion. We’re excited to open up the programme internally again in 2025, and to see what’s next!
Debbie Syrop, PhD Student & Public Engagement Officer Cardiff University
Over Debbie’s career, she has helped develop and deliver training for researchers, students and science centre staff in the UK and also across Europe, Africa and Asia. This covered topics such as presenting STEM to non-specialists, engaging young people and developing interactive activities. It therefore felt like natural step to use training in her recent PhD study.
The focus of Debbie’s investigation was how to apply learning from recent research (such as ASPIRES) to improve the impact and inclusivity of engineering outreach. As part of the process, Debbie wanted to compile guidance for practitioners. General advice can feel abstract and hard to grasp, especially for volunteers less experienced in public engagement. This is because context is critical. Each engagement is a complex social interaction based on the topic, the engager and the audience, involving multiple underlying factors, such as differing states of mind, aims, expectations and prejudices. It is therefore not possible to create hard and fast rules, merely broad principles. This makes relevant case studies critical. However there is a potential ‘chicken and egg’ conundrum; to change practice you need real-life examples that apply to different contexts, but these examples may not exist until new approaches are more widely embedded into practice.
To overcome this, Debbie used an iterative process in the study; running training with a small group and then using observation and participant reflection to evaluate how attendees applied it into their own engagement activities. The insights and case studies generated were fed into subsequent cycles, and ultimately used to create a standalone resource to be more widely shared. The continuous evaluation also helped to refine the language used to help avoid potential understandings. This evolution of materials often happens organically for trainers who deliver the same training with different groups. However, Debbie has rarely, if ever, seen multiple pilot sessions built into a project plan or funding application. It proved to be an effective way to apply research findings collaboratively, helping to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Debbie will be publishing the resource in the middle of 2025, we’ll be sure to share it with the PEP Network.
The Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science
When bringing together researchers from different institutes, disciplines, and stages in their engagement journeys, how can we ensure training effectively meets their needs?
This is a question that is pertinent in our work at The Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science (BSOPE), as we support researchers and institutions across Germany to embed engagement in academic careers and structures. BSOPE is part of the Public Engagement and Impact Unit of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, where we connect research and society to make research more open, accessible, and impactful. We use training as a tool for culture change, connecting researchers at 13 institutions across Germany though our Public Engagement Training Portfolio.
Our Portfolio lives from its diversity, in terms of disciplines, career stages and experience, and we see this exchange across boundaries as hugely valuable. The different assumptions and methods challenge participants to think outside of their context and appreciate different perspective – a key learning for Public Engagement. We further see our work as a crucial step towards building an engagement community in Germany, which goes beyond individual institutions. At the same time, this presents certain challenges. In particular, the training is less able to address specific topical concerns (for example, dealing with polarised issues, or fundamental research). Another question is what comes after the online trainings – how can we support this diverse group to put their learning into practice?
Looking for a practical exchange on these questions, alongside our wish to strengthen the professional training community, led us to run a Training Exchange event in November 2024. We brought together 32 practitioners and collaborators from across our networks locally in Berlin and from across Germany and Europe, to take a deep dive into our practice as trainers, with a particular focus on diversity in training, sustainable learning journeys and self-advocacy.
