Introductory description

Public Engagement is about working with those outside academia to share research, collaborate on ideas and make knowledge accessible. Through the design, planning and delivery of your own public engagement activity you’ll build your communication, team working and project management skills. You’ll explore subjects like evaluation, digital engagement, effective storytelling and placemaking and come away with the confidence and skills to apply this learning to future research, and careers outside academia. This module will give you a theoretical and practical introduction to public engagement. You’ll come away with a strong knowledge of complex challenges involved, and the rewards it can bring to you, universities and society.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Public engagement is about connecting ourselves to those around us. It requires an ability to translate complex ideas, an understanding of different people and their needs, and a requirement for actively listening to their contributions. This module aims to explore the theoretical and practical skills students need to do public engagement to a high standard, explored through an interdisciplinary lens.

You'll be taught through a series of 10 2 hour seminar sessions which will include talks, panel discussions, interactive tasks with peers from a range of departments, and getting involved with engagement yourself. You'll be taught by a diverse group of module tutors who bring a variety of expertise and experience to the module.

Weekly topics:
Week 1 – What is public engagement
Week 2 – Getting hands on with engagement
Week 3 – Digital vs Physical Engagement
Week 4: Video production
Week 5: Evaluating engagement
Week 6: Interactive Presentation Skills
Week 7: Audiences
Week 8: Engagement in museums/ gallery spaces
Week 9: Co-production of research and engagement
Week 10: The role of public engagement in society

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Develop a systematic theoretical and practical understanding of public engagement as seen through various thematic lenses.
• Demonstrate a deep and thorough understanding of the importance of evaluation and the different methodologies available for this.
• Produce blogs that demonstrate an ability to effectively communicate about a research topic to a lay audience
• Critically evaluate and reflect upon their own experience of running a public engagement event and propose ways of self-improvement.
• Demonstrates a systematic understanding of, and the ability to synthesise ideas from, a range of disciplinary perspectives, with regard to the relationship between the arts, social sciences and sciences in the field of public engagement.
• Prepare relevant questions and successfully engage in personal and collaborative endeavours to respond professionally (i.e. use of texts, films, different primary and secondary sources, material provided during the academic lectures and the group activities), developing and synthesising inter- and trans-disciplinary ideas.

Indicative reading list

Illustrative reading material

General

Resources section of the National Co-ordinating centre for public engagement http://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/resources

Open Access Journal – Research For All, https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/research-for-all/

Week 1 and 2 (overview to PE)

• Hart, Angie; Northmore, Simon, Auditing and Evaluating University-Community Engagement: Lessons from a UK Case Study, Higher Education Quarterly. Jan2011, Vol. 65 Issue 1, p34-58.

• Education outreach and public engagement / Erin L. Dolan (2008)

• Deliberative Public Engagement with Science / PytlikZillig (2018)

• Varner, Johanna, ‘Scientific Outreach : Toward Effective Public Engagement with Biological Science’, BioScience. 64(4) (2014):333-340

• Langdridge, Darren;Gabb, Jacqui;Lawson, Jamie, ‘Art as a pathway to impact: Understanding the affective experience of public engagement with film’. Sociological Review; May2019, Vol. 67 Issue 3, p585-601,

• Cerrato, S., Daelli, V., Pertot, H. and Puccioni, O. (2018) ‘The public engaged scientists: Motivations, enablers and barriers’. Research for All, 2 (2): 313–322. DOI https://doi.org/10.18546/RFA.02.2.09

Week 3 (Digital engagement and blog writing)

• https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/choose-method/social-media

• https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/choose-method/websites

• Yhnell, E., Smith, H.A., Walker, K. and Whitehouse, C.L. (2019) ‘#WhyWeDoResearch: Raising research awareness and opportunities for patients, public and staff through Twitter’. Research for All, 3 (1): 7–17. DOI https://doi.org/10.18546/RFA.03.1.02

• https://www.youtube.com/user/maddiemoate

• Digital Classics Outside the Echo-Chamber : Teaching, Knowledge Exchange and Public Engagement / Gabriel Bodard, Matteo Romanello (Editors) (2016)

Week 4 (evaluation)

• Dubow & Litzler, ‘The Development and Use of a Theory of Change to Align Programs and Evaluation in a Complex, National Initiative’, American Journal of Evaluation, 40 (2019), 231-48

-https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publication/evaluating_your_public_engagement_work.pdf

Week 5 – Oral presentations

• A student's guide to presentations: making your presentation count / Barbara Chivers and Michael Shoolbred (2007).

• https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publication/
  writing_a_business_case_for_public_engagement.pdf

Week 6 – Understanding audiences

• https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/about-engagement/who-are-publichttps://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/partnership-working

Week 8 – Working with museums and galleries

• Ashley, Susan L.T., ‘Engage the World’: examining conflicts of engagement in public museums, International Journal of Cultural Policy; May2014, Vol. 20 Issue 3, p261-280https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/partnership-working/working-with-museums-and-libraries

Week 9 – Co-production with communities

• Boyask, Ruth and Vigurs, Katy, ‘Developing a Methodology for Public Engagement with Critical Research’, Policy Futures in Education, v16 n2 p217-231 Feb 2018.

• McLaughlin, James A., et al, ‘Impact arising from sustained public engagement: A measured increase in learning outcomes’, Research for All (2018), 2(2), 244-56

• Brown, M. and Ward, P. (2019) ‘Communities, universities and ethnicity: A conversation from Imagine: Connecting Communities Through Research’. Research for All, 3 (1): 91–104. DOI https://doi.org/10.18546/RFA.03.1.08

Week 10 – Future of public engagement

• Irwin et al, ‘The good, the bad and the perfect: Criticizing engagement practice’, Social Studies of Science (Sage Publications, Ltd.). Feb2013, Vol. 43 Issue 1, p118-135.

Research element

In line with the University’s Research and Education Strategies, this interdisciplinary module aims to provide students with the skills and confidence to engage communities with their research and maximise their impact on society. It will encourage community-minded thinking about research and upskill today’s students to be able to effectively identify societal needs and challenges. Students will be empowered to see how research can address these challenges, and to understand the value of open communication with a variety of audiences and the skills required for this.

Interdisciplinary

Students will consider public engagement through multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives. The mix of module leaders (from School of Modern Languages and Warwick Institute of Engagement) will attend all sessions to integrate and stimulate the interdisciplinary learning, and each week interactive lectures and/or workshops will be led by a subject specialist,

Subject specific skills

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

1. Appreciate the value of adopting interdisciplinary approaches and research methods for understanding global topics such as engaging publics in research.

2. Understand how applying public engagement practice to their own research may shape the direction the research takes and improve their projects.

3. Comprehend how to utilise the communicative and collaborative skills used in the module in their professional life.

4. Comprehend how society can benefit from ongoing efforts to include diverse audiences in the future of research.

5. Develop their transferable skills (i.e. impactful multimodal communication, project management, work with specialist and non-specialist participants) that will support future endeavours in the workplace.

6. Demonstrate the ability to critically reflect on the personal development of their skills and experiences throughout this module.

Transferable skills

• Understand how to apply public engagement practice to future research
• Use oral and written communication skills acquired in the module in their professional life
• Comprehend how society can benefit from ongoing efforts to include diverse audiences in the future of research
• Understand how to apply skills acquired on the module (e.g. impactful multimodal communication, project management, working with a specialist and non-specialist participants) to support future endeavours in the workplace.
• Use resources in a transdisciplinary manner to comprehend and communicate concepts and ideas to the public.