Introductory description

The Public Engagement module will prepare students to be able to understand the importance of stakeholder engagement and consulting the public in the development and delivery of environmental solutions.

Public Engagement can take many forms, for example, it can involve the organisation of public-facing events, preparing and producing high-quality information and communications (e.g. blogs, websites, social media accounts, and research reports), and empowering citizen researchers to lead projects. Through it both, we and our audiences gain valuable insights through interaction and dialogue to inform future environmental strategies, policies, legal requirements, codes of practice and funding requirements.

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 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.

Part 1 Introducing the concept and context of engagement (Background)

1. What is engagement? Interdisciplinary panel discussion on what engagement is, why it’s important and what skills can be developed from it including improving general research communication. Students will also complete a reading/ research task to explore public engagement in your own discipline and share with the group. Relates to K11, K12, S8, S10, B6
2. What is the role of a university? Debate about the wider context of engagement and our role as a Civic University. Additionally specialised seminar exploring how engagement relates to students own organisations. Relates to K11, K12, B5, B6
3. The engagement sector. Exploring what careers exist in engagement including museums/ galleries, outreach/ teaching, sci-com, engagement in academia, and support roles. How is engagement funded currently? What role will REF/ KEF have on this in future? Policy engagement. How is engagement relating to the environmental science sector? Relates to K10, K11, K12, B6
   Part 2 Practical engagement skills
4. Audiences and Collaborators. Who are our audiences for engagement? What makes an audience and what makes a collaborator? How do we tailor activities for them? How do we reach these partners? How can we tailor research communication for audiences of our peers vs external or non expert audiences. Relates to K10, K11, K12, S8, S9, B6
5. Online engagement – Exploring digital engagement methods and skills. Producing a public engagement output for online use (e.g. social media posts). Relates to K10, S10
6. Effective presentations – the role of Storytelling and emotion in connecting with our audiences. Relates to K10, K12, S8, S10
7. Co-production/ co-creation and collaborative projects – How can we work with communities, artists, museums etc. to make engagement happen? Lessons from Design Thinking on collaborative practice, co-creation and co-produced research. Relates to K10, K11, K12, S8, S9, S10, B6
   Part 3 Planning events
8. Planning engagement. Structure for planning an engagement event, the role of People, Purpose, Process, Evaluation. Relates to K11, S10, B3, B6
9. Evaluation. Planning effective evaluation. Sharing outputs from evaluation (publishing engagement outcomes). Relates to K12, S9, B6
10. Designing your public engagement activity – Workshopping session to put together your public engagement project and give each other feedback on the concepts you produce. Bringing together lessons on planning for engagement and evaluation as part of your design. Relates to K10, K11, S8, S10, B3, B5, B6

Learning outcomes

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

• 1. Synthesise transdisciplinary perspectives of public engagement into an interdisciplinary understanding of public engagement techniques and approaches, an how these relate to your own field of study.
• 2. Demonstrate an awareness of the role of community involvement, stakeholder engagement, and public consultation when developing and delivering research led solutions for societal issues (e.g. environmental)
• 3. Produce digital engagement pieces that demonstrate an ability to communicate ideas and topics to a lay audience
• 4. Engage with a series of tools and techniques for planning and evaluating effective engagement to develop your own engagement activity
• 5. Reflect on your own engagement practice to identify strengths and weaknesses, and how to capitalise on/ mitigate for these in future engagement activities.
• 6. Demonstrate relevant engagement skills in the delivery of a two-way engagement activity.

Indicative reading list

General wider, recommended reading

• NCCPE resources https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/resources
• Research for All journal https://www.uclpress.co.uk/pages/research-for-all

1 - What is engagement?
NCCPE Webpage: https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/about-engagement/what-public-engagement
Warwick Institute of Engagement Webpage: https://warwick.ac.uk/wie/studentsengage/skillsfestival-pg/whatisengagement/
1 paper from Research for All relating to an engagement example from your own discipline https://www.uclpress.co.uk/pages/research-for-all

2: What is the role of a university?
From homework club to social justice: Critical reflections on student volunteering through the examination of a school–university partnership https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.18546/RFA.02.1.08

Community-University Engagement : a process for building democratic communities https://encore.lib.warwick.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb3034035

Wellcome Trust report on the state of PE in 2015 https://wellcome.org/sites/default/files/wtp060034.pdf

Monitoring and Evaluation of City of Culture inc. interim reports on Coventry 2021 and methodology https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/monitoring/

3: The engagement sector
Knowledge exchange or research impact – what is the difference between REF and KEF? https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2019/05/20/knowledge-exchange-or-research-impact-what-is-the-difference-between-ref-and-kef/ (blog)

NCCPE - working with museums and libraries https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/partnership-working/working-with-museums-and-libraries

4: Audiences
WIE guide on audiences: https://warwick.ac.uk/wie/studentsengage/skillsfestival-pg/audience/audiencedevelopment/

Developing resources for schools - look up the section relating to your own subject: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4/the-national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4

5: Effective presentations
WIE: https://warwick.ac.uk/wie/studentsengage/skillsfestival-pg/practicalskills/storytelling/
WIE: https://warwick.ac.uk/wie/studentsengage/skillsfestival-pg/practicalskills/presentingdata/

6: Online engagement

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/public-engagement-in-the-digital-environment-opportunities-and-challenges-for-arts-and-humanities-researchers

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/30115

7: Co-production and collaborative projects -
NCCPE: https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/partnership-working/partnership-working-principles
Book: Co-producing research: A community development approach, Banks, Hart, Pahl, Ward
E-BOOK: Citizen science : innovation in open science, society and policy / edited by Susanne Hecker, Muki Haklay, Anne Bowser, Zen Makuch, Johannes Vogel & Aletta Bonn Https://encore.lib.warwick.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb3425248

Developing a methodology for public engagement with critical research https://0-journals-sagepub-com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/doi/10.1177/1478210317739521

8: Planning engagement
NCCPE - Planning for engagement https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/quality-engagement/about-quality-engagement

9: Evaluation
What is theory of change? https://www.theoryofchange.org/what-is-theory-of-change/

WIE Evaluation guide: https://warwick.ac.uk/wie/studentsengage/skillsfestival-pg/evaluation/evaluationguide/

The Development and Use of a Theory of Change to Align Programs and Evaluation in a Complex, National Initiative https://0-journals-sagepub-com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/doi/10.1177/1098214018778132

City of Culture Evaluation strategy - https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/researchresources/2021-pme-strategy-jan20-online.pdf

10: N/A

Research element

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 variety 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 to understand the role of community involvement, stakeholder engagement and public consultation in the development and delivery of environmental solutions.
2. Understand how applying public engagement practice to their own organisation may shape the direction of their activities and improve outcomes.
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 organisational projects
• 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 environmental solutions
• 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.