A. Building Staff Capacity

BUILDING STAFF CAPACITY

Since the launch of WIE in November 2020 we have delivered 11 training sessions for staff, with 180 attendees from across all faculties and professional

services. Our most popular sessions have been exploring how we run events online, and two sessions on using your public engagement experience as part of your promotion case – led by our Promotion and Impact, Outreach and Engagement Review Learning Circle. Additionally, 14 members of staff have received free places to study an online course in Storytelling for Research.

Quote from an Online Engagement training attendee:

“The event was great and I think the content was up-to-date and relevant with what tools are out there currently. The whole group was engaged and I would even think about joining again after delivering outreach for refresher/self-evaluation.”

We have also supported five WIE Fellows to attend the National Coordinating Centre for public engagement (NCCPE) Engage Conference and supported a further Fellow to undertake the NCCPE Engage Academy – a nine-month development programme for engagement professionals. Quote from Dr Phil Jemmett on taking part in the Engage Academy:

“Through the Engage Academy I have met many people who aim to build a culture of public engagement across all staff in academic departments. Meeting these people and discussing the barriers, motivations, successes and failures we all have while working on engagement projects is inspiring and comforting in equal measure.

So far we have examined logic models and we are starting to look into making strategic plans for establishing a culture of engagement. One particularly useful concept has been to challenge every assumption: “do you definitely know your audience want this activity?”, or that staff actually want the training session you’re thinking of putting together.

Taking a far more formal approach to activities and projects will support the design, recruitment, and crucially the post-event reporting that can be so valuable to our staff who get involved with activities as this can be where the positive impacts on their careers can be materialised. I am having a really interesting and enjoyable time on this course and I am sure that by the end of it I will be in a far stronger position to nurture a culture of public engagement throughout my department and beyond.”