Community Engagement

WARWICK AWARD FOR PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Recognising and rewarding hard work and success is one of the most important roles of a university – and that does not only apply to its students or indeed only to their degree studies. Staff and students should feel that their efforts across the spectrum of roles they perform and projects they undertake are recognised and rewarded. This is particularly important for public and community engagement, which has historically been seen as a beneficial ‘add-on’ to be done in one’s ‘spare time.’ Even with the introduction of REF Impact case-studies from 2013-4, vast swathes of public engagement activity, which would never fit in the strict template of REF impact, would often lack recognition, direction and purpose within university systems of recognition and reward. This has been addressed in recent years by a review of the university’s central promotion criteria, recognising an independent category for Impact, Outreach and Engagement work, which was updated in early 2021 following a review conducted by the WIE Promotions Learning Circle (see their report above). The Learning Circle also act to ensure there is support for staff in the development of the Impact, Outreach and Engagement elements of promotion cases.

At the same time, WIE has also moved to create a new university wide award for both staff and students: the Warwick Award for Public and Community Engagement (WAPCE). This award is aligned with other established university awards like the Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence (WATE) and the Warwick Award for Personal Tutoring Excellence (WAPTE). The WAPCE awards in particular seek to recognise the vital contributions Warwick staff and students make in engaging the public – on an international and national level as well as crucially within our region and local communities – in our learning and discovery, with the goals of sharing and co-producing knowledge, strengthening the role we play in the region and showcasing the role Warwick plays nationally and internationally in making the world a better place. Applications opened for WAPCE in January 2022, and a review panel composed of WIE Fellows and Core Team members, senior university leadership and independent external reviewers, will be reviewing applications in a two-step process leading to a series of Team, Individual Staff, UG and PG Students awards in Summer 2022. Winners will have access to a cash award, which they can spend on activities to help further improve their public and community engagement work, through training and CPD, support for developing collaborations and the organisation of public-facing events.

Prof Chris Ennew, Provost

“The launch of WAPCE is a welcome addition to the portfolio of awards for Warwick staff and students - rightly underlining the importance this university attaches to our staff and students engaging and collaborating with those outside of the university both regionally, nationally and internationally.”

Prof Caroline Meyer, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research

“The launch of WAPCE marks an important moment in the development of our research culture and environment at Warwick, recognising the importance of collaboration and co-production in the production of our research, as well as the importance of engaging communities both near and far outside of the university in our research outcomes.”