Beacons for Public Engagement – funded by the UK funding councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust Embedding a culture of public engagement in Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s). Edinburgh Beltane Beacon North-East Manchester Wales Beacon CUE East UCL The National Coordinating Centre

Edinburgh Beltane Partners

Edinburgh Beltane Theme Encouraging citizen participation and understanding of areas of research relevant to public policy such as health and life sciences, energy and the environment.

What is Public Engagement? We want to explore what PE means to you.

What do we mean by Public Engagement ? The Spectrum of Public Engagement Information provision ConsultationInvolvementDelegation telling people what you do asking people what they think of what you do asking people about their priorities giving people direct control Interactive Activities Writing Books Public Debates Citizens Juries Policy Forums Public Lectures

Informing Teaching Enabling Learning Participating Listening Discussing Networking Advising Promoting Communicating with public audiences What is Public Engagement?

Our funders say it is not focused on: PR, Recruitment, or Widening Participation

Why do Public Engagement?

It’s a good thing to do The public pay for research and have the right to know/be involved To inspire future generations of researchers To make research relevant to society Learn from GM & MMR To ensure future funding … Why do Public Engagement?

Research Councils expect those who receive funding to: demonstrate an awareness of the social and ethical implications of their research, beyond usual research conduct considerations, and take account of public attitudes towards those issues engage actively with the public at both the local and national levels about their research and its broader implications

Personal Benefits Personal satisfaction Recognition Transferable skill development Crossing boundaries Social interaction

Is Public Engagement the Key to Better Academic Performance? “scientists active in wider dissemination are also more active academically.” “popularization-active scientists from engineering sciences have an average publication rate over their professional life of 2.12 papers per year, instead of 1.93 for the inactive ones, p-value = 0.07).” “However, their dissemination activities have almost no impact (positive or negative) on their careers.” Scientists who engage with society perform better academically, Jensen, Pablo; Rouquier, Jean-Baptiste; Kreimer, Pablo; Croissant, Yves in Science and Public Policy, Volume 35, Number 7, August 2008, pp (15)

How can the Edinburgh Beltane help you?