Increasing the skills of staff and students to deliver engagement

Colleagues across the University have been increasing their skills to deliver effective, evidenced and high-quality engagement through the Engagement capacity building programme run by Research and Innovation Services.

Fully evaluated by the Engagement team, during 2016/17 the programme included the development and delivery of 14 training courses, 12 downloadable resources, creating and promoting video case studies on the Engagement YouTube page and the provision of bespoke support and advice for engagement funding bids e.g. RCUK, Heritage Lottery Fund, Big Lottery Fund and NERC.

Nearly 250 academic, professional services staff and postgraduate students attended training courses with 97% rating the course content as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. The sheer volume of individuals who attended the training courses, levels of website traffic and positive feedback are a testament to the success of the programme.

High quality engagement can improve the quality of research itself and also improve the impact in the wider world through creating real tangible benefits for communities with whom we work with.

During 2017/18 the engagement capacity building programme will be expanding in order to align with the Civic Mission strategy. In the meantime, courses are currently underway the resources available online provide valuable guidance to know your stakeholders, target appropriate activity and monitor and evaluate your action’s effectiveness. For internal staff and students, there is more information available on the Engagement intranet pages or Yammer page.

We hope to see you at one of our training sessions soon!