University support

The Trust works with universities to:

• help build outreach and public engagement (OPE) leadership skills and capacity,
• to support and enable wider access to physics outreach and public engagement, and
• to build connections between schools and university physics.

The Trust facilitates an OPE network, which provides a forum to share good practice and helps provide schools with access to university research, facilities and outreach opportunities. The Trust also runs biennial outreach awards which celebrate physics outreach and recognise the efforts of those involved in developing and delivering it.

The network also helps to connect physics (and engineering) undergraduates with physics teaching opportunities.

Supporting OPE

We have produced four publications to support the development, delivery and leadership of physics outreach and public engagement.

• The Trust has developed a skills framework for leadership and management in OPE. It is designed to be used by individuals to help them reflect, and to identify their own professional growth priorities. Download your copy of the skills framework.
• Taking a strategic approach to outreach has been produced to explore a range of approaches for the strategic leadership, management and delivery of outreach. The guide includes top tips to inform the process and case studies to give an insight into real-life experiences. Download your copy of Taking a strategic approach to outreach.
• We have developed an evaluation toolkit entitled Capturing Impact to help evaluate the work and impact of our outreach officers and other programmes and activities that we fund – the top tips, models and suggested approaches to evaluation can be applied by anyone working in science outreach. Download your copy of our evaluation toolkit – Capturing Impact.
• Exploring leadership and governance for physics outreach presents a summary of the research findings. An Ogden Trust narrative in response to the research findings has been included to enhance the context and wider use of the research. Download your copy of Exploring leadership and governance for physics outreach.

In 2023, the Trust published an external evaluation report: Examining the institutional impact of Ogden Trust funding for physics outreach officers which is now available for download.