Leadership for outreach and public engagement

• Are you passionate about involving more people in research, celebrating science, and inspiring the next generation of researchers?
• Are you championing outreach and public engagement within your department?
• Are you enabling others to deliver high-quality activities and programmes?
• Have you been asked to write an outreach/public engagement strategy for your department? Would you like to develop one?

Outreach and Public Engagement Leadership programme

If this is you and you would benefit from some professional development through access to experts and others in similar situations, then read on to see if the Outreach and Public Engagement Leadership programme is for you.

The programme is specifically for research and teaching staff in physics departments or groups and STFC-funded research groups. Users of STFC-funded facilities and staff within those facilities with responsibility for outreach and public engagement are also eligible.

The programme

The programme has been developed specifically for academic/teaching staff with an interest in taking a more strategic approach to outreach and public engagement. This may include those championing outreach and public engagement within their research group, those with a leadership component at a department level or in an STFC facility, or those taking more formal responsibilities for leading and developing outreach and public engagement.

The leadership of outreach and public engagement can include anything from being tasked to develop a more strategic approach for activities within your department or research group (ie, you may be developing a strategy, delivering a training programme, developing resources for others to use), through to a formal role (ie, outreach lead or champion for public engagement).

Taking a participant-led approach, the programme will build your confidence in advocating for outreach and public engagement at a senior level, influencing others at different levels and in a range of job families across the organisation, and ensuring that your activities are sustainable.

Through the programme, you will be supported to develop a strategic approach to outreach and public engagement, connect with peers at other institutions to learn how others are leading outreach and public engagement, and hone your leadership skills for future roles.

The support programme consists of the following elements:

• Bespoke advice through one-one mentoring from one of our experienced mentors
• Facilitated online workshops which introduce core material
• Peer group support and networking opportunities to learn from others
• Resources and reading materials for self-directed learning

The programme will reflect your needs but will likely cover some/all of the following:

• Developing your approach to leading outreach and public engagement
• Thinking strategically
• Advocating for outreach and public engagement at a senior department level
• Engaging others with your strategy
• Access to networks and expertise
• Navigating change
• Writing strategic documents
• Leveraging your institution’s mission and priorities
• Project management and overseeing budgets
• Line management
• Writing business cases for roles and budgets

Requirements

Designed to fit around academic roles with an expected minimum commitment of approximately three hours per month.

The next programme will run from 15 September 2022 to July 2023 and applications are now closed.