Outreach officer network

The Ogden Outreach Officer network is a group for university physics outreach officers set up to support local teachers, provide enrichment and enhancement activities for under-represented groups and support undergraduate and postgraduate students to work with schools.

Ogden outreach officers are the main point of contact for the Trust with university physics departments, providing a simple direct link and offering free opportunities for the schools in our programmes to access:

up-to-date physics knowledge
facilities and equipment they do not have in schools
information about applying to university and what physics courses are like
free enrichment activities for all ages

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.

The Ogden Outreach Officer network meets regularly throughout the year to share practice and improve their activities. These meetings are open to all physics outreach officers in the UK. If your university physics department isn’t already part of the network but you would like to be, please contact the us at outreach@ogdentrust.com

Members of the network and their departments commit to working towards the following three themes:

Supporting teachers in their area to develop subject knowledge, offer access to facilities and share the latest research.
Working with undergraduate and postgraduate students to develop their skills and give them opportunities to work with young people.
Carrying out repeat interventions for students, particularly those in the Trust’s priority audiences.

“My Ogden role has enabled me to give outreach a higher profile within my department, and I am very proud to lead that change. I am increasing the university’s interaction with schools and society, and making it a priority for the department. I love being in contact with cutting-edge research at the university; being able to transmit this knowledge and passion to children and their families through outreach is very rewarding.”
Dr Jean-Christophe Denis, Outreach Officer, University of Edinburgh

Ogden outreach officer CPD bursary

The Ogden Trust provides a continuing professional development (CPD) budget to members of the Outreach Officer Network. The bursary covers up to £1,000 per year for an officer to take part in a single CPD activity which their institution would not normally pay for. This could include training courses or shadowing other outreach officers. The bursary will be available throughout the year so keep it in mind if something you are interested in comes up!

To be eligible for this funding, you must be an active member of the Ogden Outreach Officer Network. This means you should have attended at least one of the following in the past year:

OOO annual meeting
Two or more OOO monthly meetings
Training
Seminars

If you don’t meet any of these criteria please email us at outreach@ogdentrust.com to discuss your application.

Apply for the CPD bursary via Flexigrant

You will need to submit a short report of the CPD activity with your expense claims. The claim should be submitted through Flexigrant at My applications > OOO CPD > Reporting.