Our Engage Grants: Progression Fund is open for researchers and experimental and technical staff at any level, including doctoral students, who wish to advance their public engagement with research practice. This is particularly aimed at those researchers and experimental and technical staff who have prior experience with public engagement and would like to develop their skills further.

Examples of Progression Fund activities include (but not limited to):

• expanding existing engagement activities (your own, or others) to new public groups or delivering in a different context
• developing a particular aspect of your own public engagement work
• developing public engagement leadership and facilitation skills or carrying out Faculty / Department / Research Group specific engagement activities
• small-scale pilots of innovative engagement activities to evaluate what works and does not for all involved

An application can cover one or more of the above activities or other relevant ideas not listed but must not exceed £3,500. The grant cannot be used to cover time for the researcher(s) or staff member(s) involved.

In the context of this funding call, the public is defined as any person or group outside of academia.

A total of £14,000 is available for this call. The Public Engagement Unit reserve the right to not allocate all the funds available.

We have found that projects of this scale usually take 12 months to develop and deliver, if you are planning a longer project please make the case within your application.

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant effect on all public engagement activities, and we are open to any format or method that meets the needs of the public groups you will be working with. You can find inspiration for digital activities on the NCCPE webpage and remote engagement activities in this Taking Part open-source database.

Who can apply

This call is open to any member of staff in the Research & Education and Technical & Experimental job families (any discipline or career stage) and doctoral students who are looking to engage the public with research.

Doctoral students will need to secure permission from their supervisors in order to apply for this award.

We welcome applications from all Faculties but would particularly welcome applications from Departments within the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Engineering and Design to ensure we are providing adequate support across all Departments. We also particularly welcome applications made jointly with a researcher and an external partner who intend to work together for the project.

Assessment

Assessment criteria

• a clear explanation of how the engagement project will advance the applicant’s public engagement skills
• a clearly articulated link between current high-quality research and the proposed engagement activity
• clearly articulated aims outlining the purpose of engaging public groups with your research
• a clearly defined public group and a clear explanation of how the project will meet their needs
• an explanation of how the engagement project will benefit the applicant and their research
• a plan to evaluate the success of the project, including the evaluation tools to be used
• a realistic project plan highlighting the feasibility of the project within the budget limits and the timescales outlined

Assessment process

Application forms must be emailed to public-engagement@bath.ac.uk no later than 5pm on Monday 31 October 2022 with ‘Progression Fund’ in the subject line.

Applications will be reviewed by a panel made up of:

• the Public Engagement Unit
  
• a Public Engagement Professional from an external Higher Education Institution
• an academic representative from the University of Bath

A member of the Public Engagement Unit will be in touch as to the outcome of your application the week commencing the 7 November 2022.

Reporting

All projects will be required to report their learning, outcomes and experiences to the Public Engagement Unit. Award holders will be expected to share their learning and experiences through events and formats that the Public Engagement Unit coordinate and manage.

There is an expectation that all successful applications will share their learning and outcomes from the project with their colleagues within departments and across the University. This could involve sharing learning from the projects at departmental meetings or University-wide events such as the annual Engage Showcase.

Timetable

Call opens

Monday 5 September 2022

Call closes

Monday 31 October 2022, 5pm

Awards start

Early November 2022

Reports due

Before Wednesday 24 January 2024

If you are considering an application, we would strongly encourage you to speak with a member of the Public Engagement Unit about your project prior to application submission. Please email the Public Engagement Unit at public-engagement@bath.ac.uk