The Vice-Chancellor’s Engage Awards aims to reward and celebrate the work of colleagues from across the University of Bath who are engaging non-academic audiences.

Summary of the Local and Civic Engagement award

Through a variety of work covering the University’s operations, teaching and learning, and research, staff engage with local communities from the City and across the region. This award aims to recognise these outstanding contributions by staff who engage locally and make a civic contribution on behalf of the University.

This Award category is new for the Vice-Chanellor's Engage Awards, so we encourage you to submit applications that you feel are relevant to this Award. To give you some guidance, we are currently thinking about Civic and Local Engagement in the following ways:

• Local – Bath and North East Somerset and the immediate vicinity beyond the local authority (including into Wiltshire and South Gloucester)

• Communities – people, residents, civil society organisations, volunteers, community groups, charities

• Engagement - the ways in which the activity and benefits of the University of Bath can be shared with the people and communities outside of academia. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit.

Who can apply

• The award is open to staff from across all job families at the University (Education and Research, Management Specialist and Administration, Technical and Experimental and Operational and Facilities Support)

• Applications can be submitted from individuals, teams, or staff networks (which represent staff from across areas of work).

• Staff from the Public Engagement Unit are not eligible to apply for these awards.

Assessment

Judging criteria

• All work must have a strong focus on the local communities’/civic institution’s needs with clear evidence of how this activity/project has met those needs.
• Be focused in the Bath and North East Somerset region including towns surrounding the local authority
• Demonstrate how the activities/project has benefited the University, this could, for example, be of benefit to you personally, your research or teaching (if applicable) or met a strategic need within your department or faculty.

Assessment process

• Applicants should apply directly by sending a completed application form to to the Public Engagement Unit via email public-engagement@bath.ac.uk with VC Awards Local and Civic Award category in the subject line.

• Applications will be reviewed by a judging panel of internal and external experts in public and community engagement including a community partner. A shortlist of up to three applications will have their projects featured in a short video at the Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement Showcase on Friday 21 May 2021. The judging panel will announce the winner of the awards at this event. All shortlisted candidates are considered a worthy recipient of the award by the judging panel.

• The winner will be asked to contribute to University websites and other materials in respect to their award or civic engagement activities. This may take several forms including, but not limited to, a video, case study or spotlight article.

Deadline

The Vice-Chancellor’s Engage Awards are run biennially with the next awards hosted in 2023. Nominations for the Vice-Chancellor’s Engage Awards 2023 is scheduled to open in Spring 2023.