Since 2012, the Public Engagement Unit has been working to foster a culture where public engagement with research is recognised, practised and valued across the University of Bath.

Advocating for public engagement with research is not always easy or straightforward, and we wanted to share our experiences.

As an established Public Engagement Unit, we often get requests from colleagues in other universities wanting to draw on our expertise in how we support and work with people to embed public engagement. These requests often centre on practical advice and guidance. However, sharing our resources and materials doesn't really reflect the thinking behind our approach, or how we worked with and mobilised people across the University, or how we dealt with challenges and resistance.

Our approach

We collaborated with public engagement consultant David Owen and design agency Boyle&Perks through a series of structured conversations reflected on our work and approach to culture change. Creating a practical resource for other people tasked with culture change, we translated these experiences and our insight into a series of 25 different exercises split across four sections.

The A Field to Public Engagement and Culture Change aims to help colleagues navigate and find their own way through the process of creating a positive culture of public engagement based on our experiences. The Field Guide is for anyone who is working to raise the profile of public engagement with research within their institution. This could be public engagement professionals, researchers with a departmental responsibility for public engagement, or professionals who have public engagement as part of their broader remit within higher education institutions.

Take a look inside A Field Guide to Public Engagement and Culture Change

Understanding Culture

Understanding the culture of an institution is an important first step in the culture change process. This section looks at the habits and habitat that make up the culture of a place and the relationship between them and culture change.

Understanding the University

Universities are large and complex institutions with a mix of teaching, research, and public good at their core. This section reflects on the university and the role of public engagement professionals in creating change within these institutions.

Thinking About Your Approach

Over several exercises to help understand their motivations, skills, knowledge and attributes, this section helps public engagement professionals develop their own approach to culture change.

Key Lessons We’ve Learned

This section looks in more depth at some specific approaches the Public Engagement Unit used at the University of Bath to create change. This section is broken down into 11 different lessons covering; Processes, Working with Others and Being Yourself.

Get your copy of A Field Guide to Public Engagement and Culture Change

A printed copy of A Field Guide to Public Engagement and Culture Change is available to purchase for £10 (covering admin, postage and packaging) from the University of Bath store. Please do get in touch with us if you have any questions.

Alternatively a digital version of A Field Guide to Public Engagement and Culture Change is available to download.

Acknowledgments

The approach outlined in the Field Guide builds on the work of previous Public Engagement Unit staff Ed Stevens and Jo Coleman.

Copy checking with support from Hilary Jackson and Lucy Goldring, Freelance Public Engagement Professionals.

Thanks to colleagues past and present from the other seven universities who were the Catalysts for Public Engagement with Research for helping shape our approach.

Thanks to the team at the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement for their invaluable insight, advice and guidance since 2012.

Credits

Text. David Owen, Gurukula Ltd. Design. Boyle&Perks Illustration. Lucia Vinti