Approximately 20 staff and students have taken part in LSTM’s annual Public Engagement Workshop, delivered by an associate of the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). The workshop is for PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, principal investigators or anyone interested in getting involved in public engagement and explored why institutions such as LSTM should be engaging with the public about the diversity of research that takes place.
It was a full day workshop that was run by Suzanne Spicer, the Social Responsibility Manager at the University of Manchester, on behalf of the NCCPE. The training was interactive and looked at a variety of techniques and approaches for engaging with the public and methods for how to evaluate their effectiveness. It covered who researchers should be engaging with, how to cut out the jargon and gave practical advice on how to set up and run a public engagement event.
Dr Elli Wright, LSTM’s Public Engagement Manager said: “The response we have had to the course and to Suzanne, who has extensive experience in delivering the training has been great. Being able to communicate effectively with a number of different audience groups about our work is vital and it was fantastic seeing everybody leave the session so enthused about public engagement.”
The training is part of LSTM’s public engagement strategy, which has seen staff at all levels as well as students become STEM ambassadors and undertake a number of projects ranging from working with local museums and schools to exhibiting at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2016 and giving talks to the public.