SOLARNET Public Engagement Training Workshop
To support SOLARNET outreach and public engagement efforts we’re organising two training workshops. Aimed at both early career and senior researchers, the workshops will build confidence, skills and perspective for a wide range of communication activities and situations. In addition, the first workshop (in 2021) will be loosely themed around engagement with schools, with the second workshop (TBD) having elements of collaboration masterclass.
While researchers are welcome to attend either workshop, we hope that some activities developed at (or in response to) the first workshop will be shared for discussion and further development in the second.
The
workshops will be facilitated by highly experienced and award-winning public
engagement professionals, who’ve worked with researchers of all levels,
internationally. Their combined expertise spans primary school teaching,
science broadcast, education leadership, and public engagement project
management. They’ve run children’s film competitions and summer camps, built
media strategies for learned institutions, and coached hundreds of academics in
performance skills.
Workshop 1: 12th - 13th April 2021, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK (Online)
This workshop will introduce the range of opportunities through which public engagement can occur, and some of the key issues:
-
Why do we want to ‘engage the public with science?’
-
Designing for evaluation, pathways to impact, and writing engagement into
research bids.
-
Contexts & approaches: the range of opportunities available for science
communication.
-
How to talk to people. Understanding your audience, and the ‘communication’
part of ’science communication’.
-
Unconscious bias: implications and mitigations.
-
Empty vessels to science capital and co-creation: developments and trends
within public engagement.
Workshop 1 will also step through several worked examples, with a particular emphasis on working with schools. We’ll discuss in detail the how we go about understanding the needs of teachers; structuring workshops and activities for classroom use; and techniques for engaging young people. The lessons will be applicable in a wider range of engagement contexts, however we also expect the workshop will spark the development of new classroom activities.
Workshop Format - Online
The format for the workshop has
changed to an online event, and content has been arranged such that it will run
over a 2 day period. We aim to have live discussions as well as asynchronous
exercise.
The workshop will be virtual and take place on Zoom. Links will be sent to the participants in advance.
Registration
Attendance of the workshop is free and open to anyone
who considers themselves a member of the Solar Physics research community.
If you would like to attend the first workshop, please
register your interest here: https://forms.gle/C5w8Hbw9HY6Wbrrg6
The deadline for registration is the 1st April 2021.
Any questions please email Richard Morton: richard.morton@northumbria.ac.uk
Schedule
The schedule for the workshop is given
below.
(CEST) |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
09:00 |
Start – welcome, housekeeping |
Welcome. Day 1 recap and Day 2 overview |
09:15 |
Storytelling &
|
|
09:30 |
Reflections on 'Engagement starting
points and contexts' |
|
09:45 |
Snake Oil, understanding your audience, basics of communication |
|
10:30 |
Break |
Break |
11:00 |
Why do we want to ‘engage the public with
science?’ |
Unconscious bias |
11:30 |
Design for evaluation, and pathways to
impact |
|
12:30 |
Lunch |
Lunch |
13:30 |
Examples from schools |
Ideation workshop |
14:30 |
Break |
Break |
15:00 |
Engagement starting points and contexts |
Ideation presentation and 'next steps' |
16:00 |
Look ahead to day 2 and reflection time |
Close |
16:30 |
Close |
Workshop 2: Details to be confirmed.
The second workshop will welcome
newcomers to the group while also continuing and building on the ideas
introduced in workshop 1. We’ll cover some more advanced aspects of practice,
present further examples of best practice, and delve more deeply into evaluation,
writing engagement into grant proposals, and building strategies for impact.
The second workshop can also be
steered to meet the interests of the group. It could focus to a greater or
lesser extent on media skills (including interviews and video production),
performance and presentation, formal education support, or even deeper into
impact and evaluation. We also hope to draw on examples from across the
community, sharing practice and building collaborations - perhaps those
initiated by the first workshop.