Leading outreach and public engagement in physics

Presenters: Helen Featherstone, David Owen, Sheila Kanani, Richard Holliman  

Theme: Leadership in outreach and public engagement 

Reporter: Dan Cottle 

One sentence summary: Leading outreach and public engagement in physics can be lonely and tough, but there is support and encouragement from an inspiring and knowledgable wider professional community to draw upon. 

Description 

This session provided an insightful panel discussion around leadership in the outreach and public engagement (OPE) space, inspired by learning from The Ogden Trust and STFC funded “Leadership for outreach and public engagement’ professional development programme.  

The session began with a question: ‘When we talk about OPE Leadership what do we mean?” A wide range of answers was captured in the word cloud, with some common themes emerging around supporting and enabling others: 

An image of words such as challenging, mentoring, influence, time and more.

Throughout the session an engaged audience of around 60 asked a range of questions including “How do you build a public engagement team when you are currently the only person in your faculty doing OPE?” and “What is the role of the academic lead for OPE versus the outreach officer in a university department?”. 

The panel challenged us to consider how we can influence strategic change as well as enjoy our day to day work as skilled practitioners of outreach and engagement in science. They acknowledged tensions in discussions around the professionalisation of OPE; all agreed however, that professionalisation could be a positive way forward to support outreach officers, who they recognised are often in junior roles and perhaps on temporary contracts, to gain recognition for the amazing work they do and the value they create for their institutions. 

Another important emerging theme from the discussion of leadership, was the need to cultivate supportive professional networks and collaborations; utilising events such as the Interact Symposium and networks like those run by The Ogden Trust to create communities of practice where we can share ideas, receive support and feel valued in our skills. 

As the session came to a close we were all invited to answer two further questions: 

  1. How do you create the conditions for OPE to flourish?
  2. What are your top tips for leading outreach and public engagement? 

Some recurring themes came up in the answers (presented through mentimeter): the need to be influential, the importance of building networks, being authentic, making friends and creating a positive culture – as well as advice to “be constructive”. Interestingly there was a direct correlation between the perceived level of impact of an intervention and how difficult it was to achieve.  

Key messages 

  • Leading outreach and public engagement means influencing other key stakeholders in institutions e.g. academics, professional services colleagues. 
  • A culture of public engagement and outreach can be supported by making sure there is recognition for skilled practitioners. 
  • There is a professional community of public engagement and outreach professionals who can provide support and advice through networks such as the Ogden Trust and the Interact Symposium. 

Participants top tips for OPE Leadership: 

  • Be flexible and adaptable – there’s more than one way to have an impact 
  • Understand your public 
  • Make friends 
  • Keep going!!!!! You are making more change than you know 
  • Celebrate and surround yourself well 
  • Hands-on, varied experience – have you done plenty of this yourself? Can you be seen doing it? 
  • Authenticity, strategic objectives and collaboration with an effective team 
  • Meet amazing people like those in this room 
  • Iterative, it takes time to build a network 
  • Fight to have your expertise recognised 
  • Being ok with being wrong. 
  • Create a positive/supportive network 
  • Authenticity and leading by example 
  • Persistent 
  • Set a good example 
  • Be really engaging. Do people want to do stuff with and for you? 
  • Bring people up with you 
  • Chat to your peers 
  • Be enthusiastic! 
  • Facilitate growth and learning 
  • Don’t criticise. Nurture. And thank. 
  • Create a positive culture 

Resources 

  • Engage Academy NERC Insights Report, commissioned by the NCCPE this report examined existing literature to better understand the key features of current professional development programmes that are working well; it conducted an online survey with 91 complete responses, exploring training needs in public engagement; and drew on 11 semi-structured interviews with NERC researchers. Leadership of public engagement is a key theme highlighted in the report.  

Symposium Partners