What is engagement with research?
Engagement with research, understood as targeting non-academic stakeholders, reaches out to three main audiences: professionals, policy practitioners, and the general public. These aspects are complemented by outreach and industry engagement which can be supported by Outreach teams within Schools and St Andrews Innovation.
Public Engagement
Work with community groups, organise exhibitions, develop activities and teaching materials for schools, engage with the public via live or online events, broadcasting or social media.
Engagement with Professionals
This can range from engaging with professionals or professional associations (e.g., bus drivers, nurses, police), to special interest groups (e.g., Dementia care), NGOs (e.g., Human Rights organisations), or businesses, including social enterprise.
Engagement with Policy Practitioners
Provide expert advice by responding to Government calls for evidence, work with Parliamentary committees or cross-party groups, write policy briefs, organise workshops with policymakers and civil servants, get engaged via policy fellowships.
Why should I engage?
Engagement provides a pathway to impact: Non-academic impact plays an increasing role in successful grant proposal writing, as funders expect to see excellent research aiming to benefit academic advance as well as societal, economic or political change.
Engagement is beneficial to research: Knowledge exchange and collaboration with non-academic stakeholders is beneficial to these audiences and provides fresh insights and new perspectives, which can lead to innovative research ideas.
Engagement is part of the University’s societal responsibility: At St Andrews, we foster excellent teaching and world-class research; we are also deeply rooted in our local community and strongly encourage the engagement with public audiences as part of our social, and societal, responsibility.
Research engagement support can be provided on request at any stage, to identify and maximise engagement opportunities throughout the life cycle of a research project, and beyond.
For support or further information on engagement with research, please contact: Sandra Appleby-Arnold at:
[email protected] or [email protected]
For support or information on research impact, please contact impact@ejd5
For other useful contacts, please click here.