Investing in Engagement
How long term-funding leads to impactful research
Well-funded engagement enables the development of long-term, mutually beneficial relationships which are essential for continually improving, progressive programmes that result in an engaged research culture and impactful research.
Engaged Research Culture
Building Researcher Confidence
The volume and quality of engagement activity at the Centre has allowed researchers to develop their communication and engagement skills. Wellcome’s generous funding made it possible for researchers to try new things, above and beyond the tried and tested activities or those funded by specific research grants. This positive attitude has resulted in many new and successful approaches to engagement, and a greater openness of researchers to try something different, knowing that they are supported by a strong professional engagement team.
Model for culture change
Engagement at the Centre involves all levels of seniority and all types of roles. Senior leadership investment and involvement, including from the Centre Director and Director of Operations, has been crucial to the momentum and energy for engagement. Everyone, from students to senior professors, gets involved with hands-on engagement activities. While the activities are rooted in the Centre’s research, the involvement of our core staff is integral to the success of many of the engagement activities and projects (e.g. see the Inclusive Scanning case study).
The evolution of the Centre’s engagement culture has become a model for broader cultural changes within the Centre. The development of the Public Engagement Strategy (developed in 2018; revised and expanded as the Engagement Strategy, to include patient and policy engagement too, in 2023) achieved two major goals beyond delivering engaged research: it clarified the purpose and value of engagement among senior leadership and provided a framework for guiding future engagement priorities. This process also paved the way for a more strategic approach outside engagement, including the development of strategies for a range of Equality, Diversity, & Inclusivity (EDI) and Open Science initiatives.
Engagement is one of our core values, firmly embedding it in the organisational culture. This commitment is reinforced at every ‘New Starter Welcome’ talk for new employees, and engagement staff are integrated into the core team to ensure visibility and collaboration with researchers. The Centre views engagement as essential to both research and the professional development of its staff.
Our strong engagement culture was recognised in 2023 when we received the Engage Watermark Silver Award accreditation from the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE).
Our engagement practices have provided the Centre with a template for more strategic approaches in other areas, including EDI and Open Research practices. The principles of engagement are highly applicable to many organisational aspects (e.g. running events and workshops, being more strategic about initiatives, evaluation of activities outside of engagement itself) and having a strong engagement team to support those initiatives has proved really effective.