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On 11 Aug 10, at 16:41, Chris Stokes wrote:

Formal pressure on researchers to do public engagement is already well ensconced in the REF. The 'Draft "common menu" of impact indicators' included with the  guidance on submissions for the REF impact pilot exercise is a table listing discrete 'types of impact' and, for each type, 'possible indicators'. One of the types HEFCE have defined is 'Cultural enrichment, including improved public engagement with science and research'. And the possible indicators it lists for this type are:

Such things are included also in the relevant EU Framework Programme documents. But still public engagement is frequently not taken into account when deciding on who gets the grants, or in the post-activity evaluation. You can write about the importance of and need for popular science communication until the cows come home, but this won't in itself remove any discontinuity between theory and practice.

When left to their own devices, academics will often attempt to fulfil their public outreach obligations by promising to set up a website, based on an "If we build it they will come" rationale. And that, apparently, is good enough for many of those whose job it is to evaluate research grant applications.

Francis

-- 
Dr Francis Sedgemore
journalist and science writer
telephone: +44 7840 191336
website: sedgemore.com

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