 |
 |
Firstly, making clear my affiliation - I manage the Beacon for Wales which is one of 6 projects funded to embed public engagement in their constituent universities. Secondly, my interpretation of the EPSRC announcement is based on nothing more than is publically known: Given the uncertainty about overall Research Council funding after October, it is wise not to issue a funding call for a scheme that issued just under £1.5M in the last year. Not least because it will save people a lot of time working on something that might not actually be able to happen. EPSRC have also stated that they want to embed public engagement into research grants. As someone who has been encouraging departments to think more strategically about their public engagement work and to fund it through all the research undertaken by that department, I think that this is a good thing in principle. My concern is that it is happening at the wrong time, i.e.before most departments are thinking strategically and so it will be left to individual academics to choose to include public engagement in their own bids. I cannot see how this will 'embed' public engagement into research practice. I also do not think that this inclusion will prevent the use of other science communicators, the key thing will be that academics will need to show how the finances they have included are value for money and provbide the maximum chance of increasing the potential impact of the research. In this way, working with established routes to "market" will be more cost effective but only if departments are thinking strategically. Without this there will be unnecessary duplication of activity and a narrow reach of audiences. There is nothing, in principle, with the research funding schemes that will prevent grant money being used in this way. Universities are also being asked to consider how to embed researcher development within research funding as well now that the ring fenced Roberts money is coming to an end. This is being included in the Pathways to Impact element of research bids, which is where PE will also sit so it is worth considering how working with other organisations will also impact on researcher skills when developing PE activities. Bruce ********************************************************************** 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, send an email to mailto:[log in to unmask] with the following message: set psci-com nomail -- [include hyphens] 2. To resume email from the list, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message: set psci-com mail -- [include hyphens] 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message: leave psci-com -- [include hyphens] 4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html 5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk 6. To contact the Psci-com list owner, please send an email to mailto:[log in to unmask] **********************************************************************