Public engagement and impact: two sides of the same coin

This episode of the 'Impact through Culture Change' webinar series was held on Tuesday the 27th June 2023. 

In this episode, we welcomed Dr. Kate Miller, who leads the Civic Engagement team at the University of Bristol and is responsible for implementing its new civic strategy which focuses on the societal, cultural, economic, and environmental role that the University plays - both locally and globally. Before February this year, she was the Head of Public Engagement for nine years, where she directed the Public Engagement team's programme of activities to support interaction and collaboration with society beyond academia. This included embedding engagement in the institution's structures, processes, and culture, linking public engagement with other forms of knowledge exchange, and brokering partnerships with external organisations. 

In the United Kingdom, public engagement with research has been a concept in higher education for over 15 years. However, creating a culture where public engagement is embedded within research and is both recognised and valued hasn't been a straightforward journey, not least because there are many similar and competing demands on researchers' time. In this webinar, Kate shared her thoughts on how they've supported public engagement, primarily through the creation of professional roles, and how they've linked public engagement to other key agendas such as impact, knowledge exchange, community engagement, and the idea of the civic university.