Engagement Training for Doctoral Training Centres

Since 2015, Science Engagement has worked with various Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT) to provide integrated specialist training and on-going mentoring support for their postgraduate students in aspects of outreach and engagement, including ethos, ethics, communication skills, delivery and evaluation strategies. Students from SOFI (Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces), IAPETUS and Data Intensive Science CDT, which include participants from partner universities, have engaged with the training. And, from 2019, students enrolled on the MSc in Scientific Computing and Data Analysis have participated in a tailored training programme. To date, 259 students have participated in the programme.

During COVID lockdown when face-to-face workshops were not possible, we provided online versions of public engagement training including with Scientific Computing and Data Analysis MSc students, and for undergraduate students in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences. Through our partnership with the Ogden Trust, we also contributed to a national online training programme in 2020 & 2021. We were also invited to deliver an interactive training session ‘Public Engagement with Science’ at the 2020 Psychology Department Research Day.

Interest in our training package continues to grow across the faculty; recent discussions have taken place with the Molecular Sciences for Medicine CDT and the Biophysical Sciences Institute.