There are many ways that people can be involved in the design, conduct and outcomes of research - and this benefits researchers and the public alike. Here you can find out how to engage people with your research, learn about some of the opportunities available and find inspiration, resources and information to help you design your own activities.

what is public engagement?

We engage with audiences in a variety of ways, using our research to change and transform society at the local, national and global levels. Engagement is a learning process for everyone involved and can include public events and festivals, innovative social media engagement, citizen science and crowd-sourcing, participatory action research, consultation, co-design and production, debate, dialogue and discussion.

A young visitor to the Berkshire Show 2019 talking to Food and Nutrition Science researchers about vegetables.

existing opportunities

Researchers from the University regularly contribute to national, regional and local events like these listed here. If you have an idea for an activity suitable for one of the following events, please contact the Research Communications team as soon as possible; planning and funding calls for such events can begin up to a year in advance.

Event	Planning starts	Event takes place
British Science Week	ongoing	March
Royal Society Summer Exhibition	May/June	July following year
Berkshire Show	April	September
British Science Festival	November	September following year
ESRC Festival of Social Sciences	May	November
New Scientist Live	January	October
Being Human Festival	February	November
University Public Lecture series	ongoing	ongoing
MERL lates	ongoing	ongoing
Art at Reading	ongoing	ongoing

See our annual calendar of public engagement opportunities

Something different?

If your engagement activity doesn’t fit with one of the existing opportunities, is online or takes a different form, or you want to reach other audiences, please use this flowchart to help you to find the team who are best placed to help.

We have a small working group of staff from across professional services who regularly meet and will share individual requests and provide as much support and sign-posting to other resources as possible.

Questions to ask yourself:

Who do I want to engage with? (spoiler: the 'general public’ doesn’t exist!)
Why do I want to engage with an audience beyond academia?
Do I have a budget to support my activity? If not, where can I find funding?
Do I need to organise an event?
Where should I deliver my activity to ensure my audience will be able to get involved?
Who do I need to speak to next to turn my idea into action?

Story books can help teach maths in effective new ways, Reading research has shown

public engagement network

We coordinate a network of researchers and professionals across the University. We meet regularly to encourage peer learning to build and sustain institutional capacity for public engagement with research.

Join the network now and get a regular newsletter detailing upcoming events, networking opportunities and funding calls.

find out more

Join our PER network

Ask us for help with public engagement

See more case studies on our Get Involved page

The National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement - provides advice and training resources

NERC Engaging Environments lessons learned booklet

Research Engagement and Impact Awards 2019

More about our research impact

As a University we know we can achieve extraordinary things by interacting and collaborating with people outside of academia. Effective engagement works for everyone. We want to stimulate ongoing public interest in, and understanding of, our research and bring about positive change through this engagement.

Some good examples of engaging research from the University of Reading:

punk in the east

Fanzines, posters, tickets and memories from the punk scene in Norwich 1976 to 1984 have come together in a unique history project, Punk in the East, where Norwich punks collate and archive their own social history.

Image credit: thephotounit.co.uk

community-based research

Creating powerful knowledge with communities for a fairer society.

show your stripes

A campaign based around an infographic showing average temperature rises since the pre-industrial era devised by Reading meteorologist Professor Ed Hawkins has been used across the world from the front cover of the Economist to the ties of TV weather reporters in the USA ,

Language learning can aid resilience in refugees stranded in a strange country

teaching displaced people

A free Futurelearn course developed by Reading academics on how to teach and support young people across the globe affected by violence, conflict or displacement.

open up science

The OPENER project aims to open up environmental research beyond the scientific community. It’s recruiting ‘citizen scientists’ to participate in experiments, training researchers how to involve the public in work, and creating a group of people across the UK to continue this important work in the future.

astor 100

The election of Nancy Astor, the first female MP to take her seat, changed British democracy for ever. #Astor100 is a major series of academic and public engagements taking place across 2019-2020 celebrating 100 years of women in parliament, curated by Dr Jacqui Turner, lecturer in Modern History at the University of Reading.

reading bee team

A group of scientists from the University of Reading who work around the world to highlight the value of pollinators; find out which species are in trouble and what's causing their decline; and work with anyone who wants to find solutions and help save the bees.

SOIL: Our buried treasure

Did you know that there are more microorganisms in a single teaspoon of soil than there are people on the planet? Visitors to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in July 2018 discovered this fact and more at an exhibit by Reading soil scientists: Soil: our buried treasure.

monsters film festival

What is a monster? Inspired by the University’s Cole zoology collection that includes ‘mutants’, Dr Marjorie Gehrhardt explored how ‘different’ bodies have been represented in the past and how art impacts our reactions today through a short season of 1930s monster movies.

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