Skip to main content

University of Reading Cookie Policy

We use cookies on reading.ac.uk to improve your experience. Find out more about our cookie policy. By continuing to use our site you accept these terms, and are happy for us to use cookies to improve your browsing experience.

Continue using the University of Reading website

  • Schools and departments
  • University of Reading Malaysia
  • Henley Business School
  • Applicants
  • Students
  • Staff
  • Alumni
Show/Hide navigation
University of Reading University of Reading logo
Mobile search categories
  • Study and life
  • Research
  • About us
  • View courses
  • Home
  • Study and life
    • Study
    • Student life
    • Accommodation
    • Open Days and visiting
    • International and EU students
  • Research
    • Themes
    • Impact
    • Innovation and partnerships
    • Research environment
    • Get involved
  • About us
    • Business
    • Working with the community
    • Visit us
    • Strategy
    • Governance
    • Contact us
  • Applicants
  • Students
  • Staff
  • Alumni
  • Schools and departments
  • University of Reading Malaysia
  • Henley Business School
  • View courses
  • Themes
    • Environment
    • Agriculture, Food & Health
    • Heritage & Creativity
    • Prosperity & Resilience
  • Impact
    • Research highlights
    • REF 2014
    • REF 2021
    • Impact Awards 2019
    • Impact Awards 2020
    • Impact Films
  • Innovation and partnerships
  • Research environment
    • Research strategy
    • Funding
    • Facilities
    • Public engagement with research
    • Open Research
    • Animal Research
    • Research integrity
    • Promote your research
  • Get involved
  • Research environment
    • Research strategy
    • Funding
    • Facilities
    • Public engagement with research
    • Open Research
    • Animal Research
    • Research integrity
    • Promote your research

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.

Professor Dominik Zaum, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation

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


Punk on stage lit by spotlight

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
The Whitley researchers

community-based research

Creating powerful knowledge with communities for a fairer society.
Climate stripes

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 - citizen science projects to get the public involved in research

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.
Nancy Astor on the campaign trail 1919

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.
Honey bees

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 - a take-away experiment for attendees of the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2018

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 and the Monstrous

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.

mask
Close
CHOOSE A SUBJECT
2021
2022
Undergraduates
Postgraduates
Undergraduates
Postgraduates

Subjects A-B

  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Science
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business and Management, Accounting and Finance

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Museum Studies

Subjects N-T

  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
  • Theatre

Subjects U-Z

  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

Subjects A-C

  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business (Post-Experience)
  • Business and Management (Pre-Experience)
  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Ancient History
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management and Engineering
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Creative Enterprise

Subjects D-G

  • Data Science
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Energy and Environmental Engineering
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environmental Science
  • Film, Theatre and Television
  • Finance
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Geography and Environmental Science
  • Graphic Design

Subjects H-P

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • Information Management and Digital Business
  • Information Technology
  • International Development and Applied Economics
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Medieval History
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Nutritional Sciences
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Project Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy

Subjects Q-Z

  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Social Policy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Strategic Studies
  • Teaching
  • Theatre
  • Typography and Graphic Communication
  • War and Peace Studies
  • Zoology

Subjects A-B

  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Science
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Building and Surveying
  • Business and Management, Accounting and Finance

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Museum Studies

Subjects N-T

  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
  • Theatre

Subjects U-Z

  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

Subjects A-C

  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business (Post-Experience)
  • Business and Management (Pre-Experience)
  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Ancient History
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management and Engineering
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Creative Enterprise

Subjects D-G

  • Data Science
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Energy and Environmental Engineering
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environmental Science
  • Film, Theatre and Television
  • Finance
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Geography and Environmental Science
  • Graphic Design

Subjects H-P

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • Information Management and Digital Business
  • Information Technology
  • International Development and Applied Economics
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Medieval History
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Nutritional Sciences
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Project Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy

Subjects Q-Z

  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Social Policy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Strategic Studies
  • Teaching
  • Theatre
  • Typography and Graphic Communication
  • War and Peace Studies
  • Zoology
  • Charitable status 
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies
  • Terms of use
  • Sitemap

© University of Reading