Staff Survey on our Public Engagement for Watermark Accreditation

The University is currently undergoing the application process for an award for public engagement from the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). The Engage Watermark is granted to Higher Education Institutions for their commitment to public engagement. We hope to attain a Bronze accreditation for our approach.

As part of this process, we are inviting all staff - academic, professional, support - and our students to take part in an online survey to help shape our public engagement plans. The survey is available to complete until Friday 9 April.

We would very much appreciate it if you would take the time to share your views and experiences. Results will be collected by the NCCPE and the anonymised findings shared with us.

Visit the online survey 

Public engagement is any activity that involves working with people or organisations outside of the University and helps connect the general public with our research community, inspiring change and resulting in work that benefits wider society. The European Researchers Nights hosted on campus in 2016 and 2017, the award-winning None in Three project, and Temporary Contemporary are great examples of work we’ve done in recent years.

Engaging outside of the University has never been more important and is integral to our responsibilities as a civic organisation, as well as to our funders and key stakeholders. The outcomes of the survey will give us a true picture of our strengths and weaknesses and inform a formal strategy, as well as hopefully being successful in achieving accreditation.

For due recognition, we are in the process of incorporating public engagement criteria into the standard conferment process for academic progression, and we want to know how else we should be embedding this work in what we do. 

As we look ahead to the challenges of a post-COVID world, this project symbolises our commitment to working with partners and the public and will help us determine the best way to support staff and students in carrying out this important work.

If you would like to know more about the Watermark process, please visit the FAQs.

If you have any further questions  please email Dave Smith, Public Engagement Officer.

The NCCPE is funded by UKRI (the umbrella organisation for research councils) to support public engagement across the sector and are the experts in the field.