Last week saw the Faculty’s Public Engagement and Involvement showcase. Held at Lutyens Crypt at the Metropolitan Cathedral, the event drew staff and postgraduate students from across the University to celebrate all things public engagement and involvement.
A team from the Wellcome Trust were in attendance, delivering a talk on engaged research and embedding this into future funding, but also to hear about the activities that have happened as a result of the Faculty’s Wellcome Trust ISSF funding. Laura Winters, Faculty Public Engagement Officer provided the highlights, with over 78 public engagement and involvement activities having been funded through the Faculty’s Public Engagement and Involvement Grants Scheme since 2016.
A key engagement activity for the Faculty has been ‘Meet the Scientists’, which has engaged over 25000 members of the public and over 700 staff and students since 2015. The Faculty also established the Liverpool Pint of Science series in 2017, bringing research into the city and engaging over 2000 members of the public to date.
Current grant recipients delivered a series of talks covering topics ranging from data science, how to improve referral pathways in care homes, family research days, public members sharing their thoughts on PPI approaches, public perception of arthritis to a dementia board game. There were also opportunities for networking, as well as a variety of stands and posters showcasing some of the diverse public engagement and public and patient involvement activities happening across the Faculty.
After a short break, there were talks from engagement and involvement practitioners such as Dr Jasmine Warren, who spoke on ‘Menstrual Health Matters’, Professor Charlotte Hardman on urban food growing and Professor Catriona Waitt on her work in Uganda into community engagement and empowerment.
Kerry Garfitt, Senior Funding Policies Adviser at Wellcome said: "We very much appreciated the opportunity to hear about the fantastic variety of public engagement work that the ISSF has enabled at the University of Liverpool over the last decade, as well as to give our message that engaged research continues to be an important element of the research Wellcome funds. The event also gave us the chance to talk to researchers in person about their work and it is always inspiring to hear from people so passionate about improving health."
Dr Jill Madine, Faculty Academic Lead for Public Engagement said: “This is a great event showcasing the volume and diversity of activities taking place across the Faculty. The enthusiasm displayed by all participants describing their funded projects and future plans or by attendees keen to get involved in future activities and events was amazing. I'm excited to see what we can do as a Faculty to continue this great work and expand into new opportunities”.
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The Faculty Public Engagement Team with a team from the Wellcome Trust.