Public Engagement Portfolio

The Public Engagement Portfolio is a training programme in public engagement for research postgraduate students, academics, research and professional staff at the University.

Engaging with the public is an increasingly important activity for all those involved in research. Interaction with non-academic audiences can strengthen the research question through fostering relevance, responsiveness, accountability, and also increase trust in the research process. For all those involved in research, public engagement activity also strengthens core skills such as project, grant, and budget management, alongside presentation skills and research profile.

This training portfolio brings together all the workshops and practical sessions you need to cover the practicalities of engagement and develop the personal and professional skills needed to organise, deliver, evaluate and reflect upon your activities.

Portfolio workshops and sessions

Participants are expected to attend the relevant core and optional workshops as discussed below and agreed with your own line-manager. You can book a place on a workshop via PDMS.

The portfolio includes six core sessions:

four workshop sessions
one delivery session
one self-reflection report

Participants will also complete a minimum of six further optional sessions from a wide selection, reflecting the areas of self-development in public engagement most relevant to them.

In signing up to the Portfolio, you will be invited to an initial meeting to discuss your personal portfolio with the PER team. You will receive regular updates on workshops and training, and also information on opportunities for delivery and funding. Please contact the public engagement with research team with any queries by emailing petraining@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Core sessions
- Practical Public Engagement
- Evaluation of Public Engagement
- Finding your (Public Engagement) Voice
- Getting and Staying Organised for Success
- Delivery Session: taking part in delivering public engagement with an external audience (evidence of prior experience accepted)
- Self-reflection Report: reflecting upon a practical delivery session in the form of a self-reflective piece of no more than 500 words, prompted by a questionnaire from the PER team
Additional sessions

Ideas, practicalities, and funding
- Lunchtime Legends: Engaging with the public: working with broadcast media
- Lunchtime Legends: Engaging with the Public - Schools and Public Engagement
- Grant writing: writing for success
Working with others
- Leadership and teamwork for researchers
- Online Kintish Networking courses
- Lunchtime Legends: Leading a Research Group
Communication
- Funny research: Bright club stand-up comedy workshop
- Speak up for success: voice coaching for everyone
- Pitch perfect: public speaking, networking and engaging
- ‘This is what I do’: communicating research concisely
- Writing freely: turning an idea into a blog post
Visualising and disseminating research data
- Spectacular information and visualising data
- Posters and graphical abstracts: how to present your science visually
- Make a movie on your mobile (basic and advanced versions)
- Build a research website in under three hours
Impact
- Impact briefing for postgraduate research students (coming soon)
- Managing research information: Pure hands-on training
Core sessions
- Evaluation of Public Engagement
- Finding your (Public Engagement) voice
- Practical public engagement
- Project Management: an Introduction (ILM)
- Delivery Session: taking part in delivering public engagement with an external audience (evidence of prior experience accepted)
- Self-reflection Report: reflecting upon a practical delivery session in the form of a self-reflective piece of no more than 500 words, prompted by a questionnaire from the PER team
Additional sessions

Communication and visualisation
- Funny Research: Bright Club stand-up comedy workshop
- Making a Movie (ILM)
- Speak up for success: Voice coaching for everyone
- Lunchtime Legends: Engaging with the Public - Working with Broadcast Media
Working with others
- Managing people in research teams (ILM)
- Online Kintish Networking Courses (ILM)
- Quiet Leadership
- Lunchtime Legends: Leading a Research Group (ILM)
- Lunchtime Legends: Engaging with the Public - Schools and Public Engagement
Ideas, practicalities, funding, and impact
- Time Management (ILM)
- Research Funding: An Introduction
- Managing Research Information: an introduction to impact, open access, Pure, data management (ILM)
- Managing Research Information: impact in depth
- Managing Research Information: Pure, hands-on training
Core sessions
- Practical Public Engagement
- Evaluation of Public Engagement
- Finding Your (Public Engagement) Voice
- Project management, an introduction
- Delivery Session: taking part in delivering public engagement with an external audience (evidence of prior experience accepted)
- Self-reflection Report: reflecting upon a practical delivery session in the form of a self-reflective piece of no more than 500 words, prompted by a questionnaire from the PER team
Additional sessions

Ideas, practicalities, and funding
- Lunchtime Legends: Engaging with the public: working with broadcast media
- Lunchtime Legends: Engaging with the Public - Schools and Public Engagement
- Research funding: an introduction
Getting organised
- Time Management: Strategies for Busy Teachers and Researchers
- Ease the Load - Feeling Good About Your Busy Life
Working with others
- Managing people in research teams
- Online Kintish Networking courses
- Lunchtime Legends: Leading a Research Group
- Quiet Leadership
Communication
- Funny research: Bright club stand-up comedy workshop
- Speak up for success: voice coaching for everyone
- ‘This is what I do’: communicating research concisely
Visualising and disseminating research data
- Spectacular information and visualising data
- Making a movie
- Build a research website in under three hours
Impact
- Managing research info: intro to impact, open access, Pure, and data management
- Managing research information: Impact in depth
- Managing research information: Pure, hands-on training

Prior to signing up, please discuss your participation with your line manager or supervisor: in order to place a request on a programme you must enter the name and University email address of your line manager or supervisor during the request process. An email will be sent to them when you place a booking request on the programme and when you are allocated a place on the programme. Therefore, please ensure that you have discussed your participation before signing up.

If you wish to register for the Public Engagement Portfolio, please complete the following steps:
1. Go to the PDMS homepage
2. Click on ‘List of programmes’
3. Choose the most appropriate sign-up portfolio for your audience cohort:
  - Public Engagement Portfolio – Postgraduate research students (open to all within this cohort)
  - Public Engagement Portfolio – Professional staff
  - Public Engagement Portfolio – Academic and research staff
4. Click ‘Request place’ and sign in to PDMS
5. Enter the name and University email address of your line manager or supervisor
6. Click ‘Submit’.
Once your application has been submitted, you will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application. If you do not receive this acknowledgement within a few minutes, please check your junk folder. Your application will be reviewed, and you will receive a further response informing you of the outcome.
You can book a place on an activity via PDMS. Please search the platform using your cohort audience in the drop-down menu to see which upcoming Public Engagement Portfolio activities are available to you.

Public Engagement Portfolio will appear next to ‘Programme’ in the relevant events for your cohort.

To view which activities you have already completed, which you have booked and which you still have to complete, you can log in to your training record where your programme courses and your individual course attendance record will appear. The Public Engagement Portfolio administrators will also be able to view this information and track your progress.

Prior learning

If you have attended similar training elsewhere, the Public Engagement Portfolio administrators can accredit prior learning if you provide evidence that proves completion and allows them to map the content against their own standards.

If you have any suggestions, problems, questions or queries, please contact petraining@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Research

Public Engagement Portfolio

Portfolio workshops and sessions

Postgraduate research students

Professional staff

Academic and research staff

How to apply

Building your portfolio