Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Engagers' Digest 14/2/12

In this edition:

University of Bristol engagement
  1. Volunteering at Discover: 8-10 March
  2. Understanding animal research workshop: 21 February
  3. Careers talk at City Academy
  4. Your Green Future: 13-14 March  
  5. Talk at Broadlands School: 6 July
 Funding
  1. Community Challenge Fund: deadline 9 March
  2. Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships: deadline 30 March
  3. Wellcome Trust Peoples Awards: deadline 27 April
  4. Institute of Physics' Public Engagement Grant Scheme: deadline 30 April
Events
  1. Introduction to the News Media: 22 March
  2. Getting started: a beginner’s guide to evaluation
  3. People Power... the Science of Engaging Audiences: 2 April
  4. Evaluation masterclass – making a case
  5. Workshop in Animatronics: 5-7 May

University of Bristol Engagement

1. Volunteering at Discover: 8-10 March
We are looking for staff and students to help out at Discover 2012, the University's free exhibition in The Galleries shopping centre in Broadmead.  With hands-on exhibits, the University will be showcasing research from across all of our Faculties to school children and members of the public. Volunteers can take school groups around the exhibition or help out on stalls, and are welcome to come for anything from a two hour slot to a full day (or more). This is a great opportunity to gain experience in engagement and working with schools and training will be provided.
For further information please contact Dane Comerford or Ben Earley on email: cpe-info@bristol.ac.uk or tel: 0117 3318313

2.  Understanding animal research workshop: 21 February
This training session, run by a representative from Understanding Animal Research, focuses on communicating animal research to the public.  The aim is to help equip people working directly with animals, or in animal-related research, to speak with members of the public about this often sensitive issue.
Venue: Milnes Walker Seminar Room, Teaching Floor Level 7, BRI
Contact Laura Walker on email:
Laurawalkerbsc@gmail.com to book a place.

3. Careers talk at City Academy

4. Your Green Future: 13-14 March
The Cabot Institute would like a presence at the Your Green Future event to be held on 13 and 14 March at UWE Conference and Exhibition Centre. The event is to help young people get engaged with green opportunities, so we are looking for anyone who would like to go along and talk about their job, research projects, or being an undergrad or postgrad at the University of Bristol. If you are interested in attending on behalf of the Cabot Institute, contact Amanda Woodman-Hardy on email: amanda.woodman-hardy@bristol.ac.uk tel: 0117 9545973.

5. Talk at Broadlands School: 6 July
Following the success of last year’s talk, Broadlands School is looking for a researcher to talk about their work to 120 school science technicians at their meeting in July. Ideally the talk would be about biology, perhaps on an Olympic theme or the way drugs affect the body. For more details contact Ann on email: asell@talk21.com


Funding
The Centre for Public Engagement is able to provide assistance with planning and developing applications; contact Kate Miller on email: kate.miller@bristol.ac.uk if you are interested in applying for funding.

1.  Community Challenge Fund: deadline 9 March 
Funding to for community based projects, which help reduce our carbon emissions in Bristol and contribute to making our city a Green Capital.  For this round they are particularly keen to hear from energy related projects whether this be addressing energy saving, energy generation or some educational aspect.  Workshops are being held on 22 February designed to help applicants with the process.

2.  Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships: deadline 30 March
The Engagement Fellowships champion the leaders of tomorrow by fostering the most promising upcoming talent of today. They are aimed at people with a strong track record of engaging the public with ideas around biomedical science and/or medical humanities, looking to make a step-change in their careers.  The fellowship provides the freedom, resources and environment to enable exceptional individuals to develop their skills and practice in encouraging the public to examine, explore and debate the big scientific challenges that society faces.

3.  Wellcome Trust Peoples Awards: deadline 27 April
Awards of up to £30,000 are available under the Wellcome Trust's Peoples Awards for projects that encourage public debate and understanding of biomedical science. Projects can be funded for up to three years and can include activities such as:
  • Workshops and seminars
  • Arts projects for a variety of different audiences and age groups
  • Teaching materials or techniques to encourage wider discussions
  • Projects that utilise the collections of the Wellcome Library and the Wellcome Collection at the Science Museum.

4. Institute of Physics' Public Engagement Grant Scheme: deadline 30 April
The second round of the 2012 Public Engagement Grant from the Institute of Physics is now open for applications. The grants are worth up to £1000 and aim to support physics-based outreach activities in the UK and Ireland throughout 2012. Activities should provide engaging experiences of physics to public audiences - grants will not be awarded to projects aimed at solely delivering the curriculum to school pupils.


Events

1.  Introduction to the News Media: 22 March

2.  Getting started: a beginner’s guide to evaluation
This one day course will encourage you to think about why evaluation is important, and what it can tell you. The day will cover important topics including:
  • Why evaluate your STEM activity
  • How do you get started?
  • How to engage your audiences in evaluation
  • Creative ways to evaluate
  • Where can you get help and support for your evaluation?
Dates and venues: 29th February: Birmingham; 7 March: London; 8 March: Cardiff
The courses are open to anyone working in outreach, although priority will be given to those working in HE STEM outreach activities.

3. People Power... the Science of Engaging Audiences: 2 April
A one-day course concentrating on explaining, exploring, workshopping, audience interaction and volunteer engagement techniques. This course enables even the most experienced of presenters to enhance their science demonstrations by making the most out of their audience contributions.
Venue: At-Bristol Science Centre
Cost: £40 for BIG Members. Non-members will need to join BIG first to participate, at a cost of £30 for annual membership.

4.  Evaluation masterclass – making a case
How can we know that we are making good use of our investment in STEM outreach? How can evaluation help to evidence impact? How can I make an impact with my evaluation? If you have pondered questions like these, then this session is for you. In this three hour interactive workshop you will explore 
  • Audiences for evaluation
  • How to make use of evaluation to evidence impact
  • The dos and don'ts of reporting
  • How evaluation can help you ensure that the work you do is effective in making a difference. 
Dates and venues: 3 April: Manchester; 18 April: Swindon (tbc); 25 April: London 
The courses are open to anyone working in outreach, although priority will be given to those working in HE STEM outreach activities.

5.  Workshop in Animatronics: 5-7 May
Rusty Squid - Puppet Place's resident creative technologists - are running a 3 day course in Bristol on working with the Arduino platform to create animatronic puppets.
Web:
http://www.puppetplace.org/workshops.html

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