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Public Engagement: friend or foe?
10 December 2009
By Anthony Curran
I'm interested to gauge other Early Career Researchers' opinions on whether their boss (supervisor, PI, etc) looks favourably on opportunities for them to do some public engagement/outreach work, or they are neutral or have a negative view on it?
With the incoming REF and Researcher Development Framework, such activities which tick the 'impact and influence' box should become regarded more highly, but I perceive that this is often not the case at present.
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Matthew Salois16 December 2009 at 05:18 PM
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Anthony, I like to think my PI is open-minded about any type of possible opportunity. I have attended a couple of workshops of the sort you describe. I would say that whilst my PI considers them to be NOT the best use of his time, he does not prevent me (and occasionally encourages me) to attend.
Elizabeth Dodson30 December 2009 at 12:58 AM
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In my research area, I believe some level of public engagement work is essential. Our work is focused on road accident causation and prevention, which in terms of impact is a very REF friendly area with lots of messages to share. I believe I would always have my PIs support for involvement in good opportunities to show the importance of our research, but of course these opportunites have to be balanced with the need to fulfil all commitments to those funding the work and the other demands of this career path, such as publishing and seeking new funding. So yes my PI is certainly open-minded about public engagement, but finding sufficient time will always be a challenge. The compromise is to seek funded public engagement work!