Engaging Environments Hub
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Research Business and Innovation
Abstract
NERC is ambitious to see a step change in the quality and impact of public engagement (PE) with environmental science. Its recently published PE strategy committed its support and funding for public engagement activity, to trigger debate, dialogue and inspiration.
NERC's strategy also recognises that quality public engagement activity requires work 'behind the scenes'. Key focal points are:
1) Strengthening the quality of partnerships and collaborative working across the environmental science research community; other researcher disciplines; with the wider community of PE professionals working in the environmental sector and with communities
2) Addressing those aspects of the professional culture of research which inhibit excellence and involvement in PE
3) Building the capacity of the environmental science sector to do excellent PE with research
The Engaging Environments call recognises that these outcomes are likely to require collaboration on a national scale, across academic disciplines, including those outside of NERC's remit, and partnerships with organisations and publics. The call is likely to fund a consortium of up to 6 different projects. The expectation is that arising from these projects will be one large scale project involving consortium members.
We believe that there is a crucial role to be played by the NCCPE to act as a coordinating and facilitating hub for the funded projects. The coordination and facilitation offered by the NCCPE will help ensure that the investment in stage 1 ends up being 'greater than the sum of its parts'. We have worked closely with a number of the teams who are preparing bids for stage 1, and have received enthusiastic endorsement of the value of such a coordinating function and commitment from those teams to invest time and energy in the consortium building work we will support.
We are framing our contribution as the creation of an Engaging Environments 'hub': we will work closely with the funded projects, with NERC, and with stakeholders to ensure the programme as a hole is coherent, comprehensive and fit for purpose. The NCCPE has extensive experience of providing such support for similarly ambitious projects. Established in 2008, we have supported a host of similar projects, and participants have really valued the opportunity to work together, learn from one another, and realise the ambitions of their work.
Over the course of the year we plan to:
1. Work closely with the successful projects and with NERC to implement a governance process for the coordinating work which ensures it meets their needs, involves other key stakeholders (including unsuccessful bidders) and delivers quick and effective collective decision making
2. Ensure that the plans of the different project align effectively to realise a coherent programme of activities which realise the call's overarching aims
3. Work with the funded teams to generate a learning and evaluation framework which focuses and accelerates understanding and evidence of what is working and why; and identifies gaps in our knowledge and sensible ways to address these
4. Ensure that the ways in which the programme as a whole communicates and engages with stakeholders is open and involving, meets their expectations and needs and maximises a feeling of 'ownership'
5. Maximise the influence the project on policy and practice, through ensuring a coherent programme of interventions such as training; piloting of innovative approaches; and identifying and addressing barriers
6. Support those not funded through the process to participate effectively in the learning, and where relevant forge new partnerships for stage 2.
7. Realise the potential for a step change in how environmental researchers engage the public with their work, ensuring that learning from their projects is embedded in both the stage 2 project, and also other engagement initiatives.
NERC's strategy also recognises that quality public engagement activity requires work 'behind the scenes'. Key focal points are:
1) Strengthening the quality of partnerships and collaborative working across the environmental science research community; other researcher disciplines; with the wider community of PE professionals working in the environmental sector and with communities
2) Addressing those aspects of the professional culture of research which inhibit excellence and involvement in PE
3) Building the capacity of the environmental science sector to do excellent PE with research
The Engaging Environments call recognises that these outcomes are likely to require collaboration on a national scale, across academic disciplines, including those outside of NERC's remit, and partnerships with organisations and publics. The call is likely to fund a consortium of up to 6 different projects. The expectation is that arising from these projects will be one large scale project involving consortium members.
We believe that there is a crucial role to be played by the NCCPE to act as a coordinating and facilitating hub for the funded projects. The coordination and facilitation offered by the NCCPE will help ensure that the investment in stage 1 ends up being 'greater than the sum of its parts'. We have worked closely with a number of the teams who are preparing bids for stage 1, and have received enthusiastic endorsement of the value of such a coordinating function and commitment from those teams to invest time and energy in the consortium building work we will support.
We are framing our contribution as the creation of an Engaging Environments 'hub': we will work closely with the funded projects, with NERC, and with stakeholders to ensure the programme as a hole is coherent, comprehensive and fit for purpose. The NCCPE has extensive experience of providing such support for similarly ambitious projects. Established in 2008, we have supported a host of similar projects, and participants have really valued the opportunity to work together, learn from one another, and realise the ambitions of their work.
Over the course of the year we plan to:
1. Work closely with the successful projects and with NERC to implement a governance process for the coordinating work which ensures it meets their needs, involves other key stakeholders (including unsuccessful bidders) and delivers quick and effective collective decision making
2. Ensure that the plans of the different project align effectively to realise a coherent programme of activities which realise the call's overarching aims
3. Work with the funded teams to generate a learning and evaluation framework which focuses and accelerates understanding and evidence of what is working and why; and identifies gaps in our knowledge and sensible ways to address these
4. Ensure that the ways in which the programme as a whole communicates and engages with stakeholders is open and involving, meets their expectations and needs and maximises a feeling of 'ownership'
5. Maximise the influence the project on policy and practice, through ensuring a coherent programme of interventions such as training; piloting of innovative approaches; and identifying and addressing barriers
6. Support those not funded through the process to participate effectively in the learning, and where relevant forge new partnerships for stage 2.
7. Realise the potential for a step change in how environmental researchers engage the public with their work, ensuring that learning from their projects is embedded in both the stage 2 project, and also other engagement initiatives.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Paul Manners (Principal Investigator) | |
| Sophie Duncan (Co-Investigator) |
| Description | The key findings are captured in the final project booklet, ' Lessons from the NERC-funded Engaging Environments Programme'. Three key findings emerged from the programme: It is important to invest in consortium building • Remember that building relationships between organisations and individuals requires time and mutual respect • Work from the start to build a common vocabulary and working practices in your team Use and contribute to the evidence-base for public engagement • Draw on the existing evidence base from environmental science engagement, and other disciplines, and be prepared to question and challenge your own assumptions about what works Encourage researchers to step out of their comfort zone • Explore the different ways in which diverse audiences find meaning and relevance in environmental science, for example by working with creative storytellers or community organisations |
| Exploitation Route | The findings have informed the next phase of the Engaging Environments programme, which launched in 2019, and have informed NERC's new Public Engagement Strategy which launches later in 2019 |
| Sectors | Environment |
| URL | https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/nccpe-projects-and-services/completed-projects/engaging-environments |
| Description | Our aim for the hub was to lay the foundations for long term, effective and innovative public engagement with environmental science. We had two objectives 1: Building partnerships to underpin the second stage of the project 2: Building capacities and stimulating innovation Impacts are still emerging from the activity, but key headlines include Building project partnerships Strengthening the partnerships across the funded projects: the meetings and coordination support have been recognised by the project teams as providing a vital contribution to ensuring interaction and shared learning. It emerged during the course of the programme that there were significant differences in approach emerging across the programme, resulting in four different bids being submitted to phase 2 of the programme, but all built constructively on the activity cultivated within the different projects Engaging wider stakeholders in a systematic way and building new collaborations: we engaged over 100 organisations, and a number of these became active partners in the proposals submitted for phase 2. Building a sense of common purpose, with clarity about the distinctive contribution that environmental scientists can make to effective engagement of the public in environmental issues: the final project booklet distils these lessons in an accessible way, and we will use it to ensure the wider environmental science community can benefit from and incorporate the key lesson learned 4) Gathering evidence of how NERC's overarching public engagement strategy can be effectively realised through partnership working, and the work of stage 1 scaled up to deliver lasting change. The final project booklet has clear lessons to inform future NERC strategy. We have learned that while partnership working is an important goal, it can be challenging to achieve common purpose in this area. Building capacities and stimulating innovation Developing a shared 'theory of change' to articulate the assumptions, rationale and evidence base underpinning the various interventions being pursued by the projects: the early work to distil a shared framework demonstrated the value of articulating a rationale for complex work, and provided a useful scaffold for ongoing reflection and evaluation that consolidated the learning from across the project, and maximized the potential to develop effective interventions and approaches Providing 'creative' spaces to develop plans for phase 2: we ran a workshop in August that brought all 6 projects together to explore how we might collectively tackle phase 2. The preparation for this event included involving the teams in sharing their motivations for engaging the public; and a series of creative exercises to map and articulate how the learning from phase one might be applied to phase 2. The event write up provided all of the teams with a common framework which they then chose to develop in different directions to articulate their different conclusions about how to realise the potential of the call The process of developing a project booklet to distill learning from the programme has allowed us to distill evidence of 'what works' in this area and to identify the interventions most likely to realise a supportive culture for public engagement within the environmental science community. This, along with our website 'hub' has enabled us to ensure a lasting, accessible legacy of resources and evidence to inform future practice, a key objective of our involvement in the programme. The booklet was published in spring 2019. The content was generated with input from the five other project teams, and identifies distinctive features of the programme and key lessons learned, which will disseminate to ensure others can benefit from the investment, and use the findings to improve their internal decision making and operational activity. The booklet explores the key enablers and barriers to effectively supporting public engagement with environmental science and links to the key resources produced by each of the projects. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Contribution to the development of NERC's Public Engagement strategy (2019) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | The NCCPE has been commissioned by NERC to facilitate a consultation workshop to review NERC's draft public engagement strategy, in October 2019. Our approach to this event will be informed by our recent role as a coordinating function of the flagship Engaging Environments programme. Our involvement in this project gave us a crucial insight into the NERC-funded research community and the support and innovative approaches required to mobilise this group to engage the public with environmental science. Learning from the Engaging Environment's programme will inform the design of this event, and we will utilise the networks and partnerships developed during the Engaging Environments programme to publicise the event, engage key stakeholders and to disseminate the outcomes. |
| Description | Influence on training and development of environmental science researchers |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The Engaging Environments programme examined how universities and research institutes can best support researchers to engage the public with their research. In addition to publishing a project booklet to distil the broad lessons learned, we also commissioned a small piece of independent research to find out more about how NERC-funded researchers viewed public engagement, and how it was supported, to inform future work in this area. The findings informed the work of the 5 Engaging Environment hubs and the next phase of the Engaging environments programme. They also informed the development of NERC's new public engagement strategy, which was developed in the second half of 2019. |
| URL | https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/whats-new/news/new-insights-nerc-funded-researchers |
| Description | Investigating methods of citizen engagement to inform policy |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Impact | Informed by the learning from the Engaging Environments Hub, and in partnership with one of the other Engaging Environments projects (The Future of our Seas) the NCCPE was successful in coordinating a partnership bid to DEFRA to deliver an innovative programme of citizen engagement across England to improve understanding of what people value in the environment and their priorities for it. The project, which runs until November 2020, is led by the National Centre for Social Research in partnership with six specialist organisations including the NCCPE. The project aims to generate options for taking public attitudes, values and priorities into account in environmental policy and decision-making at a range of spatial scales. The project will allow us to further develop and apply methods which were incubated within Engaging Environments, and to influence future government policy making in this area. To deliver the project, we are working closely with a team of civil servants from DEFRA and Natural England. |
| URL | https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/nccpe-projects-and-services/nccpe-projects/citizen-engagement-env... |
| Description | Uptake of project outputs |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or Improved professional practice |
| Impact | The insights gathered through the first phase of the programme have been applied to the design of several new NERC programmes |
| URL | https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/nccpe-projects-and-services/completed-projects/engaging-environme... |
| Description | External dissemination events |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The NCCPE's Engaging Environments Hub team was focused on ensuring the work of the 5 other project teams was shared effectively with other organisations working in the are of public engagement with environmental science. Our engagement activities during 2018 targeted: Public engagement professionals working in universities Public engagement professionals working in environmental charities and organisations Community organisations and charities keen to address environmental issues in their outreach and engagement activity Researchers and research leaders with a professional interest in engaging the public with environmental science Funders and policy makers investing in this area A key route for engaging with these target audiences was through hosting events targeting these audiences to share work in progress and invite their involvement in the programme We coordinated four such events - An open house event in Birmingham (May 2018) - A symposium and workshop in Bristol linked to the Communicate conference (November 2018) - Showcasing activity from the projects at our Annual Engage conference in Edinburgh (November 2018) Delegates at all four events reported how valuable they found the experience, and its contribution to their professional practice During 2019 the Engaging environments booklet has been shared with delegates at the following events: • Engage 2019, December 2019 (over 450 delegates) • NERC Public Engagement Strategy Consultation Event, October 2019 (over 70 delegates) • Women in Environmental Sciences workshop , June 2019 (over 50 delegates) • Centre for Sustainable Energy conference, June 2019 (200 delegates) • West of England Nature Partnership Forum, June 2019 (over 100 delegates) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| Description | Project booklet and research report |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The process of developing a project booklet to synthesise learning from the programme has allowed us to distil evidence of 'what works' in this area and to identify the interventions most likely to realise a supportive culture for public engagement within the environmental science community. This, along with our website 'hub' has enabled us to ensure a lasting, accessible legacy of resources and evidence to inform future practice, a key objective of our involvement in the programme. The booklet was published in Spring 2019. The content was generated with input from the five other project teams. Later in 2019 we published a second report, 'A Report on Public Engagement with NERC Environmental Science: Challenges & Opportunities' based on interviews and survey responses from over 60 researchers: https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publication/public_engagement_with_nerc_environmental_science_-_challenges_opportunities.pdf |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publication/engaging_environments_lessons_boo... |
| Description | Web and social media activity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We hosted an online 'hub' on the NCCPE website to showcase the work of the Engaging Environment teams, and used our newsletter and twitter feed to post updates about the project Page views - January 2019 - January 2020 • Engaging Environments main page (includes link to project booklet, NERC researchers report, and illustrated minutes from the symposium) - 299 views (246 unique) • 'New insights into NERC-funded researchers' news piece (NERC researchers report) - 212 views (179 unique) • 'Lessons from the Engaging Environments programme' news piece (booklet launch) - 143 views (132 unique) Launching the report and booklet • The Engaging Environments booklet was launched on the 2nd of May 2019 with a news item on both the NCCPE website (143 views) and the NERC website (https://nerc.ukri.org/press/releases/2019/15-engagement/). NCCPE tweeted (12 retweets, 12 likes) and NERC tweeted (18 retweets, 28 likes) about the booklet. • The NERC researchers report was launched on the 21st of August 2019, with a news item on both the NCCPE website (212 views) and the NERC website (https://nerc.ukri.org/press/releases/2019/29-pe-reports/). We tweeted on the NCCPE channel (7 retweets, 6 likes) and NERC tweeted on theirs (9 retweets, 10 likes) Updated March 2021 We have seen the following downloads between January 2020 and January 2021 • Lessons from the Engaging Environments Programme booklet - 44 downloads • A Report on Public Engagement with NERC Environmental Science: Challenges & Opportunities - 37 downloads • Engaging Environments symposium illustrated minutes - 13 downloads Updated March 2023 Page views - Feb 2022 - Jan 23 • Engaging Environments main page - 249 views • 'New insights into NERC-funded researchers' news piece - 13 views • 'Lessons from the Engaging Environments programme' news piece (booklet launch) - 6 views Downloads - Feb 2022 - Jan 23 • Lessons from the Engaging Environments Programme booklet - 26 downloads • A Report on Public Engagement with NERC Environmental Science: Challenges & Opportunities - 9 downloads • Engaging Environments symposium illustrated minutes - 3 downloads |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| URL | http://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/nccpe-projects-and-services/nccpe-projects/engaging-environments |