How to work well with community groups lessons from the Beacons and South East Coastal Communities

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How to work well with community groups lessons
from the Beacons and South East Coastal
Communities

• Chair
• Fred Gray, University of Sussex

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Contributors
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Warm up

• Can you draw a picture that describes how you see
  the relationship between universities and
  community groups?
• You might want to draw two pictures how you
  would like that relationship to be, and how you
  think it currently is

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South East Coastal Communities

• 9 universities 3 counties in coastal SE England
  funding from Hefce match
• Healthy people healthy environment and healthy
  economy
• Devolved and diverse in approach social
  enterprise communities of practice geographical
  locations who are the gatekeepers to
  community?
• What are the boundaries of legitimate
  involvement? Avoiding displacement

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Listening to and involving the public is
fundamentally important to the work of higher
education. Universities have never been more
outward looking or more aware of their wider
responsibilities to engage across a range of
issues David Eastwood, Chief Executive, HEFCE
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Listening to and involving the public is
fundamentally important to the work of higher
education. Universities have never been more
outward looking or more aware of their wider
responsibilities to engage across a range of
issues David Eastwood, Chief Executive, HEFCE
Engagement is an important word in modern
society. We believe that a closer relationship
with HE helps empower people to take and informed
part in the democratic process and the decisions
affecting their lives Alan Thorpe, Chief
Executive of the Natural Environment Research
Council
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• This initiative aims to create a culture
  within UK Higher Education where public
  engagement is formalised and embedded as a valued
  and recognised activity for staff at all levels,
  and for students.

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Manchester Beaconconnecting people, place
knowledge
The Beacons for Public Engagement are funded by
the Higher Education Funding Council for England
and Research Councils UK in association with the
Wellcome Trust, the Higher Education Funding
Council for Wales and the Scottish Funding
Council.
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Key feature listening embedded in design of new
engagement
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MAPPING CREATIVITY
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Our focus is on the culture change and not on
delivering more public and community engagement,
though it is possible, and probably necessary, to
do both.
Funded by the UK Funding Councils, Research
Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust
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• BBC MAKING HISTORY WORKSHOP THE VALUE OF
  RESEARCH
• We decided to get five members of the public and
  five postgraduate researchers together to explore
  the role of research in society. The brief and
  the workshop invitation were deliberately
  non-prescriptive,
• a course with UEA exploring life experienceto
  talk about the value of research.
• What use is research?
• Do the public feel that university research is
  relevant to them? If so, how?
• How can the public contribute/take away from the
  process of research? What are their needs?
• How do academics feel about public engagement?
  What are the issues? What do they need to help
  with engagement?
• In what ways can the university engage with the
  community? And visa-versa

Funded by the UK Funding Councils, Research
Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust
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Beacon for Wales

• Partnership between universities and engagement
  organisations
• To develop partnerships between universities and
  the publics/community
• To contribute to the improvement in the quality
  of public/academic/political dialogue in Wales

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Involving communities

• Project funding that has a requirement for a
  partnership between university and other
  organisations.
• Active promotion of funding and other Beacon work
  through channels that reach community
  organisations, e.g. voluntary sector newsletters
• Community representatives on Beacon Management
  Board