During the kick-off session on 14 September 2024, the ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’ concepts were playfully used to focus on the development of public engagement over the years, highlighting areas where there is scope to do more. Dr. Kenneth Skeldon, president of EUSEA and CIVIS Open Lab Lead at the University of Glasgow, led the first webinar of the series.
The importance of sharing and networking was underlined by Chris Styles of the EUSEA executive office, who focused on the benefits brought by a diverse pan-European community connecting and exchanging practices around public engagement approaches and activities.
Good or bad?
Throughout the session, Dr. Skeldon stressed that specific ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’ examples of public engagement were very much off-limits, and that, in fact, different histories, contexts and experiences make it difficult to simply categorise good or bad practice. Reflecting and implementing practice with everyone’s best interests at heart and being prepared to learn and adapt if and when things don’t always go as planned is key.
Being honest about the outcomes trying to be achieved through the engagement activity, and then reflecting on the participants or audience and purpose of the engagement activity with a view to implementing appropriate supporting plans and activities. And after all, with such a vibrant public engagement community across Europe and beyond, there will always be the scope and opportunity to strive for better", said Dr. Kenneth Skelton.
New guests each month
A particularly interesting feature of the CIVIS Connect format is that each month, a local partner or stakeholder relevant to the topic is invited to contribute and share their insights.
The first guests were Isobel Wilson and Pat Byrne, from the Friends of Winter Gardens and People's Palace Glasgow Green - a grassroots community organisation that had recently been involved in a co-development project with researchers from the University. Hearing their views on what had worked well and what could be improved based on their experience of collaborating with the University was of great value to the discussions.
Of particular interest was their highlighting of the university’s reputation and the benefit this can bring to a community organisation seeking to make their voices heard and influence change. This is interesting because power dynamics between community groups and universities are often discussed in a cautionary way with a view to levelling imbalances rather than using them to a particular advantage.
CIVIS Connect, webinars throughout the 2024-2025 academic year
The CIVIS Connect series is brought to life by the CIVIS Open Labs and features eight monthly one-hour sessions focusing on key topics such as public engagement with research, challenge-led education, civic engagement, outreach, participatory research, and service learning.
