Thursday 27th October, Avonmouth House, London.

How can academics, researchers and professionals in the arts and humanities and the wider cultural sector engage the public in innovative and meaningful ways? How can they realise the benefits of public engagement - for their benefit, their students’, their organisations’, and that of the public itself?

The AHRC is held a one-day event in central London on the 27th October that explored these and other questions, examining both the strategic and the practical challenges facing those working in the arts and humanities and with the help of delegates explored some practical steps towards overcoming the challenges and grasping the opportunities.

The event also included a session on an upcoming AHRC call on public and community engagement (Research for Community Heritage), part of the Connected Communities programme. In addition, the results of the 2011 AHRC survey on public engagement in the arts and humanities were presented for the first time.

Speakers included Professor Sarah Churchwell, (Professor of Public Understanding of the Humanities at UEA), Professor Mark Llewellyn (Strathclyde University), Sophie Duncan (Deputy Director of the NCCPE) and Philip Pothen (AHRC), among others.

Several presentations from the event can be found below-

 AHRC and Public Engagement, Dr Philip Pothen (pdf 400kb)

 NCCPE, Sophie Duncan (pdf 430kb)

 Community Engagement – Challenges and Opportunities, Dr Sarah Spooner (pdf 1566kb)

 Sensory Stories, Dr Claire Wood (pdf 1875kb)

AHRC CRT: Public Engagement Event, Wednesday 26th October, Avonmouth House, London.

AHRC held a half-day conference looking at successes from last year’s CRT: Public Engagement call. The event started with a networking lunch, followed by presentations from previous award holders, and roundtable discussions on various themes including successes, areas of improvement and future plans.

A list of some of last years CRT: Public Engagement Training scheme projects and a summary of them can be found below, there are also several poster summaries of the projects-

 CRT-PE projects (pdf 180kb)

 CRT-PE posters (pdf 3324kb)

 WATT CRT project booklet (pdf 168kb)