For the purposes of this Award, ‘public engagement’ is broadly defined as activities that bring research and/or researchers and the public (or specific groups within the public) together. It is more than just disseminating research – effective public engagement is about two-way communication, with the researchers listening to and learning from participants or other stakeholders at different stages in the research process.
UKRI provide a helpful definition of public engagement
‘Impact’ is broadly defined as an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia. It includes, but is not limited to, an effect on, change or benefit to:
- the activity, attitude, awareness, behaviour, capacity, opportunity, performance, policy,
- practice, process or understanding; of an audience, beneficiary, community, constituency, organisation or individuals; in any Geographic location whether locally, regionally, nationally or internationally.
Nominations are scored by a BERA selection panel and are framed by the following criteria:
Judging Criteria
- Relevance of the work to the strategic objectives of BERA
- Quality of the work undertaken to facilitate public engagement/realise impact
- Originality of the approach adopted in engaging the public/realising impact
- Significance and contribution of the work (e.g. evidence of impact for stakeholders/research users – such as children and young people, practitioners, policy-makers)
Prize Details
- £500
- Featured article in BERA’s magazine Research Intelligence
- The recipient will work directly with Emerald Publishing’s marketing and design teams to create a bespoke and engaging research summary
- The award winner will be promoted on BERA’s website, social media channels and in newsletters to the wider research community.
- The award winner may be asked to play a BERA ambassadorial role. This may include speaking about your research at BERA Conference and/or other events, submitting a BERA blog, involvement on twitter, or being asked to record audio or video for BERA’s website.
Closing Date