Open AccessTowards sustainable public engagement (outreach)
Author(s) -
Timothy G. Harrison,
Dudley E. Shallcross
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
new directions in the teaching of physical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2051-3615
pISSN - 1740-9888
DOI - 10.29311/ndtps.v0i6.381
Subject(s) - outreach , portfolio , public engagement , business , investment (military) , scale (ratio) , project portfolio management , public relations , set (abstract data type) , engineering management , finance , computer science , economics , engineering , management , project management , political science , economic growth , physics , quantum mechanics , politics , law , programming language
There are myriad benefits to science departments that have a public engagement in science portfolio in addition to any recruitment of new undergraduates. These benefits are discussed in this paper and include: improving congruence between A level and first year undergraduate courses, training in science communication and the breaking down of barriers between the public and universities. All activity requires investment of personnel and incurs a financial cost. Small scale activities may be able to absorb this cost, but ultimately as the portfolio grows this will become an increasing drain on resources. Bristol ChemLabS Outreach has, from the very start, set out to be fully sustainable financially and in terms of personnel. A very important component is the full support of the senior management team. In this paper we discuss how we have achieved this.