Concordat for Public Engagement

Our approach to public engagement

University of Suffolk is committed to public engagement and the dissemination of our research. Our academic and research staff are encouraged to share their findings and successes, and to contribute to public debate. In line with our areas of distinctiveness, we have recently established Research Centres and Research Institutes, for which an essential priority is engagement with academic colleagues and the wider community.

University of Suffolk is committed to the Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research.

Public engagement is a broad term for a number of activities aimed at sharing research with the public. It is an exchange of knowledge, allowing researchers to meet with the wider community, to interact, listen and learn about who might benefit from their research, and how their research might meet the needs of society. Public engagement is also a way of encouraging people to take an active interest in research. The Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research outlines the expectations and responsibilities of research funders with respect to public engagement, to help embed public engagement in universities and research institutes. This will enhance the future of research and benefit the UK society and economy. By setting out clear expectations for research organisations, researcher managers and supporters and researchers themselves, the Concordat aims to strengthen existing good practice in public engagement by ensuring it is valued, recognised and supported.

National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE)

The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement provides a ‘one stop shop’ for anyone in the university sector to access expertise and resources to support public engagement. 

University of Suffolk is applying to become a signatory to the NCCPE’s Manifesto for Public Engagement.  Becoming a signatory to the NCCPE Manifesto will give us an opportunity to re-state this commitment, exploring how these principles could become embedded within our research culture, incorporating the perspectives of stakeholders, user communities and members of the public. We are committed to working at the intersection of conventional disciplinary groupings to create innovative approaches to contemporary societal challenges and public discourse; and to making a significant contribution to the creation and sharing of knowledge that reaches and influences a broad range of regional and international stakeholders.

Public engagement stories

There are many examples of Schools, Research Centres and Institutes, Individual researchers and students getting involved with public engagement initiatives from the University of Suffolk.

The Research Directorate is gathering case studies of public engagement by University staff and students for publication on this site and in further formats, so please email us at researchoffice@uos.ac.uk if you would like to share your experiences with us.