Engagement Day 2022
Professor Maggie Dallman, Associate Provost (Academic Partnerships), Vice President (International), welcomes delegates to Engagement Day 2022.
Emily Morrison, Head of the Institute for Community Studies, gives the Keynote Speech
In conversation with... the Co-Production Collective: Discussing the role of power in participatory research.
Engagement Day 2022 - Deep Dive sessions
Engagement Day 2022 - Deep Dive sessions
Breathing together: a collaborative journey in engaging with children under five - Ellen Dowell and Vicky Cave
Over lunch delegates had the opportunity to network and meet representatives from the College’s engagement teams to find out more about the work they do and how to get involved.
Poet Dan Simpson at Engagement Day 2022
Engagement Day 2022
We were delighted to welcome over 100 members of the Imperial community on 27 April for Engagement Day 2022, where we focused on the theme Engagement Forward, exploring how to build on current practices to enable a more diverse range of people to get involved with us through participatory methods.
Speakers and delegates demonstrated how participatory research can make a positive impact on our futures, discussed the role of power when collaborating with others, observed how to approach a range of participatory methods and techniques, and through multiple examples, heard more about how we value the contribution of participants.
92% of delegates left the day feeling inspired, keen to come along to other events and recommending the day to colleagues.
- “Brilliant ideas on how to involve people in decisions”
- “Engagement at Imperial is much larger than I was aware of”
- “Inspiring!”
- “The poetry was the most unexpected and beautiful instance of SciCom and improvisation”
Programme
Keynote from Emily Morrison
Emily Morrison (Head of the Institute for Community Studies, powered by the Young Foundation) delivered a keynote speech highlighting the value of participatory research, the challenges involved, and what to consider if you want to do it effectively.
In Conversation with… The Co-Production Collective
Emily Morrison was joined by Lizzie Cain (Co-production and Learning Manager, Co-Production Collective) and Vita Moltedo (Maternity Voices Matter) for an in-depth conversation about the challenges of co-production, as well as the benefits and value of it.
Find out more about the Co-Production Collective through their website, their social media, and sign up to their newsletter.
Further resources are available here: Engagement Day 2022 - Post event resources
Deep Dive discussions
Engagement Day offered three deep dive discussions that delegates could choose from. Here are some additional resources and information from the Deep Dive sessions:
1) Exploring the depths of peer research: building relationships, challenging power dynamics and the role of effective training - Vas Papageorgiou, Jane Bruton, Wezi Thamm and Halle Johnson
- Public Involvement Resource Hub
- Peer Research Training Resource - This training resource aims to support and provide a starting point for academics and public involvement practitioners who want to train people with a lived experience to become co-researchers in qualitative (interview-based) research studies.
2) Breathing together: a collaborative journey in engaging with children under five - Ellen Dowell and Vicky Cave
3) Co-designing technology with young people - Joanne Thomas, Stephanie Mellor
Lightning Talks
A session of four fast-paced presentations gave an energetic insight into a range of inspiring engagement projects from different departments. Each presenter had 20 slides, each appearing for 20 seconds before moving on automatically. Four engagement projects and ideas were presented by: Dr Diana Varaden (School of Public Health), Madalina-Ioana Sas (Faculty of Engineering), Shaaron Leverment (Association for Science and Discovery Centres) and Dr Poppy Lakeman Fraser (Centre for Environmental Policy).
Additional information and resources from these talks are available here: Engagement Day 2022 - Post event resources
Closing remarks and Poetry
The day concluded with closing remarks by Professor Maggie Dallman and an Engagement Day 2022 Crowdsourced Poem by Dan Simpson
Dan also recited the poem titled 'We would like it if...'' formed from the interactions throughout Engagement Day.
We would like it if...
We would like it if we knew why this is happening. We would prefer it
if we could be part of the why for why this is happening.
We would like it if you shared your knowledge with us
but also listened to ours. We would like to feel equal
because we are equal. We would like it if you believed that
deeply. We would like it if you came to us. We’re not that far away.
We want to spend our time usefully. We are so busy
with the rest of our lives. We would like it if you smiled
and were pleased to see us. We might be nervous and resistant.
We like to know you feel like that too, sometimes. We would like it if
you showed us something cool. We want to be surprised and inspired
even if we don’t know that we want that yet. We would like it
if you made evaluation forms less evaluation form-y. We do not know
why they are useful. We would like it if you made things easy to understand
but didn’t dumb down. We are no less intelligent than you. We would like it
if you held us. We would like to trust you. We would like it if we were trusted.
We would like it if you got to know our lives. We would like to share that with you.
We would like you to know that sometimes things are messy.
We would like it if there were tea and biscuits provided. Sandwiches are always good.
We would like it if we could tell our friends and family that we did something
a little different today. We like to tell our stories and we like to be heard.
Not just listened to, but heard. We would like it if you heard us.
We would like it if you came back. We are still here after you are gone.
by Dan Simpson
Find out more Dan Simpson through his website, his Twitter and Instagram channels.