Engagement Day 2023

Engagement Day 2023 took place on 29 November and focused on engagement with young people. We were delighted to welcome approx. 100 members of the Imperial community and partners, where through a range of talks and workshops, we investigated the ways of meaningfully and equitably involving young diverse voices in our work. 

Programme

• Engagement Day 2023 programme
• Engagement Day 2023 programme with biographies

In conversation with… our youth partners 

We heard from some of the amazing young people participating in our engagement programmes in and around Exhibition Road. The Day opened with the young people sharing their experiences, passions, motivations and barriers which delegates took forward in conversations throughout the rest of the event.

Keynote and Q&A with Louise Archer 

Louise is the Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, and Principal Investigator on a number of large national and international projects around science capital, youth equity in STEM and a 13-year longitudinal study tracking the science attitudes and career aspirations of young people.

Deep dive discussions

Deep dive sessions allowed participants to focus on a particular topic in smaller groups. Participants got the opportunity to hear from others with expertise and share ideas and questions. Engagement Day 2023 featured the following deep dive sessions for participants to select from and immerse themselves in the detail:  

1. Safeguarding, ethics and engaging responsibly with young people: Discussed how to engage safely with young people and feel more confident to design and deliver your own activities. Talked through our responsibilities in terms of safeguarding, ethics, data and child protection with members of Imperial’s Outreach team. This session covered:

• Imperial’s Safeguarding policy and how to apply it in your work
• Your role and responsibilities within Safeguarding and child protection
• How to recognise and report safeguarding concerns

2. Art, activism and championing the voices of young people: Explored how to meaningfully involve young people in championing change and raising awareness on issues that matter, enabling youth voices to shape our world. Engagement practitioners working with young people and youth activists in climate and the environment shared lessons for all areas of our work. Hosted by the Grantham Art Prize team. This session covered:

• How to inform and empower young people around climate change
• How to engage with diverse groups of young people across the UK
• How to bring the arts and science together

3. Social media, youth settings and how to reach young people: Discovered creative and effective ways to reach young people and encourage them to take part in your programmes. The discussion was led by a social media expert and a youth group lead. Whether online or through groups and networks, you got to find out where to share your messages and opportunities to build strong youth connections. This session covered:

• The social media preferences and behaviours of young people
• Pitching activities to be of most interest to younger audiences
• Collaborating with youth clubs, groups and youth workers

Lightning talks

A session of fast-paced presentations gave an energetic insight into a range of inspiring youth-centred engagement projects from different departments at Imperial College London. Each presenter had 20 slides, each appearing for 20 seconds before moving on automatically.

Closing remarks

Read the brilliant summary poem for Engagement Day 2023 co-created by our youth partners Hala Zein, Isra Sulevani and Dan Simpson.