Public Engagement Training

My training sessions bring over a decade of public engagement experience, project management skills, and illustration credentials together with my varied lived experiences including chronic illness. Former clients include the British Science Association, the Francis Crick Institute, the British Ecological Society and the University of Oxford.

Current sessions on offer include:

Click the links above or scroll down for more information on these sessions or download a pdf booklet here.

Notes

  • Sessions can be adapted to your requirements & can be combined into longer sessions

  • New sessions can also be designed to meet your requirements

  • All sessions are highly interactive with activities and reflection interspersed throughout

  • Sessions are designed to get participants thinking of access and inclusion throughout developing and planning engagement activities

  • Training can be offered in person or online

  • Sessions can be followed by drop in or 1:1 sessions to discuss ideas

  • Fees are available on request

This session is designed to give people new to public engagement the confidence and skills to get started. It can be run as a one hour session including:

  • What is public engagement

  • Why do we do public engagement

  • Different formats of public engagement

  • Tailoring your engagement to different audiences

It can also be expanded up to a full day including:

  • More detail on all of the above

  • Using stories within public engagement

  • An introduction to evaluation, safeguarding and health & safety

  • Project management for public engagement projects (see seperate session)

  • Engaging with sensitive and controversial topics (see seperate session)

  • Space to begin developing public engagement activities (see seperate session)

This session has been delivered solo and with other trainers including Sarah Cosgriff and Sam Langford.

“Hana and Sarah (Cosgriff) were the perfect trainers for the academic staff taking part in the British Science Festival 2023. They were well-informed, experienced and knowledgeable and their practice is inclusive and progressive. They held the space very well for everyone, from those fresh to public engagement to those who had been doing it for years and everyone there enjoyed it and learned something new. I wouldn’t hesitate to book them again!”

Emery Howart, Festival Engagement Manager at British Science Association

Session 1: Introduction to Public Engagement

This session provides structure and space for participants to generate ideas for engagement activities by harnessing their interests and experiences outside of their work, before developing one activity further. It works best as a two hour session but can be condensed if needed.

It includes:

  • A recap or introduction to basic public engagement and activity formats

  • Working through a series of prompts about their research and interests

  • An introduction to rapid prototyping and its benefits

  • Rapidly prototyping one activity idea

  • Presenting prototypes to each other and discussing them

  • Setting future goals for the activity

This session requires participants having access to scissors, tape, a marker and recycled cardboard. Other materials may also be useful.

“Hana’s training session was fantastic. In a 90 min online session she helped our PhD and postdoc ambassadors come up with, and prototype, an outreach activity which they shared with the group – I would highly recommend Hana as an inspirational and engaging trainer.”

Dr Chris Hamlett, Discover Materials National Outreach Officer

Session 2: Developing Engagement Activities

This session provides participants with frameworks and skills for managing simple engagement activities such as a public talk or a stand at a science festival. It is built upon an ethos that practical considerations allow us to develop more creative and inclusive events. It works best as a two hour session, but can be condensed to an hour.

It includes:

  • Basic principles of project management and why they are important

  • How to decide whether to embark on a project

  • Planning, timelines and budgets

  • Risk management

  • Communication plans

  • Wrapping up projects

Session 3: Project Management for Engagement

This session is designed to provide participants with the confidence and skills to engage with sensitive or controversial topics. It is best as a 2.5 hour session but can be condensed down to an hour if necessary. This session can be tailored to a particular area of research.

It includes:

  • Why research may be sensitive or controversial to different groups

  • Why engaging with these topics is important

  • Guiding principles for engaging with sensitive or controversial topics

  • How and why audiences react to different topics

  • Working through scenarios

  • Time to begin developing activity ideas

“Hana’s ‘Engaging with Controversial Topics’ provides an engaging and interactive experience that really gets you thinking about creating purposeful and meaningful conversations with different audiences. The session helps you work through practical approaches to sharing controversial and sensitive research topics.”

Dee-Ann Johnson, Public Engagement Manager, The University of Manchester

Session 4: Engaging with Sensitive or Controversial Topics

This session explores how pictures, diagrams and other visual tools can help tell engaging and effective stories. While this session was designed with public engagement in mind, many have also found it useful for academic communication. It works best as a two hour session but can be condensed and it can also be combined with graphic design or zine making (see separate sessions).

It includes:

  • Basic principles of storytelling

  • Simple drawing exercises to get participants thinking visually

  • What visual elements can bring to communication

  • Techniques and tools for creating visuals

  • How to ensure visuals remain accessible

  • Time to begin working on a visual storytelling project

This session has previously been run both solo and with Dr Anna Ploszajski.

Session 5: Visual Storytelling

This session is designed to provide participants with the skills and confidence to design items such as flyers, posters or other resources which will be used for engaging a lay audience. It works best as a 2.5 hour session but can be condensed or combined with the visual storytelling session.

It includes:

  • Deciding on an audience and purpose

  • What to consider when designing for a lay audience

  • Basic design principles e.g. hierarchy of text, incorporating visuals

  • Tools and resources for graphic design

  • Keeping designs accessible

  • Time to begin working on a design project

Session 6: Graphic Design for Engagement

Zines are simple magazines or leaflets which can be used to communicate almost anything. Their informality can make them useful for exploring difficult or controversial topics.

This session guides participants though making their own zine and using it as part of engagement activities. While designed for engagement, former participants have also created zines to give away during poster sessions, use as business cards and incorporate into their undergraduate teaching. This session works best as a 2 hour session but can be condensed.

It includes:

  • What zines are, and their history

  • An introduction to storytelling

  • How to distil ideas into a few key points

  • Making a zine

  • Alternative zine formats

  • How to use zines and zine making activities in engagement

Session 7: Zine Making for Engagement