Public Engagement Fellowships

Edinburgh Beltane Public Engagement Fellows:

Start Date	Name/ Institution	Blog &/or Profile
June 09	Dr Timothy Johnson, Heriot-Watt University	Fellow's Page: Dr Timothy Johnson
Sept 09	Oliver Escobar, Queen Margaret University	Fellow's Page: Oliver Escobar
Sept 09	Prof Antonella Sorace, The University of Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Antonella Sorace
Sept 09	Dr Anne Claveirole, Edinburgh Napier University	Fellow's Page: Dr Anne Claveirole
Nov 09	Dr Marieke Hoeve, The University of Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Marieke Hoeve
Jan 10	Dr Sue Milne, The University of Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Sue Milne
Sep 10	Dr Bernadette O’Rourke, Heriot-Watt University	Fellow's Page: Dr Bernadette O'Rourke
Sep 10	Dr Kathy Charles, Edinburgh Napier University	Fellow's Page: Dr Kathy Charles
Jan 11	Dr Mar Carmena, The University of Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Mar Carmena
Jan 11	Dr Kathleen McDougall, The University of the Highlands and Islands	Fellow's Page: Dr Kathleen McDougall
Jan 11	Dr Jenny Rodgers, The University of Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Jenny Rodgers
Jan 11	Dr Stephano Padilla, Heriot-Watt University	Fellow's Page: Dr Stephano Padilla
Mar 11	Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis, Edinburgh Napier University	Fellow's Page: Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis
Apr 11	Dr Mark Wright, The University of Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Mark Wright

Edinburgh Beltane Honarary Public Engagement Fellows:

Start Date	Name/ Institution	Blog &/or Profile
Sep 09	Dr Alan Walker, The University of Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Alan Walker
Sept 10	Dr Wendy Faulkner, The University Edinburgh	Fellow's Page: Dr Wendy Faulkner

Meet our Fellows

Edinburgh Beltane Public Engagement Fellowships

Background

The task set for the Beacons for Public Engagement is to lead efforts to foster a change of culture in universities, assisting staff and students to engage with the public. The Edinburgh Beltane's strategy is to embed this culture change by involving a large number of existing institutional staff in its activities. The Public Engagement Fellowships were proposed as a means of buying out academics' time to participate in the development of public engagement (PE) activities and events.

Academic and research staff from the six partner institutions (The University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, Napier University, University of Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute, Edinburgh College of Art and Queen Margaret University) were invited to put their names forward for consideration for a part time (20%) secondment for up to 6 months to the Edinburgh Beltane - Beacon for Public Engagement.

Expected Outcomes

Examples of activities and outcomes of a Fellowship include:

Developing and managing a cross discipline/institution public event in an area relevant to public policy, e.g. Climate Change, Sustainability, Energy, Life and Food Sciences etc.
Working closely with government, charitable or public-interest agencies to foster links between academia, policy makers and the public.
Developing training programmes for staff development in the skills required for good public engagement. This could include transferring existing models of best practice in training to or from their institution.
Working with media partners to develop materials (print, film or podcast) for a media campaign about research in an area relevant to public policy.
Investigating the use of novel media (such as virtual worlds) for public engagement activities.

Qualitative evaluation of the fellowship experience and activities is an important outcome for the Edinburgh Beltane. It is expected that the PE Fellow will share their learning with the members of the Edinburgh Beltane and other beacons. This can be achieved through the maintenance of a reflective blog or log book, or by publishing a detailed case study in addition to evaluating any events that the PE Fellows contribute to. On completion of the fellowship scheme the PE fellow is expected to act as a key contact and ambassador for public engagement within their institution. The PE Fellow is also required to disseminate the outcomes of the fellowship to colleagues at their employing institution.