Creative Engagement Fellowship

Developing a new training scheme to recognise artists as key researchers and improving diverse engagement

Who I worked with: University of Leicester

Partners: Attenborough Arts Centre, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement

Project Description

Whilst working as the first Public Engagement Manager for the University of Leicester, I noticed many researchers wanted to work with artists in some way, yet it often was limited in its role. I felt I had a gap in my own knowledge of how to best support this and so embarked on research to understand better how science engagement tended to collaborate with the arts for public engagement. It appeared it was often to either create visual communication tools or facilitate craft and art-making from a particular cultural angle. Using this research, I worked with the NCCPE to codevelop practice guidance on how to really effectively encourage cocreation of public engagement projects between artists and researchers. From this guidance, I set about working with the Attenborough Arts Centre backed by funding from the Wellcome Trust to establish a training programme that positioned artists as partners for exploring an opportunity to engage the public in a topic of mutual interest. It led to a range of projects that took nuanced approaches to engage often underrepresented voices in research through creative methods. The success of the scheme led to the university continuing it independently.

Examples of Output

We made everything available on Figshare

Attenborough Arts Centre webpage

Learnings and Insights

Artists and researchers both do research to a deep level, they use different processes to find truth and present it in different ways. When supported to spend time exploring a topic they are interested in, it can lead to innovative, creative opportunities to engage people and support gaps in research. Many people involved in these projects reported back an improved sense of wellbeing, connection and understanding for a topic they felt was important. Artists and researchers alike went on with fresh ideas for methods and areas for further development in their own fields.