Fellowships

Current Edinburgh Beltane Public Engagement Fellows:

Start Date	Name/ Institution	Blog
June 09	Dr Timothy Johnson, Heriot-Watt University	http://lighting-up-maths.blogspot.com/
Sept 09	Oliver Escobar, Queen Margaret University	http://oliversdialogue.wordpress.com/
Sept 09	Prof Antonella Sorace, The University of Edinburgh
Sept 09	Dr Anne Claveirole, Edinburgh Napier University
Oct 09	Stuart Lynn, The University of Edinburgh
Nov 09	Dr Marieke Hoeve, The University of Edinburgh

Meet the Fellows.

The closing date for 2010 fellowships is 12 noon 12 January 2010

Edinburgh Beltane Public Engagement Fellowships
Call for Applications

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.

Open Call

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) are 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. A proposal should include details of potential activities and personal development aims in public engagement with research. The first appointments could be as early as January 2009. A minimum of nine fellows will be appointed over the course of the project which ends in March 2012. There will be 3 appointments made per calendar year; however special cases may be considered where an activity is particularly timely. Application forms can be downloaded in (Word) or (pdf) format, or recieved by emailing edinburghbeltane.bpe@ed.ac.uk

Eligibility

Academic and research staff from grades 6 and higher (including Professorial level) currently employed by one of the six partner Higher Education 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).

For staff on fixed term contracts their termination date must exceed the 6 month term of appointment as PE Fellow, the secondment may not conflict with the terms of their contract.

Staff must provide written support from their supervisor/line manager/heads of school or equivalent.

Expected Outcomes

Examples of suitable activities for consideration would include but are not limited to:

• 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.

If you have not already chosen a topic, but are still interested in the Fellowship, please contact us as we are collating a bank of possible projects. You will need to choose from one of these before submitting your application. Likewise, if you have a project that you would run please contact us.

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 could 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, and should provide an outline of how they aim to achieve this in their application.

Appointment Criteria

Factors which will be taken into account when choosing candidates for appointment:

• Timeliness
• Research relevant to public policy
• Cross-disciplinary events/activities
• Cross HEI events/activities
• Contributions in kind including hosting at a partner institution
• Public engagement partners involvement and support
• Formative evaluation and dissemination strategy
• Funding leverage potential
• Potential to feed into public policy making process
• Plans for propagation of PE activities in home institution post-fellowship

Previous experience in public engagement activities will not necessarily be an advantage and we would encourage staff new to this area to apply.

Application Forms

PE Fellowships Call (pdf)

PE Fellowship Application Form (Word)