Planning Your Activity

Places where the public congregate to learn more about science, such as festivals, schools and museums make perfect locations for public engagement.

However, think about the community you are trying to reach. Going to the community rather than them coming to you can give the participants a sense of ownership of the activity and can improve the level of engagement.

Take a look at some national initiatives and organisations to get you thinking.

Once you have an idea, you may need funding for your public engagement or outreach activity.

The Biochemical Society offers grants of up to £1000 for public engagement and outreach initiatives 

Alternatively, explore a collated list of funding opportunities from the NCCPE

Scientific outreach and public engagement activities are desirable to a range of groups, organisations and institutions beyond the Biochemical Society, who will often be more than willing to collaborate on an outreach event. Collaborators can bring fresh ideas and support with organising, running and evaluating your activity. Here are some ideas for potential collaborators:

• Biochemical Society Local Ambassadors
• University outreach officers
• Local schools and colleges
• Local community networks
• STEM Ambassador Network
• Research Councils UK

Consider what the long-term benefits of your activity might be.

Will you be generating any resources that can be used by others? Could the activity itself be re-run by others by writing up a guide to the activity? Could you write about your experience to encourage others to run an activity?

Contact the education department if you are interested in publishing your activity or resource.

Think about who your participants could be. 

Have you designed your activity so everyone can feel involved? Are there modifications you can make to your activity so diverse participants can be involved? 

Have you thought about how equitable your activity is? You can use the resources from the YESTEM project, particularly the Equity Compass, to help you with this. The YESTEM project aims to support informal STEM learning providers to engage diverse communities.

Evaluating your activity is vital in considering whether you have met your aims, and what further benefits your activity might have.

What went well and what could be improved about your activity. Think about this from a variety of perspectives, such as the participants, the organisers and the deliverers of the activity. This could be done by asking for feedback using a variety of methods, which will depend on your activity.

You could try and think about evaluating the long-term impact of your activity on the participants by asking for feedback a while after the activity itself.

Explore some practical tips for evaluating your activity from the NCCPE and the Wellcome Trust.