Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is planning a large-scale funding call for up to £1·3m over 3 years. The aim is to achieve national impact in public engagement with contemporary issues of environmental science.
As part of this, registration has opened for applications to attend a community consultation event on 6 April 2017 in Manchester. The outputs of this will challenge us to be bold and ambitious, directly informing the funding call.
The event will bring together a diverse set of people who have the potential to shape and be involved in NERC’s bold plans going forward. These will include environmental scientists, public engagement specialists and also contributors from the social sciences, arts and humanities.
Workshop aims
The one-day workshop will have the following aims:
- Unearth different perspectives on the challenges of public engagement with contemporary issues of environmental science (such as climate change, fracking, pollution, biodiversity…) and identify how these can shape the scope of our call.
- Build on learning from previous public engagement experience and insights, including NERC’s 2016 Public Engagement call and our 2017 Public Insight Survey which is currently under way.
- Set the tone for interdisciplinary and co-production approaches to public engagement, providing an opportunity for potential collaborators to meet each other.
- Identify capacity building, training and development needs in the environmental science researcher community that can be built through this call.
Attending the event
NERC intends to invite approximately 50 participants who will be selected to ensure a balance of different perspectives, disciplines, expertise and affiliations, with diversity in mind.
If you would like to apply to attend the consultation event, please complete the online registration form– external link. . On the form you must explain why you should be at the event in no more than 200 words. Please note that only the person completing the form will considered to be invited to attend (no deputising). An application to attend is taken as a commitment that you are free and able to travel for a full day workshop in Manchester city centre on 6 April 2017.
The closing date for applications to attend is 16:00 on Wednesday 15 March 2017. Invited participants will be notified by Friday 17 March 2017.