Public engagement

Grafische voorstelling van hoe public engagement werkt
Public Engagement at the UU

To allow society to reap all potential benefits of research, we should not just make results available. We should also engage with potential users, funders and contributors to research, and with people whose lives may be affected by it. 

This calls for activities to raise interest in research, to include citizens and communities in setting research priorities, to engage them with the research process, to translate outcomes for a non-scholarly public and to participate in public debate. This implies we seriously listen to what people outside our own community and outside academia have to say. 

Meet the Professor 2016

Public engagement helps researchers to more closely relate to societal issues and to questions people have. It helps researchers to profit from input and ideas from outside academia. And it helps enhance support for and trust in scholarly research.

Centre for Science and Culture

At Utrecht University, the Centre for Science and Culture plays an important role in realising engagement between researchers and citizens. In 2017, a Public Engagement Programme started, to improve support for and visibility of public engagement.

The Centre for Science and Culture focuses on citizens, individuals in a non-professional, non-expert role. The Open Science Programme complements that with a focus on societal partners. This focus includes thinking about and working on applicability of research outcomes, often together with external partners, including commercial ones.

Also see:

Project leaders Public engagement

Open Science Fellows Public Engagement