News

Inviting Cambridge Neuroscientists to apply for the Rising Stars public engagement course

• Are you a current student or member of staff at the University?
• Would you like to develop the skills to engage with all audiences about your research / discipline?

The Community Affairs team is looking for outstanding undergraduates, postgraduates, post-docs and early career academics for a course in public engagement and educational outreach. We are looking for participants from all academic disciplines and are particularly keen on receiving applications from those thinking of pursuing a career in academia.

Participants attend five half day sessions and will be responsible for planning, organising and delivering a real outreach activity to the public (in addition to the five sessions). Completion of the Rising Stars course will count as transferrable skills training.

Sessions will cover

• Introduction to public engagement and community outreach
• Communication skills
• Communicating your subject
• Working with the media

We will assist participants with planning and implementing their outreach activity and we welcome participants with any level of experience of outreach.

By 'outreach' or 'public engagement', we mean engaging 'non-specialists' with your academic discipline. This might include school pupils, older people's groups, youth clubs and the general public (it does not include other academics). You might engage people through, for example, talks, discussions, websites, press articles or hands-on demonstrations. It is particularly good practice to try to reach those who have had little interaction with a higher education institution and/or your academic specialism.

Within the University calendar there are many opportunities to get involved in outreach events, festivals, museums and school events, media opportunities and more.

For further information, and to apply see:

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/communications/community/star/

Posted on 04/10/2010