Part 3: Barriers to public engagement
Once you have identified your audience and your purpose, you need to think about how to find and then engage them. In order to successfully engage audiences, beyond the ‘usual suspects’ who will happily go out of their way to attend public engagement activities in a university setting, it is essential for researchers to go out of university environments and meet people where they are.
However, it can be challenging for researchers to engage certain audiences[1], particularly those without direct personal experience of higher education[2]. There are a number of reasons for this, including:
Familiarity
Many people have never engaged with a university before and do not know anything about what happens there, who works there and why they should engage with you.
Confidence
Some communities and individuals may feel intimidated by academia and doubt that they have anything valuable to add to academic research.
Trust
There can be a lack of trust which may make certain communities and individuals reluctant to engage, especially where they do not know the researcher or the organisation they represent.
Time
People lead busy lives and may not feel they have the time or inclination to participate in research or engagement activities.
[1] A survey by Wellcome Trust in 2016 found that over a quarter (26%) of researchers cited ‘difficulty finding relevant audiences’ as a barrier to public engagement. https://cms.wellcome.org/sites/default/files/wtp060034.pdf
[2] A survey by researchers at the University of Reading found particular challenges with engaging certain audiences in citizen science: https://research.reading.ac.uk/openupsci/2019/01/16/challenges-and-barriers-to-public-engagement-and-citizen-science/