Conference Agenda

Public engagement with research has a prominent role to play in today’s research landscape, which is hallmarked by complex, interconnected, and deeply embedded challenges relevant to our everyday lives.

Over the past few decades, interactions between research communities and publics have changed, becoming more attuned to building trusted relationships, addressing real-world concerns, and involving people more deeply in the research journeys that ultimately affect them. Added to this, the rise of misinformation and misgivings around academic expertise, makes it more important than ever to foster inclusive and democratic forms of knowledge creation.

For qualitative inquiry–based research this is very relevant, with participatory and engaged approaches foregrounding the very purpose of research and encouraging the inclusion of people’s lived experiences, the voices of underrepresented communities, and in spotlighting different social and cultural contexts.

However, important questions remain - such as how to further break down the barriers between academia and society and how we address practical impedances to help individual researchers or teams build and sustain community-research partnerships.

This presentation will explore these issues, while sharing some experiences from the European Science Engagement Association, which turns 25 years old in 2026 and represents a diverse family of Universities, NGOs, cultural bodies and other actors sharing a common interest to advance public engagement within the research and innovation ecosystem. Some current resources and initiatives will also be highlighted for those interested to develop networks or ideas further.