Develop and Grow
Together: Our
International Academies

Public Engagement lives through continuous exchange and learning. We host annual international academies for researchers and Public Engagement professionals to explore and expand the borders of their Public Engagement practice, and build a professional community.

Collaborative
Futures
Academy

The Collaborative Futures Academy (CFA) is an annual online programme that seeks to advance the practice of Public Engagement across academic disciplines, geographic and cultural boundaries. It invites researchers and practitioners from around the world to come together around a shared theme that matters for their work. Through an intensive programme of workshops, case studies, group sharing and reflection, participants take a deep dive into topical issues and explore shared challenges from new perspectives. We curate and host CFA alongside our project partners, including The University of Cambridge, Wellcome Connecting Science, the Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public (all from the UK), and Stellenbosch University (South Africa).
Topic Keywords
Place
Place-Making
Design
Materiality
Method Keywords
Creative Prompts
Forum Theatre
Active Listening
Reflection
Encyclopedia

Place in research engagement is more than just a location. It shapes how people interact, whose voices are heard, and what kinds of knowledge are valued. During the Collaborative Futures Academy 2025 we took a deep dive into the power of Place, inspired by disciplines like Geography and Design. With input from theatre-makers, conflict mediators and engagement professionals, we explored how place contexts and experiences matter in research engagement, and how we can actively shape these conditions.

More than 50 people from 15 countries brought CFA 2025 to life with their expertise and exchange. To capture this knowledge, we invited participants to contribute to a collaborative publication using a design-based process. The result is Place in Engagement – A Collaborative Encyclopedia, a unique exploration of our Academy insights and a creative invitation to continue the conversation.

Topic Keywords
Emotions
Trust
Cultures of Care
Method Keywords
Graphic Harvesting
Forum Theatre
Relational Conversations
Co-Creation
Programme

Hope, fear, anxiety, frustration, curiosity, connection, trust…engaging with research is never just about sharing information. Sharing and acknowledging emotion – among practitioners and participants – is a crucial part of the process. But it’s also one of the hardest things to manage and to measure. In 2024 the Collaborative Futures Academy brought emotion into the heart of our learning.

Over three days, our global cohort of public engagement researchers and practitioners reflected on managing emotions in engagement. A group of over 70 participants, hosts, contributors and supporters from 16 countries came together over 3 days in May 2024 to share their stories, energies, skills and questions to explore the role of emotions in Public Engagement with research. The result is the Emotions in Engagement Toolkit.

Topic Keywords
Ethics
Equity
Inclusion
Diversity
Method Keywords
Peer Learning
Mapping
Action Learning
Learning Groups
Participatory Storytelling
Speculative Design
Programme

To create a meaningful and inclusive dialogue between research and society, engagement needs to build on an ethical foundation of care, participation and authenticity. This starts with understanding our personal motivations and capacities as engagers, and it extends to interrogating the practices and power dynamics that shape our field. How can we foster more equitable processes of engagement that bring in those often left out? What are the tools that help us develop our own voice and drive change?

The CFA 2023 invited researchers and practitioners from across the globe to explore these questions. It supported them in developing a bold, creative and innovative engagement practice with integrity and equity at its heart.

Topic Keywords
Resilience
Power and Privilege
Intercultural Communication
Method Keywords
Improv Theatre
Zines
Filmmaking
Creative Engagement Online
Mentoring

Engaging the public with controversial issues is challenging, but important. Listening to and engaging with different views, ideas and concerns can bring real long-term benefits to research and its impact on society. Can we push the boundaries of how we engage and who we engage with? How do we break out of our comfort zones, address historic inequities and initiate challenging conversations in challenging times?

CFA 2021 focused on the tools and skills researchers need to connect with communities and to talk about difficult subjects. Reflection, taking time and building one’s own confidence became central points of learning within this lively and creative group of international engagers.

Topic Keywords
Pandemic
Climate Change
Sustainability
Method Keywords
Arts Based Engagement
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Illustration
Cartoon
Filmmaking
Mentoring
Exhibition
In an era of increased uncertainty, pandemics, climate change and habitat loss, of unmitigated exploitation of natural resources amid conflict and poverty – how can we think about, plan and implement sustainable futures? These complex problems require interdisciplinary responses. Researchers, creative professionals and young people from Cambridge and Berlin worked together to explore creative responses to a sustainable future at the Sustainable Futures Academy.

ChangeMaker Academy

The ChangeMaker Academy (CMA) is a leadership programme designed to empower professionals in advancing Public Engagement within their institutions. This intensive online programme focuses on cultivating essential leadership skills and strategic planning expertise necessary for driving cultural transformation. By leveraging institutional policies and best practice case studies, CMA equips professionals to advocate for and implement robust support systems and recognition structures. Through collaboration with a network of peers, participants gain practical tools and insights to create impactful, actionable strategies in their institutions.

Topic Keywords
Leadership
Culture Change
Method Keywords
Institutional Strategy Development
Peer Learning
Negotiation Skills
Speculative Design
Case Studies
Programme
The 2023 academy combined Masterclasses on skills around persuasion, negotiation, and cross-cultural collaboration, with focused work on strategy development designed to embed engagement practices into institutional frameworks. Best practice case studies and peer exchange framed this unique offer, allowing participants to position themselves as key drivers of change and find their voice as engagement advocates.
Fb3, Natural
History Museum Berlin

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