Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science

Next Steps Launch Event, 20. November, Berlin We are thrilled to announce an exciting event at the Public Engagement and Impact Unit of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin this November – the launch of the ‘Next Steps’ initiative. Next Steps will support German professionals facilitating engagement and dialogue between research and society. Our Launch Event will kick off an ongoing in-person and online networking and ideation space covering careers and professional skills development. Beyond the meeting, the community will continue these conversations through working groups to create resources that empower all actors to act as advocates for change. Join us to help shape the future of #PublicEngagement in Germany. Working Group members will share the authorship on any resources derived from this process.    You can register for the event here: https://lnkd.in/eDqY29ju   Event Details:  📅 Date: 20. November 2024 📍 Location: Ahoy Berlin, Wattstr. 11, 13355 Berlin

🚀 Our new sister project 'PEX' will support the development of the next leaders in Public Engagement. PEX supports development Fellowships for researchers and Public Engagement Professionals from Germany and South Africa with some experience in PE who want to develop their leadership skills locally, national, and internationally. Applications to be a PEX Fellow are open NOW! Details in the post below.👇

Public Engagement meets Data Science 👩💻 Transdisciplinary research thrives on collaboration and cross-pollination, and we at the Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science are always eager to accept the challenge of tailoring our vision to a specific scientific context. We’re excited to be part of the WiNoDa Knowledge Lab at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, where Data Science, Natural Science, and Digital Humanities converge, embracing a public engagement approach that brings diverse perspectives into research. 💭 Curious to learn more? Let us fill you in! The WiNoDa Knowledge Lab is a Data Competence Centre that fosters a vibrant community exploring the intersections of Data and Natural Science through an object-centred approach. As partners, we aim to sharpen #publicengagement skills, build capacity, and promote a culture of openness, collaboration, and skill development across academia. To boost your data competences, join now the WiNoDa Webinar Series, which covers the basics of Data Science. All webinars are free, beginner-friendly, and held every second Tuesday from 12:00–13:00 CET. The next session on 15 October will be an Introduction to Machine Learning. 🔗Prior registration is required https://lnkd.in/dB-bthkc 💡 If you’re interested in enhancing your data skills, applying public engagement to data science and working with scientific collections, join the WiNoDa community, subscribe to the newsletter  https://lnkd.in/eS3rD467 and visit the website https://lnkd.in/eaXfhcnT #PublicEngagement #DataScience #NaturalScience #DigitalHumanities #WiNoDa #MachineLearning #OpenScience

Hope, fear, frustration, curiosity… Emotions are everywhere when we bring together publics and communities with research. How can we navigate and manage these emotional experiences? And how do we develop a culture of care towards our participants, partners and ourselves within Public Engagement? These questions stood at the heart of our Collaborative Futures Academy 2024, an international three day online space of learning and exchange. We are very happy to now share with you the resulting Emotions in Engagement Toolkit: https://lnkd.in/ewGNNhU8 This practice guide collects insights, reflections and activities from contributors and participants of the Academy. You find case studies, practical methods, reading suggestions and even theatre scripts, as a way to extend the conversation to our wider community. A huge thanks go to all the contributors and participants for sharing their knowledge and experiences, to Theresa Wigley and Claire Homewood for the Design and Creative Harvest work, and the CFA Programme Team (Dr Lucinda Spokes Marina Joubert Richard Milne Victoria Shennan Jana Wendler Jack Monaghan Catherine Galloway) for all the thought, care and expertise that goes into the Academy every year. We invite you to have a look, experiment with the methods, and follow up on examples and ideas. Most of all, we hope the toolkit sparks conversations about how emotions matter in your research engagement contexts. If you have any thoughts or feedback – we would love to hear them.

Drei intensive Tage, mehr als 70 Formate mit Beteiligten von Hochschulen und Praxispartnern und ein Ziel: herausfinden, wie Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft gemeinsam an der Zukunft Berlins arbeiten können. Die Transferale 2024 war nicht nur ein Festival, sondern ein Experimentierraum, in dem eine Vielzahl an Formaten stattfand– mit Angeboten für Fachleute, Berliner*innen und Schulen. Es gab intensive Gespräche, spielerisches Entdecken, interaktive Unterhaltung und viel Inspiration aus der angewandten Forschung. Dr. Henry Marx, Staatssekretär für Wissenschaft des Landes Berlin, besuchte die Transferale bei einem Rundgang und sagte im Anschluss: „Das gemeinsame Wissenschafts- und Transferfestival von drei staatlichen und zwei konfessionellen Hochschulen zeigt eindrucksvoll, dass die Hochschulen für angewandte Wissenschaften hervorragend in die Strukturen Berlins passen. In der Hauptstadt gibt es viele kleine und mittlere Unternehmen sowie zahlreiche Einrichtungen und Organisationen. Die starke Anwendungsorientierung dieses Hochschulformats ist prädestiniert für eine gewinnbringende Zusammenarbeit zwischen Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft.“ Auch Michael Biel, Staatssekretär für Wirtschaft Berlin, sieht im Ansatz der fünf beteiligten Hochschulen für Angewandte Wissenschaften großes Potential: „Mich begeistert, dass ich auf der Transferale die Lösungen von gestern, heute und morgen sehe. Hier werden klasse Ideen vorgestellt, für die es auf jeden Fall einen Markt und großen Bedarf gibt. Jetzt müssen wir es schaffen, dass wir das alles auf die Straße und Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft noch enger zusammenbringen.“ Ohne das vielfältige Organisationsteam und die zahlreichen Projektteams und Wissenschaftler*innen wäre die Transferale nicht möglich gewesen: Expert*innen aus fünf Hochschulen und von drei Praxispartnern brachten ihre verschiedenen Kompetenzen zusammen, um dieses Experiment auf die Beine zu stellen und um innovative Wege der Wissenschaftskommunikation zu erproben. Wir freuen uns auf die nächsten Schritte und sind gespannt auf die Antworten, die unsere Analyse bringen wird. Vielen Dank an alle, die dabei waren und dieses Experiment zum Leben erweckt haben!   Die nächste Transferale findet 2026 statt. 2025 erproben wir weiter in verschiedenen Teilprojekten die Zusammenarbeit von Hochschulen, Unternehmen und Berliner*innen. Alle kommenden Veranstaltungen finden Sie auf unserer Website: zukunftstadt.berlin #Transferale2024 #Wissenschaftskommunikation #transfer #innovativeHochschule #Berlin #Innovation #Experiment #Teamwork

Would you like to book a talk with our Acting Head of Public Engagement and Impact, Mhairi Stewart? In the annual Leibniz Association 'Book A Scientist' event you can do just that. Details in the post below.

How can we combat hostility and hate speech in science communication? Our recent Summer School brought together researchers to tackle these challenges head-on and develop strategies for public engagement in the face of adversity. Thank you to all the participants, guests, and the project team for sharing your lived experiences, challenges, and expertise. Your openness and insights made this a truly enriching exchange, and it was inspiring to tackle this complex issue together. 💡 Now, professionals can also take action by joining our Train-the-Trainer Programme! Limited places are still available for the next session on 29. October, with further sessions 2025. 🔍 Testimonials from the last session: "It can broaden perspectives on science hostility and allows reflection on how it takes place in our institutions." "I feel empowered to take action & now I know where to find resources." 👉 Don’t miss the chance to empower yourself! Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eRqRCEyR Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Scicomm-Support, Wissenschaft im Dialog, Bundesverband Hochschulkommunikation e.V., Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

You can still sign up for the NEXT STEPS LAUNCH EVENT on 20th November in Berlin. We invite everyone working in #PublicEngagement, #ScienceCommunication, #Participation or #Transdisciplinarity to it, and want to shape the future of Public Engagement in Germany with you! You can register here: https://lnkd.in/eDqY29ju

Anderes Land, andere Landschaft? 🗺 We have a common language between Germany and Austria – but how similar are our respective landscapes around Public Engagement and participation? This is the question we took to the OIS:ZAM Forum of the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft in Salzburg last week. As part of a beautifully hosted gathering of more than 40 diverse and impactful participatory projects, we ran a table discussion looking at what the engagement communities in the two countries might be able to learn from each other. An hour may not be enough to find an answer, but here are some of the points that emerged: 💭 In both countries, we have a lot of work to do to fully value and integrate knowledge that comes from lived experience within research, medical or public sector projects. This requires a wide range of competencies among experts beyond their specialism – and suitable professional development offers to foster these. ❕ Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Sciences) in both Germany and Austria frequently have very established research-practice relationships that we can build on to deepen participation and engagement. 🔧 We agreed that engagement is not something that we can do “on top of our actual work”. It needs funding, structures and support, and we learnt a lot about successful models in the Austrian landscape: Young Science Initiative, Sparkling Science, and of course the great work of the LBG Open Innovation in Science Center. Thanks to the OIS Team for a fantastic event and for inviting us to bring our perspective.

Last week, the Research Impact Summit 2024 took place, featuring a wonderful expert interview with Mhairi Stewart. This virtual summit was a great opportunity to hear the different voices of impact research experts discussing the state of the art, challenges and perspectives of the field. In dialogue with Tamika Heiden, the experts shared different approaches to impact research and how it can help institutions, communities and industries achieve societal goals.   We found the following questions particularly important, challenging and exciting: ❔What forms can impact research take in different settings, and how does it shape professional identities? The impact researcher is not a single role, but a field of meta-analysis that researchers can develop according to their intellectual inclinations, stakeholder expectations, and the nitty-gritty practicalities of each project ❔What does the Impact Research Toolbox look like? Ultimately, it will depend on a mix of factors: the researcher's background, the needs of those they are working with, the scope for experimentation, and the researcher's own creativity.   ❔Finally, how do we measure impact? There is no single right answer, but here is one takeaway: approach impact as a work in progress and don’t be afraid of imperfection and methodological experimentation. Work collaboratively rather than evaluatively: this will make you a valuable ally and thoughtful interlocutor for the project, and will help gather data that is mutually beneficial and inspiring!   Social change is never quick or easy, but it is happening and we are all part of it. Special thanks to Tamika Heiden for organizing the summit and moderating all the conversations. Access to the conversations remains open to RIS members! More info here: https://lnkd.in/eBTEP2M