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Winners of Train and Engage funding announced

8th September 2017
UCL Engagement

UCL Culture is committed to the development of UCL staff and students, and firmly believes that Public Engagement can be a major contributor to this development. Train and Engage is a program designed to do just this, giving UCL research students training in the theory of public engagement, along with practical tips for running a project. Upon completing the training, students have the opportunity to bid for up to £1,000 to make these projects happen.

In the past, the program has funded over 50 project leaders, who have gone on to continue their career in research, gain promotion, and use their new skills to work on other projects in a variety of contexts.

Participants at Ruth Slatter’s ‘200 Years of Methodism in Stoke Newington’ project. © Susanne Hakuba


We are proud to announce the winners of 2016/17 grants and to welcome our newest cohort of funded PhD students. Nine project leaders have been funded, and will be working with public groups on projects linked to festivals, playgrounds, infant development, herbal medicine, photosynthesis and much more. The information on each of the project leaders and a summary of their project is available to download.

Maddison Coke and team at Green Man Festival 2016, with #challengeMartha


The next training sessions for Train and Engage will be in the spring term and the next funding deadline will be in June 2018. You can find more information on Train and Engage here. For announcements and information about Train and Engage and other funding opportunities for public engagement projects you can also sign up to our newsletter.
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Museums on prescription
Museums on Prescription shortlisted
21st Jul 2017
Have you ever heard the expression “Social Prescribing”? It’s the idea that our health and wellbeing can be improved by regular interaction with a community. Perhaps we feel we know this instinctively – who doesn’t feel better after seeing friends? - but when health factors render a patient house-bound, the potential for social isolation can increase, and both physical and mental health can deteriorate.Helen Chatterjee, Professor of Biology at UCL Biosciences and Head of Research and Teaching at UCL Culture, has been working on a project that explores ways to remedy this decline using arts and cultural engagement, and now her work is up for a prestigious Royal Society for Public Health award.Museums on Prescription is the three-year project led by Helen and run with academics from Canterbury Christ Church University. Together they have connected lonely older adults at risk of social isolation to partner museums in Central London and Kent. The project looked at ways in which arts and cultural activities, particularly in museums and galleries, could positively impact the lives of the participants. Referred by health, social care and third sector organisations, these participants took part in 10-week programmes of museum-based sessions consisting of tours, talks and creative activities inspired by the collections.[[{"fid":"4999","view_mode":"large","fields":{"format":"large","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Museums on Prescription","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"large","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Museums on Prescription","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":"338","width":"1001","class":"media-element file-large"}}]]This project is reflective of a wider trend for using arts as therapy. The UK was in fact one of the first countries to support the value of arts in health and wellbeing, alongside Australia and Finland, publishing a major report that highlighted the importance of these schemes in 2014. This research found that creative activity has a positive effect on mental health. It increases self-esteem and improves quality of life. A range of conditions including anxiety, depression, phobia and eating disorders are positively influenced by creative engagement. Furthermore, the NHS and Social Care have been working to reduce the use of antipsychotic drugs for dementia by two-thirds using community-centred approaches, though it admits there is still much to do.We hope that with more creatively engaging projects like Helen’s, that celebrate our wealth of museum treasures and the positive influence they can have, we’ll begin to see a changing landscape in the treatment of mental health and wellbeing.Reference:Chatterjee, H.J. and L. Thomson (2015) Museums and Social Prescribing, in H. L. Robertson (ed.) The Caring Museum: New Models of Engagement with Ageing, pp. 304-341. MuseumsEtc, Edinburgh and Boston.The Museums on Prescription project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.You can download a full press release of the project’s nomination for award here.Read the full Arts & Health Journal post by Helen Chatterjee.Further reading on museums and wellbeing can be found here. [[{"fid":"4995","view_mode":"large","fields":{"format":"large","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Museums on prescription logos","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"large","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Museums on prescription logos","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":"295","width":"1417","class":"media-element file-large"}}]]
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Train and Engage funding call now open
31st Mar 2017
Funding calls are now open for the Public Engagement Unit’s Train and Engage programme.Now in its 6th year, the programme offers postgraduate students the chance to apply for grants of up to £1000 for activities that involve people outside the university.Alongside funding, Train & Engage provides advice, training and resources to support students in designing, developing, delivering and evaluating their own public engagement project.Previously funded projects have been diverse. From Dr David Roberts’ Haggerston Estate Open House Weekend to Dr Melissa Bovis’ How small are we talking. One involved a series of participatory events exploring urban change and social housing, while the other used a range of myth-busting games to examine concepts of nanotechnology and nano-scale. Dr Roberts built on his extensive engagement experience to organise a range of events and performance at the now demolished Haggerston Estate. Turning the traditional architectural tour of the London Open House Weekend on its head, he invited current residents and visitors to take part in telling the story of the estate. Ultimately offering an opportunity to reflect on the changing state of housing in London.Rural Wales formed a rather different backdrop for Dr Bovis’ interactive, games event. Using family-favourites such as ‘Noughts and Crosses’ and ‘Play Your Cards Right’ to demonstrate the size and scale of ‘nano’ to audience members at The Green Man Festival 2014. As well as challenging common misconceptions about what is and isn’t possible in the world of nanotechnology.  As a result of the advice, experience and resources received through the Train and Engage programme both participants were able to take part in further public engagement events and to enhance their ability to embed public engagement in their work.Have you previously attended public engagement training at UCL and would like to run your own public engagement project? Find out how to apply here. The deadline for funding applications is Tuesday 2nd May 2017.If you have any questions about Train and Engage, contact publicengagement@ucl.ac.uk.