UCL Public Voices

Public Voices is a new initiative that aims to promote diverse thought leadership by empowering underrepresented academic communities at UCL and partner institutions globally.

The demographic of voices afforded the opportunity to influence, negotiate and comment on a wide range of issues affecting humanity is often limited. Public Voices will respond to this challenge by promoting diverse thought leadership from underrepresented academic communities with a particular focus on routes to empowerment at UCL and globally. This will be achieved by supporting underrepresented researchers to develop essential media, communications and public policy skills to influence both local and global discussions. 

UCL is partnering with University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa to pilot this initiative in 2024-2025 with a Fellowship Programme. The Fellowship Programme comprises two residency programmes at Wits and UCL, virtual engagement, and mentorship scheme. 

The programme aims to:  

• Promote diverse thought leadership by elevating the voices of underrepresented academic communities in the UK and Africa, to influence global discussions on key issues. 
• Enhance media competencies by providing comprehensive training in media and communication skills, enabling researchers to disseminate their work to broad audiences more effectively. 
• Support new, innovative routes to dissemination, such as policy and community engagement.  
• Develop a cadre of under-represented researchers with greater capacity to deliver impactful research outputs to diverse audiences.  
• Develop a delivery model that can be scaled and adapted to other international contexts and partners.  

Programme structure 

Fellowship scheme 

For this first iteration of Public Voices, the programme will partner with Wits University in South Africa. The initiative is designed to equip underrepresented researchers with essential media, communications and public policy skills to influence both local and global discussions and facilitate professional development. 
 
Public voices will provide funding for a number of fellowships based at both UCL and Wits. The fellowships will provide media and policy training to enhance researchers’ ability to effectively communicate their research in key media outlets and public discourse. This will include hands-on experience through collaborative workshops and masterclasses hosted at UCL and Wits as well as connections to external media and policy organisations where possible. 

The programme will follow a blended approach, combining online sessions with in-person residencies at Wits and UCL. This pilot phase of Public Voices is intended to provide a template for future iterations of the programme that might be applied to other global contexts and partners.

Mentorship scheme 

Mentorship is a key part of this new initiative of Public Voices at UCL. Through building an active and trusted relationship, mentors will act as ‘critical friends’ for the Fellows, providing experiential advice and guidance on their mentees’ development goals in building their experiences and capacity in policy, public, and media engagements. Mentors will have a direct impact on empowering the Fellows from underrepresented academics communities, enabling them to cultivate and promote diverse thought leadership, embodying UCL’s core values and missions. 

At UCL, the project is co-delivered by Global Engagement, RIGE Communications, UCL Public Policy, UCL Media Relations and the UCL Policy Lab. At Wits, the project is led by the Strategic Partnerships Office and co-delivered with media and public policy teams. 

Contact

If you have any queries, please contact

Mustafa Sakr 
Global Engagement Manager  
Email: m.sakr@ucl.ac.uk 

Dr Yuchun Chiang Mathews
Strategic Global Initiatives Manager
Email: y.mathews@ucl.ac.uk

Links

• UCL Public Policy
• UCL Media Relations
• UCL Policy Lab
• University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)