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Civic and Public Engagement

Training

Training
  1. Queen Mary University of London
  2. Civic and Public Engagement
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Find out more about training sessions to support you to develop public engagement skills and ideas

The Centre for Civic and Public Engagement runs internal training sessions to help prepare and support you to engage effectively with the public and locally in East London. Training sessions take place online and in person, and provide a mixture of presentations, activities, and discussions to provide you with the knowledge and practical skills to enable you to get involved with engagement activities.

If you are new to engagement, or are looking to familiarise yourself with the basic principles of engagement, we recommend attending our Introduction to Public Engagement session.

If you have any suggestions about topics and sessions you would find useful, please get in touch with us at engagement@qmul.ac.uk. 

Training Sessions

Find out more about the sessions on offer below.

Introduction to Public Engagement

This online introductory session will introduce you to what public engagement is and why it matters. This session will:  

  • Explore some of the key principles, definitions and ethos behind public engagement
  • Introduce adapting and communicating ideas and research for public audiences 
  • Explore how to move beyond the ‘general public’ and define target audiences 
  • Share good practice case studies and examples, providing inspiration and ideas for how to engage with the public successfully. 
  • Look at Queen Mary’s approach to public engagement, and the types of support available at the university. 

Who is it for? 

This session is aimed at QMUL staff and students looking to take their first steps in public engagement, or those who have undertaken projects before and would like to cement their understanding in this area.   

What to expect 

This session will take place online and will last for an hour and a half. The session will be made up of a presentation and some interactive activities and tasks. Participants will be encouraged to turn their cameras and microphones on throughout the session for participation and discussion. 

Upcoming dates

  • 9 November 2026, 2pm-3:30pm (online)
  • 2 February 2027, 10am-11.30am (online)

Book now via the CPD Training platform. 

Evaluating Public Engagement

This session will look at how to evaluate public engagement activity, and why evaluation is important for meaningful engagement and research impact.  This session will be useful for anyone hoping to maximise and evidence the impacts of their public engagement activities through effective evaluation.

After this session you will be able to:

  • Describe what evaluation means and why it's important
  • Identify the relationship between evaluation and Research Impact
  • Craft effective evaluation plans
  • Implement creative evaluation methods & effective survey design
  • Use evaluation to evidence the impact of public engagement activities

Who is it for? 

This session is aimed at QMUL staff and students at any career stage actively delivering/planning to deliver public engagement, who are thinking through ways to best evaluate their activity.

What to expect 

The session will be made up of a presentation and some interactive activities and tasks. Participants will be encouraged to contribute throughout the session.

The session will be delivered by the Public Engagement and Impact teams.

Upcoming dates

  • 3 December 2026, 10.30am-12pm (online)
  • 8 March 2027, 2.00pm-3.30pm (online)

Book now via the CPD platform

Are you looking to engage local communities in East London with your research or project but unsure where to start? This practical introductory session is designed for researchers, professional services staff, and others who are new to community and civic engagement or are looking to build stronger local partnerships. 

Through a mix of presentations, activities, examples and discussion, you'll explore the diverse communities that make up East London, learn how to identify and connect with community organisations and residents, and gain insight into the motivations and barriers that can influence engagement. The session will also introduce principles of equitable and meaningful engagement, helping you build relationships that are collaborative, inclusive, and mutually beneficial. 

By the end of the session, you'll have a better understanding of the East London community, practical approaches for developing partnerships, and access to resources and support to help you take your next steps with confidence. 

Who is it for?  

This session is aimed at QMUL staff and PhD students looking to take their first steps in engaging in East London, or those who have undertaken projects before and would like to cement their understanding in this area.  

What to expect  

This session will take place online and will last for an hour and a half, with a short break halfway through. The session will be made up of a presentation and some interactive activities and tasks. Participants will be encouraged to turn their cameras and microphones on throughout the session for participation and discussion. 

Upcoming dates

  • 24 November 2026, 1.30pm-3pm (online)
  • 24 February 2027, 1.00pm-2.30pm (online)

Book on the CPD platform

Participatory Research Training

Explore the ethos and principles of participatory research in two asynchronous training sessions, with voiceover from Dr Aoife Sadlier. Participatory research is "a collaborative approach to research that involves the people whose lives are affected by the issues being researched. They are included equitably as partners throughout the research process.".

These sessions include:

  • The ethos and principles of participatory research
  • Study design and planning
  • Research methods
  • Ethics
  • Data Analysis
  • Dissemination and knowledge sharing
  • Case studies and examples, providing inspiration and ideas for how to carry out successful and equitable participatory research

This training is suitable for QMUL staff or students at any career stage who are carrying out participatory research or thinking of doing so in the future.

To access the training, please visit the course page on the CPD platform and download the files. Open the PowerPoint presentation file and start the slide show for the voiceover to begin.

Access the training on the CPD platform.

Engaging the Public with Sensitive and Controversial Topics

This session is designed to provide participants with the confidence and skills to successfully plan and deliver public engagement activities that address sensitive or controversial topics. Sensitive and controversial topics are those that are likely to provoke emotional responses and differences of opinion in audiences and participants.  

This session will explore: 

  • Why research may be sensitive or controversial to different groups 
  • Guiding principles for engaging with sensitive or controversial topics 
  • How and why audiences react to different topics 
  • How to facilitate constructive and open discussions 
  • Practical planning for events, including risk assessments 
  • Previous examples and case studies 
  • Working through scenarios and workshopping activity ideas 

This session will be led by external facilitator Hana Ayoob. Hana brings over a decade of public engagement experience, project management skills, and illustration credentials together with varied lived experiences including chronic illness.  

Controversial topics may include divisive social, ethical, and scientific issues such as politics, vaccinations, animal testing, gender identity, climate change, and emerging technologies like AI or genetic modification, among others. Sensitive topics may include lived experience of health and other inequalities, mental illness and trauma. This list is not exhaustive, but is provided to give an indication of those for the broad range of people for whom this session might be relevant.

Upcoming dates

  • Watch this space

Register your interest in future sessions on the CPD platform

Unfortunately the CPE is currently unable to offer PPI training.

You can find PPI resources for researchers available on the JRMO Research Engagement webpages.

As a QMUL member of staff you will be able to access the UCLH PPI Training free of charge, as QMUL is a partner organisation of UCL Partners. The Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre also runs online PPI training sessions free of charge.

Please note: If you are affiliated with Barts Health NHS Trust, PPIE advice can be provided via the JRMO Research Engagement Team. Please email the team: patientsinresearch.bartshealth@nhs.net. 

If you are affiliated with the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, advice can be provided through the monthly PPIE drop-in sessions that can be accessed through calendar invites sent to all WIPH staff. For any other Wolfson Institute of Population Health PPIE questions please email: involve-wiph@qmul.ac.uk.

Bespoke sessions for schools and faculties:

The CPE may also able to provide bespoke courses for individual Schools and Institutes within Queen Mary. We have previously worked with colleagues to develop training sessions tailored to their specific needs and integrate public engagement training into existing teaching schemes. If you are interested in a bespoke session, get in touch with us to discuss your requirements.

I found the training very enjoyable and stimulating - it helped me to think much more widely about the different forms public engagement can take ... and the kind of dialogue I might have about my research.
— Cultural Geography PhD researcher
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