PCER Digest

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Latest News

03 November 2025 - PCER Fund Legacy Analysis: Making a Lasting Difference

A new legacy analysis highlights how the PCER Fund is making a lasting difference – helping researchers and communities build partnerships that continue to grow long after funding ends.

The PCER Fund supports public and community engagement with research across Oxford. The latest review explored how awards from 2022 to 2025 have created impact in confidence, capability, and culture. We wanted to understand where that engagement leads – and how it keeps making a difference.

Across six 2022/23 projects, £30,000 in PCER funding has generated £287,000 in follow-on grants – a return of £9.50 for every £1 invested. Two-thirds (67%) of awardees secured new partnerships or roles. Early findings from 2024/25 projects show similar legacy patterns, with 10+ new resources already being shared publicly, and over 11,000 members of the public and community engaged.

For Dr Amber Murrey, Using Humour to Speak Truth to Power evolved from a grassroots workshop in Cameroon into a £35,100 John Fell Fund award, a peer-reviewed paper, and a forthcoming proposal for a five-year ERC grant. “What began as a community workshop in Yaoundé became the foundation for an international research field across multiple countries,” Amber reflected.

Meanwhile, Meanwhile, the Play matters! project, carried out by a team first brought together through the Science Together programme, helped local charities secure over £25,000 and inspired new collaborations. “Our reports helped us evidence local need — and our success rate in funding applications has soared” (Polly Kerr, Patient and Public Involvement Manager).

Together, these stories show how the PCER Fund continues to make a meaningful difference.

Find out more about the PCER Fund.

If PCER funding has made a difference to your research, we’d love to hear your story—email us at [email protected].

23 October 2025 - Explaining Infant Brain and Breathing: My Baby’s Brain, an Enriching Engagement Project 

Led by Dr Caroline Hartley from the Department of Paediatrics, My Baby’s Brain was funded by Enriching Engagement, a Wellcome-funded pilot programme for public engagement with research (2019–2022). The project set out to help parents understand how their baby’s brain develops, why premature infants may experience apnoea (a pause in breathing), and how researchers study brain and lung development in newborns.

Working with parents and the local charity SSNAP (Support for the Sick Newborn and their Parents), Dr Hartley and Dr Marianne van der Vaart developed a series of ten short, accessible animations that explain these complex topics in clear, reassuring language. Produced by Oxford Digital Media, the animations combine cutting-edge neuroscience with the real concerns of parents. Since their launch in February 2024, the videos have been viewed over 15,000 times and are now available with subtitles in Polish, Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, and Urdu – making vital information about neonatal care more inclusive and accessible for families from all backgrounds.

The project has strengthened collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and parents, inspiring other neonatal units across the UK to share these resources locally. Feedback from parents has already informed new engagement materials, highlighting the importance of clear, compassionate communication in hospital settings and the positive role of research in supporting families.

Watch the animations here: My Baby’s Brain

14 October 2025 - Celebrating excellent Public & Community Engagement with Research work! 

The PCER Team are celebrating and recognising people across the University who are doing brilliant public and community engagement work.

Successful nominated colleagues will be invited to a celebration dinner with other engagement colleagues and senior stakeholders. 

We're asking all staff to nominate people they think deserve to be recognised by EOD Friday 31 October!

Celebrating excellent Public & Community Engagement with Research work! - Nomination form

02 October 2025 - Explaining Peace: Enhancing public dialogue through archival research and media – a PCER Fund project 

Funded by the Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER) Fund in 2024/25, this project was led by Conor J. Kelly (Department of Politics and International Relations) with Ruth Murray (Deputy Director of the Quill Project). It explored how archival research and digital tools can support more informed public dialogue about the Northern Ireland peace process.

The project centred on Writing Peace, a pioneering multi-media platform that brings together archives, private papers, and oral histories from across the political spectrum. Using the Quill software, it shows how key agreements were drafted and negotiated, including 15 digital collections of primary sources and a model of the talks that led to the 1993 Downing Street Declaration.

In February 2025, the team hosted a two-day event at Pembroke College, Oxford. A public panel discussion on the role of the media in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, chaired by Lord John Alderdice, welcomed around 50 people. This was followed by workshops with journalists on how Quill can support reporting on the Troubles and peace process. Feedback has already shaped new features on the platform, including user guides, videos, and a prototype Index of archival material to make the resources more accessible beyond academia.

See the Writing Peace user guides and videos.

The PCER Fund is now open - find out more and apply. Application deadline: 3 November.

25 September 2025 - Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER) Fund - now open!

Are you looking to make a difference and engage the public or community with your research?

The PCER Fund is now accepting applications, offering £6,000 to projects looking to do purposeful and responsible public and community engagement activities.

The fund is open to researchers and public engagement professionals from all disciplines who want to do engaged research. We accept applications from all career stages (including DPhils), with any level of experience in public and community engagement with research.

As well as financial support, successful applicants get support with evaluation from the Public & Community Engagement with Research team in Research Services and the opportunity to connect with others across the University working in public engagement.

Application deadline: 3 November

Find out more and apply to the PCER Fund!

16 September 2025 - Oxford in The Conversation

The Conversation is an online source of thought-provoking articles written by researchers and academics across all disciplines for the public in the UK and globally.

It provides a platform for researchers to raise the profile of their research and engage the wider world, with the freedom to discuss topical issues in a more nuanced way than is typically offered by traditional media outlets.

Last year, researchers at the University wrote 176 articles that were read over 5 million times.

If you are a researcher, find out more about writing for The Conversation.

Read recent articles by Oxford researchers on The Conversation.

10 September 2025 - Inside Oxford’s Public and Community Panel: Lessons from a Year of Shared Decision-Making 

Read the Lucent Consultancy report on the Public and Community Panel, which supported decision-making for Oxford’s Public and Community Engagement with Research Fund (PCER Fund) in the 2024/25 academic year.

This was the first time a participatory grant-making approach was used for the PCER fund, with the panel bringing insights from their lived and professional experiences of public engagement.

Working with Lucent as a learning partner, we discovered how participatory grant-making could shape our funding decisions. Over the year, we explored shared and distinct priorities, considered questions of power and participation, and examined the many forms of public and community engagement.

Main conclusions

In 2024–25, the panel shaped funding decisions and strengthened Oxford’s approach by bringing community voices into the decision-making process.

Many aspects of this were successful – particularly the recruitment of a diverse panel and the design of engaging interactive training and grant review sessions. However, administrative processes, particularly for payment and IT, were cumbersome for Panel members and remained difficult to manage.

Panel members would like to be involved in future grant rounds and are keen to explore how researchers could engage with communities at earlier stages. 

Read the full report – Learning and insights from the Public & Community Panel – University of Oxford.pdf

01 September 2025 - When science meets the stage: PCER Fund project brings genetics research to life 

What happens when complex genetics research is transformed into powerful theatre? Making it Personal is an innovative public engagement project that uses live performance to explore the human impact of genetic diagnoses, uncertainty, and decision-making. Supported by the PCER Fund in 2024/25, it brought together researchers, theatre-makers, and people with lived experience to tell stories that move both hearts and minds.

The project was a collaboration of arts and sciences, designed and led by iPREGCARE study researcher and Centre of Personalised Medicine JRF Dr. Ali Kay and Dr. Minna Jeffery, theatre maker and Rosemary Pountney Junior Research Fellow in British and European Theatre, St Anne’s College, Oxford.

Read the full blog on the TORCH website.

29 August 2025 - Our ambitions for public and community engagement with research at Oxford in 2025-26 

With a new academic year around the corner, we are excited to share our ambitions for the year ahead, as part of our longer-term PCER Strategy 2024-29.

Building on the success of the PCER Fund pilot (more details to follow soon), we will continue to support responsible and purposeful engagement across the institution. Alongside this, we are working with divisional colleagues to help researchers and professionals integrate engagement into broader research proposals.

We will also shine a brighter light on quality engagement – from the Vice-Chancellor's Awards to more regular opportunities to showcase and celebrate success throughout the year. Developing the difference framework toolkit will enable us to better tell the story of engagement’s impact at Oxford and beyond.

Meanwhile, we are working with colleagues from across the University in innovation, engagement and impact to turn our collective vision into action – including advancing equitable innovation in Oxfordshire (watch this space).

If you’d like to connect or collaborate on any of the above, please get in touch at [email protected] – we look forward to working with you towards a world of bigger differences.

22 August 2025 - The Medieval Mystery Cycle 2025

On 26 April, St Edmund Hall became the stage for the Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays, an extraordinary day of theatre that carried audiences on a journey from Creation to Judgement Day.

Across five hours, 13 plays were performed in five languages — Middle English, Middle Dutch, Low German, Latin, and Modern English — with contributions from around 150 actors, directors, singers, musicians, and makers. About 350 spectators came and went throughout the day, some staying for a single play, others for the full cycle.

With both gravitas and a trumpet blast, the Principal Investigator opened the event. Performances were as wide-ranging as the participants: a parish children’s choir building Noah’s Ark, students and academics from across Oxford, a community group from Iffley, Anglo-Catholic ordinands, and a visiting troupe from Fribourg, Switzerland.

Medieval Mystery Cycle 2025 was professionally filmed and documented, ensuring a lasting archive for research and future performances. It also enabled international collaboration, with the Fribourg group sharing their expertise in research-based medieval drama.

Audience members described the cycle as “full of whimsy”, “vibrant and entertaining”, and “very unexpectedly enjoyable” — a testament to the project’s reach and impact. For researchers, the cycle offered new insights into performance as a mode of engagement, while for the community it created space for play, creativity, and shared wonder.

The only real challenge? Fitting everyone onto the site. The clearest outcome? A resounding call to do it all again.

Read more about Medieval Mystery Cycle on Oxford Medieval Studies’ blog.

This project was supported by Research England’s Participatory Research Fund.

12 August 2025 - Trinity term PCER Fund awardees

We’re delighted to announce the most recent PCER Fund awardees. These applicants submitted proposals in Trinity term for purposeful, responsible and exciting public engagement activities that will take place throughout the next academic year.

Trinity term saw unprecedented numbers of submissions to the fund, and we would like to thank all who took the time to apply and the reviewers for their hard work in assessing and providing detailed feedback for all 63 applicants.

We were pleased to fund 11 projects from across all academic divisions.

Awarded projects

“Sensory Knowledge, Art, and Curatorial Practice: Learning from and with the Blind and Partially Sighted Community”, Dr Leah Clark (Department for Continuing Education)

• “Reconsidering our self-report depression questionnaires, with lived experience perspectives”, Dr Amy Gillespie (Department of Psychiatry)

“The Neuro Tour: Co-Designing Wellbeing Support For Underserved Neurological Conditions”, Dr Andrea Kusec (Department of Experimental Psychology)

• “Voices of the highlands: Engaging communities in biodiversity monitoring”, Dr Jorgelina Marino (Department of Biology)

“Read between the lines!”, Prof. Philomen Probert (Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics)

• “Alternative Remittances to Venezuela”, Dr Daniel Robins (OSGA)

“The Iterative Co-Design and Evaluation of an Inclusive Stay and Play for Underserved Families in Neurodevelopmental Pathways in Barking and Dagenham”, Mollie Roddan

• “Genes, Brains, and Breakthroughs: Carer-Centred Accessible Educational Videos on Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Therapy”, Dr Narjes Rohani (IDRM, Department of Paediatrics)
• “Co-Creating Trust in Bioelectronic Devices: Participatory Design for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea”, Dr Mayue Shi (Department of Engineering Science)
• “Elephants, People, and the Power of Partnership: A Participatory Approach to Conservation Science”, Jessica Tacey (Department of Biology)
• “Beyond the Label: The Reality of Ultra-Processed Food”, Prof. Suzannah Williams (Nuffield Department of Women’s Reproductive Health)

We’re currently confirming the details of the PCER Fund for the upcoming academic year, keep an eye on the PCER Fund webpage for details.

05 August 2025 - Engaging the Black Radical Imagination

This work has been supported by the University of Oxford’s PCER Fund.

Principal Investigator: Dr Annabel Wilson, Department of Education

In February and March 2025, Dr Annabel Wilson and Deanna Rodger facilitated workshops with a group of Black Bristolians who attended primary school in Easton, Bristol. Over the course of four workshops, they shared their experiences of schooling and structural injustices in education, explored visions for the future, and used their memories and hopes to co-construct a poem. This was then adapted into a film by Mike Jenkins from 8th Sense Media, which was screened for the participants, their families, and the public at the Easton Community Centre in July 2025.

Engaging the Black Radical Imagination – project website

Film: Tomorrow’s Children will say

Film: The ‘Making of’ Tomorrow's Children will say

28 July 2025 - Meet the interns

Over the past few weeks, two interns have joined the Public and Community Engagement with Research team. They have been exploring the landscape of public and community engagement with research across a range of projects. Read on to find out what they discovered. 

Meet Laura Flenley: exploring which local communities are working with researchers in the University 

Laura worked with us on a community mapping project, having just completed her Integrated Master's degree studying Biology at the University of Oxford.

Throughout her degree, she has been involved with access and outreach at Worcester College and took part as a researcher in the MPLS division’s engagement programme ‘Science Together: Oxford Researchers and Communities’ (STORC).

Given her experience with STORC, she was eager to find out about the central University team’s perspective and role in facilitating public engagement with research.  

Laura has been compiling information on which local communities are engaged with research projects across the University. The aim is to understand the nature and distribution of engagement projects across different types of community groups in Oxfordshire, in order to connect researchers and communities for mutually beneficial partnerships.

By bringing together information about researchers, community priorities, and existing engagement projects, the engagement map aims to support new connections and spark ideas for future work. It may also help identify communities that are currently underrepresented or not being reached.

Laura hopes to build a career that involves public engagement with research to make science more accessible, relevant and collaborative. During her internship, she explored different approaches to public engagement with research and gained insights into how this work can inform and shape engagement practice.

Meet Elisha Ainsworth: exploring best practice in public engagement across the UK  

Elisha has worked with us to map best practice public and community engagement, having just completed studying Human Sciences at the University of Oxford – an interdisciplinary degree that examines the intersection of biological and social sciences.

Much of Elisha’s degree related to public engagement with research, making her very excited and eager to work with the Public and Community Engagement with Research team.

Elisha was also highly involved in the University’s Access and Outreach work as a student, which sparked her interest in how universities utilise public engagement with research as a tool for outreach.

Elisha’s project involved researching best-practice case studies of public engagement from universities across the UK. She recorded these case studies in a Microsoft Lists database, which could potentially be used as an internal tool for University of Oxford researchers. Elisha prioritised gathering a diverse range of case studies which span a wide range of disciplines and come from a wide range of universities across the UK.

After this internship, Elisha aspires to work in the field of Access and Outreach in Higher Education. She's confident that the knowledge and skills gained from this internship will help her in this role.

21 July 2025 – Community Connections with Research: Open Space Event Summary

On 8 July, the PCER Team hosted an event, Community Connections with Research: Open Space in Oxford city centre. It brought together community partners, Oxford University and Oxford Brookes researchers, and engagement professionals to explore how communities and researchers can collaborate. We were delighted to welcome over 50 participants on the day.

The participant-led Open Space event offered a welcoming, flexible space where attendees proposed discussion topics, shared experiences, and built connections through informal networking.

The approach was praised as “interactive, engaging, and promising,” with one attendee commenting on how “conversations unfolded and everyone tried to find connections and contribute to solving problems.” Many participants reported forming potential new collaborations or taking away new ideas to inform future projects.

A poster exhibition ran alongside the discussions, celebrating existing partnerships and sparking conversations about what meaningful engagement looks like in practice. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, with many highlighting the inclusive and motivational atmosphere. We’re grateful to everyone who contributed to making the day such a success – by sharing their perspectives, asking questions, and helping shape the event itself.

The day emphasised the value of creating informal, open spaces for dialogue, reflection, and connection. We’re excited to build on the ideas and relationships developed through this event – and we’d like to explore facilitating another event in the future.

Share your thoughts: if you attended – or were interested but unable to join – we’d love to hear your feedback. Please complete our Community Connections with Research: Open Space Event online survey by 31 July to help shape our future events.

30 June 2025 - Notes on a Learning Partnership for our Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER) Fund 

Charlotte Ravenscroft, the learning partner from Lucent Consulting for the PCER Fund, shares her thoughts on what a learning partnership is and how it has supported the PCER Fund. 

Read more about Lucent's approach to learning partnerships.

26 June 2025 - Engagement and Impact Community of Practice Meeting (11 June 2025) 

The Engagement and Impact Community of Practice, part of Research Services’ Research and Innovation Support Network (RISN) at the University, had their final meeting for the 2024-25 academic year on 11 June at University Club.

Professional Services staff working in engagement and impact from across the University gathered to discuss topics in an Open Space session, with members leading conversations around local partnerships, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), valuing engagement practice and practitioners, and more.

There was also plenty of time for networking and continuing to share ideas over lunch. We enjoyed connecting with colleagues in a relaxed setting, celebrating successes and identifying opportunities for ongoing collaboration.

Feedback from our attendees highlights the value in sharing experience and expertise, as well as dedicated time to catch up with colleagues informally.

If you are a Professional Services staff at the University and would like to join the Engagement and Impact RISN Community of Practice, join RISN MS Teams and head to the Engagement and Impact CoP channel (both behind SSO).

18 June 2025 - Have your say in our monthly pulse check!  

We’re inviting you to answer this month’s ‘pulse check’ - a quick set of questions designed to capture your experience of engagement at Oxford. With just three short questions, it’ll only take a few moments of your time, but your insights are invaluable.

Anyone involved in Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER) at the University of Oxford – whether you're a researcher or a professional services colleague – is welcome to take part.

This month’s questions invite you to share recent positive experiences and explore how you show the difference your engagement makes.

Help us celebrate your small (or big!) wins. All responses are anonymous, but if you'd like to be credited, drop us a line at [email protected].

Complete the pulse check survey – share your thoughts.

12 June 2025 - Trinity PEFN Meeting Summary (10 June 2025)

The Public Engagement Facilitators’ Network (PEFN) is a University-wide network for professional services staff and researchers supporting Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER). Launched in 2021, it offers a collaborative space to share learning, develop practice, and connect across disciplines.

The Trinity term meeting took place on 10 June via MS Teams, featuring speakers from across the University who shared insights on engagement, evaluation, and impact.

• Emma Sarcol (PCER Manager, Innovation & Engagement Team, Research Services) introduced the Difference Framework – a tool for planning, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting engagement activities. It offers a clear thread from early thinking through to evidencing the 'so what' of your engagement. Download the Difference Framework.
• Dr Anne Mortimer (Research Evaluation Lead, Research Strategy & Policy Unit) gave an overview of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and its relevance to PCER. She emphasised the importance of robust evaluation in developing strong REF case studies, particularly in demonstrating benefits or changes beyond academia. Anne advised colleagues to maintain good records and explore the Symplectic Elements impact module (SSO required). New guidance on how engagement and impact will be assessed is expected in early autumn 2025 – updates will be shared via RISN.
• Dr Michaela Livingstone-Banks (Head of PCER, MPLS) shared guidance on including public engagement with research in grant applications. Michaela outlined the benefits of costing PER into proposals, what funders are looking for, practical approaches to planning and budgeting engagement activities, and the valuable support PER Facilitators can offer.

We also launched a new Agony Aunt slot – a space for questions and updates. Rachel Piper (Community Engagement Coordinator, Innovation & Engagement Team) shared news on finance-related projects and Customer Relationship Management developments.

Missed it? Read the slides (SSO required) or Join the PEF Network MS Teams Channel (SSO required).

02 June 2025 - Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2025

Congratulations to all the teams and individuals nominated in the 2025 awards.

In the Research Engagement Award, the winner was ‘Engaging stakeholders to build a Kenyan learning system’, with ‘Improving the lives of disadvantaged children in Peru’ highly commended.

The winner of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for outstanding contribution was “Uncovering Oxfordshire’s ‘dinosaur highway’”.

After an Oxfordshire quarry worker stumbled upon dinosaur footprints, Oxford University Museum of Natural History sprang into action, spearheading an intense seven-day excavation. This uncovered the world’s fifth-longest dinosaur trackway, with 200 footprints meticulously documented for research. Through global media outreach, events, and exhibitions, public excitement was sparked worldwide.

Find out more about all the winners of the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards 2025

27 May 2025 - The Fans’ Stories – Call the Midwife

Building on the success of Tales from Call the Midwife to mark the BBC’s centenary in 2022, Dr Alice Watson has once again teamed up with the BBC on a special follow-on project exploring Call the Midwife fandom.

In this brand new co-produced video series, Alice explores how audiences engage with, and express their passion for, Call the Midwife beyond simply watching the show. She does so by speaking with 6 fans from across the UK who have been inspired to engage in diverse creative activities and practices, from collecting memorabilia and recording spin-off podcasts to knitting dolls of favourite characters and designing intricate cross-stitch patterns. Alice captures their stories, objects, and artefacts, and delves deeper into the motivations behind and significance of their Call the Midwife fandom.

This project forms part of Alice’s collaborative research with the BBC exploring the power and impact of public service broadcasting on audiences.

The project builds on the AHRC-funded project 'Tales from Call the Midwife' - a co-produced 28-part podcast for the BBC's centenary in 2022, featuring fans who remembered, lived through, or had been touched by the drama's storylines, from Down's syndrome and adoption to miscarriage and alcoholism: Tales from Call the Midwife - Canvas (bbcrewind.co.uk)

Together, these two public-engagement projects showcase impactful work within cultural geography and highlight the value and potential of collaborating with major cultural partners, such as the BBC. They also demonstrate the power of popular culture to affect, empower, and make a difference to audiences watching, and uncover the ways in which viewers can become creators, artists, and storytellers in their own right.

19 May 2025 - Find out about a PCER Fund project connecting research, practice and youth voices on online misogyny 

Funded by the Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER) Fund in 2024/25, Research to Action: Tackling Online Misogyny is a collaborative project between members of Oxford’s Ethox Centre and Beyond Equality, an NGO engaging with men and boys for gender equality. Over a series of events, the project aims to create opportunities for engagement between research, practice, and the experiences and views of young people in order to improve our approaches to working with men and boys to address the growing culture of online misogyny.

Our first online event brought together over 100 researchers and youth practitioners – including teachers, youth justice officers, health workers, social workers, youth workers, advocates and more – for a panel and plenary discussion drawing out diverse experiences, perspectives, and expertise on the issue of online misogyny. Key concerns raised included the normalisation of misogynistic content among young people, its rapid evolution, and questions about where responsibility lies.

We then explored these issues further with the NeurOx Young Person’s Advisory Group in a participatory workshop, where members shared their views and co-created priority messages for adults and institutions. These included rising ‘victim-blaming’ online, the ease of bypassing bans, and the need for more open conversations with parents and teachers.

Our final online event will showcase the results of the participatory workshop, using this to stimulate discussion amongst researcher and practitioner stakeholders as to best approaches to tackling online misogyny with young men and boys, and the priorities for further research and collaboration between us, in the form of a lasting community of practice.

For further information, please contact Jennifer Roest (Ethox Centre).

Find out more about the PCER Fund.

13 May 2025 - Community Connections with Research Open Space: What opportunities do we have to collaborate on research projects?

Tuesday 8 July, 1000 – 1400 hrs  | Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, Oxford City Centre   

We are inviting community groups and University of Oxford researchers & public engagement colleagues to come together at our Community Connections with Research Open Space.

You're invited to bring along topics or projects you’d like to discuss. Our theme is “What opportunities do we have to collaborate on research projects?”

You may have answers to that question in the form of projects you’ve been working on for a while, or fresh new ideas on which you want other people’s input. You may even have more questions! All of this is very welcome at the event.

We will break off into small groups to have conversations on these topics. It’ll be a chance to learn from others’ work and to network and build relationships.

We have some budget for supporting those for whom there may be a financial barrier to attend – please see our Eventbrite page for more information on bursaries.

We will be running a poster exhibition during the lunchtime slot, if you’d like to submit a poster about a community engaged research project, please let us know on your sign-up form (or send us an email – [email protected])

Find out more and sign up on Eventbrite.

07 May 2025 - PCER's Latest Sessions on Funding and Evaluation

Throughout March, April and May, the Public and Community Engagement with Research (PCER) team delivered a series of impactful sessions to strengthen engagement practice across the University. Sessions on Funding Public & Community Engagement brought together researchers and professional services staff to raise awareness of the PCER Fund. The sessions took place in the divisions and covered the PCER Fund application process, featured insights from previously funded researchers, and offered practical tips for writing strong, impact-driven proposals.

More information about the PCER Fund: next application deadline is 19 May 2025.

On 1 May, the team hosted an online Difference Framework Workshop. The interactive session introduced participants to the Difference Framework – a practical tool for planning, evaluating, and reporting engagement activities. Attendees explored how engagement creates meaningful change for communities, researchers, and research, and reflected on the importance of evaluation for learning, improvement, and storytelling. These events supported the PCER team’s continued efforts to embed engagement more deeply across the University.

Find out about the Difference Framework.

28 April 2025 - New PCER Branding resources available

Engagement at Oxford includes diverse activities with different audiences, purposes, and methods. We uphold responsible, purposeful, and ethical engagement.

Our visual identity aims to highlight this work and help people identify those who are doing public and community engagement with research.

Explore and download the assets to get started (Internal only - SSO required).

22 April 2025 - New PCER Resources available

We're pleased to share three new documents that complement the PCER Strategy and help bring its priorities to life:

• Newly designed PCER Strategy pdf - Presents the strategy in an engaging format, making it easier to navigate and understand.
• Annex A - Context and Case Studies - Offers a series of case studies illustrating the diverse ways in which PCER activity is taking shape across the University.
• PCER Strategy Poster - A quick reference guide that visually summarises the key elements of the strategy. 

09 April 2025 - “We are all mutants” - Engaging A-Level Biology students with ethics and genomics

This week, we heard from Anne Goriely, Professor of Human Genetics at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (WIMM) and her team about their recent work with A-level students in Southport. This work was funded by the Enriching Engagement grant scheme, a Welcome Trust funding scheme managed by our team in Public and Community Engagement with Research.

The workshop engaged A-Level Biology students with ethical questions around genomic testing in newborns. Read about their experience and watch the animation they have created here: "We Are All Mutants" — MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine