A reappraisal of public engagement in Oxford during the pandemic: three case studies

Abstract

Plain English summary It is widely recognised that research is improved when public groups are informed or consulted in this work. In university research settings, academics are actively encouraged to engage the public and seek their input and opinion. However, in order for this work to be of benefit to all involved, the public groups included should be diverse and represent a wide range of society. The Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities is a Wellcome Trust funded research centre at the University of Oxford. The Centre aims to assess and interpret some of the major ethical questions of our time, essentially questioning what it means to be human in a world of rapid technological change. The public engagement work of the Centre strives to include public opinion on its research and raise awareness of the many ethical issues we face as a species. Before the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the Centre held a range of ‘in-person’ events, where public groups and researchers were able to communicate in the same space. However, since the pandemic, this engagement work has moved fully online. Through evaluating these activities, we have been able to interpret which groups of people have participated. Through capturing this information, the Centre can monitor both the reach of its work and whether diverse groups of people have been included. We have found that there are a range of barriers and complications involved in solely online engagement and that future online work must address these issues, should it continue.

Keywords

• Public engagement
• COVID-19
• Pandemic
• Inclusivity
• Diversity