I am gaining experience in peer review for academic
applications in arts and humanities. I am now a member
of AHRC peer review college. My term is for four years and
begins this year, 2022. I completed my training at an event
on 10th of March. This was at the University of Manchester
Business School. This was fascinating in its insights into
role and structure of AHRC application processes and
panel reviews. It was also brilliant to attend an in-
person event.
AHRC UKRI logo 2022. Source: ukri.org, n.d.
I am considering how I describe public engagement of my
work and in my practice for academic audiences. On
Thursday 24th March I took part in a consultation
for my work at the University of Huddersfield. This
was run by a third party consultant. This is work
to develop public consultation strategies and a full
strategy map for the University of Huddersfield.
This was a fascinating experience and involved
discussion around language in my teaching and research
practice. I considered my live briefs and projects I
have run in year 2 and in particular spoke about work
I did in 2021 for NHS Calderdale and Huddersfield.
My second project for these clients was to promote
information, a resource for young people and their families
who are about to have MRI scans. NHS can benefit
from communication in this area. When people have
lack of access to information it can lead to distress,
expense and repeat scans. This costs money and is
avoidable through simple communication strategies.
This project has direction by Shyam Patel and
music by Joe Watson. A movie is below. This was
part of a wider launch to promote work in this area.
NHS - MRI Scan Animation from Motion-go on Vimeo.
As well as my teaching practice I referenced myresearch and in particular spoke about my work with
Ukrainian communities. I spoke about audiences and
participants. I also spoke about mainstream
activities and specific academic audiences. I became
aware of differences and links between global and
local audiences and when these merge. For example
with my work with Ukrainian communities where local
interests and small community groups in Manchester
and other areas in West Yorkshire have become
international and global news events on a major
scale.
I am working on ways to develop impact in my
research. This week I took part in two half-day
policy workshops. University of Huddersfield organised these
workshops by Institute for Government. This
was a fantastic and inspiring two half-days with lots
of opportunities for discussion and a lot of information.
I learned a lot about roles in government, roles of civil
service, house of lords and house of commons and how to
access policy makers in these areas. There was
discussion and analysis of profile. I spoke about my
new website. An image of this is below. I also
considered various roles and departments within
government and how my work can contribute to these
areas. For example, a fantastic presentation involving
work from an academic with OFCOM and how my work
may relate to departments and All Party Parliamentary
Groups within government. This was an inspiring
two days. It was also fantastic to connect with
other colleagues from the School of Arts and Humanities
at Huddersfield. Many of these conversations led to
interesting ideas and possible collaborations. It was
fantastic to find out more about colleagues’ work in
areas I know and areas I don’t.
Website 2022. Source: Author.
Engaging with Policy Makers Workshop Notes 2022.
Source: Author.
References:
Motion-go (2021) NHS - MRI Scan Animation [Online]. Vimeo. Available from: <https://vimeo.com/548995180> [Accessed 2 April 2022].
UKRI (2022) Peer review college [Online]. UKRI. Available from: <https://www.ukri.org/councils/ahrc/guidance-for-reviewers/peer-review-college/> [Accessed 2 April 2022].
Nesteruk, S. (2022) Sara Nesteruk [Online]. S. Nesteruk. Available from: <https://saranesteruk.co.uk/> [Accessed 2 April 2022].
