UG and UMCG introduce a pilot for a public engagement seed fund

The University of Groningen (UG) and UMCG have introduced a pilot for a public engagement seed fund to encourage interaction between academia and the public.

Public engagement stands for the many ways in which the activities and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with a wide audience; including social and public involvement.

The seed fund provides the opportunity for scientific staff of the UG and the UMCG to get up to €5,000 for ongoing or future public engagement projects. All submissions are screened for eligibility by a jury consisting of University of Groningen and UMCG employees, after which four eligible projects are randomly selected to get the funding they requested. Indeed, the Public Engagement seed fund rewards those staff members of the UG and the UMCG that want to engage the public without unnecessary competitiveness and distributes available funding in a manner that acknowledges that funding is distributed at least partly based on luck.

It takes time and effort to engage society in research, which is currently too often perceived as an investment without clear career benefits. Hopefully, the Public Engagement seed fund will help staff of the UG and the UMCG that aim to engage the public to feel acknowledged and their endeavors valued, and will encourage the rest.

Please submit your application before Thursday, 1 December 2022.
Another call for the public engagement seed fund will be issued before the summer of 2023.

The fund will run until september 2023 as part of the UG Open Science Programme.

The continuation of the fund beyond september 2023 is conditional on funding renewal by the UG.