We design and deliver bespoke leadership programmes for people leading public engagement within a university or research setting. Our approach aims to help people respond to the complex, ambiguous, and dynamic nature of university priorities, which requires developing an understanding of the bigger picture of your department/faculty/institution, reframing to align with others’ priorities, working with allies, and being comfortable in spaces where you are not the expert to help others do good work.
We aim to build leaders who are curious, reflective and relational in how they work. It turns out these skills are useful beyond outreach and public engagement.
“From working with my mentor, I am also more confident in my approach and my instincts; they helped me to internalise that it is not on me alone to change the world, and success is not binary but a spectrum of change”
“It has given me the power to continue the push within a supportive network and framework”.
“The discussions were interesting and meaningful, the teachers stirred the dialogue, but in an organic way throughout the course. The diversity of the attendees’ career stages/disciplines and backgrounds was fantastic!”
Previous participants have included early career researchers through to heads of departments and senior leaders. We have worked with people in academic or professional support roles, working in these ‘in-between spaces’ as knowledge mobilisers or public engagement managers.
Our core programme content.
We offer a diversity of different programme types, ranging from three months to eighteen months, delivered through workshops, peer groups, mentoring and coaching. Participants are invited to bring a core challenge or problem to solve during our programmes. Alongside this experiential element, our core programme content includes:
Setting and maintaining boundaries
Facilitating inclusive spaces
Creating alignment
Developing strategic documents
Securing funding
Advocating for activity at a senior department level
Building inclusive research cultures
Being strategic about what you say yes and no to
Leading through evaluation
Taking part in the programmes has been groundbreaking for some participants.
“The mentoring I've had through this programme has been eye-opening and has shown me what great mentoring can look like. I've learned huge amounts about myself, and grown in terms of critical self-reflection and constructively overcoming challenges”.
“The course was one of the things I showcased in my promotion, and I think, thelanguage I learned that was quite helpful”
“This programme transformed my thinking around the potential for becoming a more impactful, inclusive, educated and intrepid researcher”.
Our programmes are designed and delivered by facilitators and trainers on the programmes all bring an extensive track record of supporting others in developing their outreach and public engagement strategies alongside supporting change across the UK Higher Education System.
Helen Featherstone (she/her), PhD, Independent Consultant and Head of Public Engagement at the University of Bath
Helen has been leading on Public Engagement in Higher Education since 2012 and has been working in the public engagement and science communication sector for over 20 years. Helen is known for her excellent training and professional development interventions – with participants particularly valuing the expertly facilitated opportunities to learn together, to bring new ideas to their practice, and to hear real-life examples drawn from Helen’s own experiences.
Dr Dom Galliano (he\they), Independent Consultant
Dom Galliano is a freelance consultant working towards an open, transparent, and equitable research community. Dom works with academics, professional service staff, national funders, and other organisations to challenge the systems thatinhibit culture change across the academic ecosystem. Dom brings over a decade of experience from leading successful (and not so successful) programmes, structures and projects from their previous roles, which include Head of Public Engagement at UCL, Director of Outreach and Public Engagement at the Southeast Physics Network and managing Physics in Society programme for the Institute of Physics. They are an experienced mentor, having worked with over thirty academics and engagement professionals to reflect on their careers and help them through problematic projects.
Charlotte Thorley (she/her), Independent Consultant
Dr Charlotte Thorley is a freelance science communication and public engagement professional based in the West Midlands of England but working internationally. Charlotte works with charities, universities, funding agencies and researchers to create structures and strategies that value diverse voices within research, reaching new audiences and maximising impact.
Furaha Asani, (she\her) Independent Consultant
I'm Furaha Asani (she/her). I'm an interdisciplinary scholar, mental health advocate, award-winning teacher and speaker, writer, and research & development consultant. After my postdoctorate research at Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), I project managed a programme in co-production with Leicester-based community organisers from marginalised communities to identify future healthcare research priorities in a place-based context.
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Contact David Owen, a director at Gurukula.
David is a freelance consultant, facilitator and researcher based in the UK and Denmark.
