Public Engagement Training & Resources

About our public engagement training

Training is a core part of our public engagement programme because our research can be difficult to talk about for a number of reasons, including:

• the sensitive tissues we work with might provoke strong emotional reactions,

• the fundamental nature of our research might seem distant from most people’s daily lives, and

• in order to have informed and meaningful conversations, we have to put substantial effort into developing shared language and understanding.

Our training programme aims to prepare and support researchers and public engagement professionals to discuss human developmental biology with the public by:

• increasing skills and comfort in discussing our research transparently,

• bolstering awareness of Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of our research, and

• developing a better understanding of questions that may come up about our research, the most appropriate language to use when speaking about our research, and how to effectively listen to and learn from public responses to our research.

Public Engagement workshops & resources

Storytelling (June 2024)

Consortium members learned about how storytelling techniques can be useful for communicating about research in a broad variety of settings - from public engagement activities to grant applications.

Flash talks (September 2023)

The HDBI Insights Group (public panel) provided an opportunity for junior researchers to practice delivering flash talks as part of a friendly competition. In consultation with the HDBI public engagement manager, the Insights Group provided advice for researchers to follow in preparing presentations. That advice is available here.

Working with the media (June 2023)

Consortium members discussed and explored differences between media values and scientific values, rewrote a scientific journal article as a mainstream news story, and practiced giving interviews about their work in small groups. A ‘working with the media’ workbook is available for HDBI members - contact the PE manager for details.

‘Difficult conversations’ workshop (January 2023)

This workshop built on learnings from the previous session and focussed on discussing our research with members of the public who may be sceptical or opposed to our work. The training included tips about how to engage as well as how to close a conversation politely if the conversation becomes especially difficult. A ‘top tips’ digest can be downloaded here.

Plain English and Frequently Asked Questions Workshop (June, 2022)

In partnership with Progress Educational Trust, we delivered a workshop which focussed on putting research into ‘plain English’ and answering Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about HDBI research. Researchers worked in small groups to draft responses to FAQs which were provided by our Insights Group (panel of public stakeholders). The FAQs can be found online here

Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Introduction (February, 2022 - online)

Progress Educational Trust produced three videos, each with an expert speaking about ELSI related to HDBI research. The videos give an overview of some of the main themes within each area and served as a starting point for conversation amongst HDBI researchers. The videos are available to view on YouTube:

• Professor Bobbie Farsides (Ethical implications)

• James Lawford Davies (Legal implications)

• Dr Phillip Ball (Social implications)

If you have any questions about the HDBI public engagement workshops, training or resources, please get in touch: hdbi-pe@bio.cam.ac.uk