RESEARCH ARTICLE Mapping Public Engagement with Research in a UK University

Notwithstanding that ‘public engagement ’ is conceptualised differently internationally and in different academic disciplines, higher education institutions largely accept the importance of public engagement with research. However, there is limited evidence on how researchers conceptualise engagement, their views on what constitutes engagement and the communi-ties they would (or would not) like to engage with. This paper presents the results of a sur-vey of researchers in the Open University that sought to gather data to fill these gaps. This research was part of an action research project designed to embed engagement in the rou-tine practices of researchers at all levels. The findings indicate that researchers have a rela-tively narrow view of public engagement with research and the communities with which they interact. It also identified that very few strategically evaluate their public engagement activi-ties. We conclude by discussing some of the interventions we have introduced with the aim of broadening and deepening future researcher engagement