Get involved

The core programme run by the School's Public Engagement team provides a range of opportunities for you to volunteer, with different levels of involvement, to suit different needs, calendars and time commitments. 

• An outline of the core projects we run is below.
• Specific opportunities and dates relating to these projects will be circulated by email.

Current projects

To take part contact the School's Public Engagement Manager. 

As well as involvement in activities run directly by the School Public Engagement Team, individuals and labs in the School run their own Public Engagement projects, often obtaining their own external funding to support this. 

The School's Public Engagement Team can assist with this if required.

We also work with individual researchers to develop activities relating to their research, which can be incorporated into the core PE programme. 

Key contacts

You are welcome to contact the Academic Lead for Public Engagement, to discuss incorporation of Public Engagement into research. 

Key contacts

If you want advice developing your own Public Engagement idea, then contact the School's Public Engagement Manager. 

If participating in the core programme run by the School Public Engagement Team, you will be trained in relation to the specific activities you are volunteering for.

The School Public Engagement Team also run an annual half-day course Public Engagement in Practice, open to PhD students and post-doc researchers and usually run in February. This introduces Public Engagement and covers specific opportunities to sign up for in the School. 

Central University support and guidance on Public Engagement is provided by Edinburgh Research Office, and this may include relevant training courses.

University support and guidance

If you wish to apply for your own Public Engagement funding, check if your funding body has any calls that you are eligible to apply for.

Check the School's Funding calls emails for any new Public Engagement funding opportunities. 

School Research funding updates SharePoint

Look at societies you are a member of (or are eligible to apply to) who offer small Public Engagement grants, such as the: 

• Genetics Society
• Biochemical Society
• Society for Experimental Biology
• Royal Society

The National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) offers advice on obtaining funding. 

NCCPE website

If you are applying for Public Engagement funding, the Public Engagement Team can help you with the application - contact the School's Public Engagement Manager. 

The School Public Engagement Team has a stock of equipment which you may be able to borrow, such as: 

• microscopes
• samples
• a good quality camera
• various props 

We also have basic supplies such as School of Biological Sciences t-shirts, table-clothes, etc. 

If you are applying for a research grant or fellowship that has the option of additional funds for Public Engagement, the School Public Engagement Team can help you write this part of the application. 

Contact the School Public Engagement Manager for further information. 

Please contact the School's Communications Manager for help with this. 

We work with many external partners, and are always open to new collaborations with like-minded organisations. Some of our external partners include: 

• City of Edinburgh Council
• National Museum of Scotland
• Science Skills Academy of Highlands and Islands Enterprise
• Other universities
• Various Scottish science festivals
• Various Edinburgh community groups

The School Strategy for Public Engagement highlights the wish to include socioeconomically-disadvantaged audiences. For example, audiences and school pupils from areas which are more in need of support according to the Scottish Index of Multiple deprivation. Such areas exist very close to Kings Buildings campus, and we endeavour to share our knowledge and benefits with our neighbours. 

Some of our projects also involve targeting school pupils in rural areas. Geographical isolation can also result in lower access to support and opportunities than in urban areas. 

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

The vast majority of our activities are free, which is important given that we often aim to reach communities or schools in socioeconomically-deprived areas. 

Exceptions are where we must fit into the established format of a festival or programme of another organisation. E.g. the University charges for workshops we run in the University of Edinburgh programme for Edinburgh Science Festival (ESF), and this money goes back into the organisational costs of the festival. However, University drop-in activities in this programme are free. Similarly, our biotechnology workshops in the NMS education programme are charged for in line with that programme. Here, the charge is a fraction of the true cost of our workshops, so we still cover the majority of the cost. 

Often when organisations charge for such events, it’s not simply to reap back costs – it can often be to deter participants from booking then not turning up at the last moment, which can be a problem when bookable events are free.