Engaging civil society

Civil society is active in all areas of life, making it relevant to all aspects of University life. Whether we think about a University’s civic mission, its role as an anchor institution within local economies, or more broadly its teaching, research and impact agendas then there are clear reasons for and opportunities to engage with civil society organisations. 

While there are lots of opportunities for engaging with civil society, there are also challenges. Universities can be daunting to approach, and the timescales that academics often work to can feel at odds with the pace of activity within many civil society organisations. Equally, civil society is vast and diverse, making it hard for academics and those within university-based engagement roles to know where to start in terms of building relationships.

This introductory session will share learnings from colleagues at the University of Birmingham on building collaborative relationships with civil society organisations. It will be relevant to people working in engagement roles as well as academics from across a range of disciplines.

Agenda

14:00-14:05 (CEST)
Welcome and introductions
14:05-14:15 (CEST)
A whole-university approach: Examples of engagement from across the University of Birmingham – Professor Robin Miller
14:15-14:30 (CEST)
Embedding engagement: Building meaningful relationships through the Third Sector Research Centre – Dr Angela Ellis Paine
14:30-14:45 (CEST)
Meaningful research: Developing participatory approaches with civil society organizations – Dr Kelly Hall
14:45-15:00 (CEST)
Views from the others side: How BVSC engages with the University of Birmingham – Sophie Wilson
15:00-15:30 (CEST)
Questions, answers and discussion

About the speakers

Professor Robin Miller is an applied academic with an international reputation in relation to integration, leadership and implementation within health and social care. He is Director of Global Engagement for the College of Social Sciences within the University of Birmingham.

Dr Angela Ellis Paine is a Research Fellow within the School of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham. She has been undertaking research with, on and for voluntary and community organizations for over 20 years.

Dr Kelly Hall is a Reader in Social Policy at the University of Birmingham and is the School’s Director of Global Engagement. Her main research interests include ageing, health/social care, migration and the third sector, with a particular interest in social enterprise.

Sophie Wilson is the Director of BVSC Research. She has worked in the voluntary sector for many years, in a number of different organizations and roles. As Director of Research at BVSC she oversees the research and evaluation work that the organization carries out for, about and with the voluntary sector.

Further information

This session is created for the Swedish network UniLink as a direct result of the collaboration within EUniWell. UniLink is a non-profit organization that gathers Swedish universities with the purpose to strengthen mutual co-operation between science and society.

This introductory session is also open for all of EUniWell. 

You are welcome to register for the webinar here: http://unilink.se/anmalan-webinarium-engaging-civil-society  

Contact

Elin Lindkvist, Office of External Relations, Linnaeus University. E-mail: elin.lindkvist[at]lnu.se