International Perspectives

International Perspectives

The UK is held in high regard by many other countries for its proactive public engagement scene. In the higher education sector, the role taken by UK Universities in promoting community engagement plays a major role in this international reputation. Approaches taken in the UK to promote dialogue and conversation are particularly notable. In Europe, the language used to describe approaches to public interaction has began to shift from communication to engagement, while in the US there is a new discussion cafe and festival movement that takes much of its learning from the UK.

The public engagement with research team are involved in a variety of projects and conversations with overseas partners, including in Australia, US, China, Europe and the Middle East. In Europe, the University working with Satrosphere has secured two framework 7 projects the most recent of which is delivering a new exhibition on the bioeconomy. The University is also a member of the EU Places network. We have a handshake agreement with PechaKucha in Japan allowing us to officially mount Aberdeen's PK Night series. We are actively engaged with Scotland Europa and other networks in exploiting the opportunities of the new European funding scheme Horizon 2020.

We are also involved the growing number of major festivals in China and the Middle East which are setting new benchmarks for scale and quality of schools and public engagement.