Focus for table discussions PROFESSOR MIRIAM DAVID

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Focus for table discussions PROFESSOR MIRIAM
DAVID
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Summary of recommendations
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Learned societies

• Each learned society should formally consider
  whether it wishes to strengthen its commitment to
  knowledge exchange and/or public engagement work
  or, where already committed, widen the range and
  reach of their activities.
• If so, each society should consider the
  appropriateness of activities in the following
  five categories
• opening themselves to dialogue between
  researchers and practitioners
• responding to policy, practice or public agendas
  
• working jointly with non-academic practitioners
• engaging with the public
• making their expertise more widely available
• A society should create organisational
  responsibilities to drive such activities
  forward.
• Each society should exploit all available
  resources to achieve these goals.

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Academy of Social Sciences

• The Academy of Social Sciences should act in
  partnership with the ESRC in pursuit of the
  latters strategic objectives for knowledge
  transfer and public engagement.
• The AcSS should adopt a three-fold programme of
  action
• promoting the contribution of social science to
  public affairs
• supporting its member learned societies
  knowledge transfer and public engagement work
  (current awareness service good practice
  training directory of recommended freelancers)
• organising cross-disciplinary responses to
  policy, practice or public agendas
• The Academy should create organisational
  responsibilities to drive such activities
  forward.
• The Academy should exploit all available
  resources to achieve these goals.

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ESRC

• The ESRC should act in partnership with the AcSS
  in pursuit of its strategic objectives for
  knowledge transfer and public engagement along
  with other stakeholders. (social science
  responses to policy, practice or public agendas
  contacts with non-academic, practitioner
  communities training)
• To help the AcSS and the learned societies to
  enhance their programmes of activities, the ESRC
  should actively promote what professional and
  financial support it can provide.
• The ESRC should provide encouragement and advice
  to learned societies on knowledge transfer and
  public engagement work, making use of the AcSS,
  as appropriate, as a conduit or channel to reach
  them in the most effective way.

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Next steps

• After the conference, the AcSS should encourage
  all its member learned societies to consider
  formally whether and how to strengthen their
  commitment to knowledge exchange and public
  engagement.
• The AcSS and ESRC should reflect on the
  recommendations in light of the June 2008
  workshop (see above) and establish their
  response. The Academy and Research Council should
  meet to review progress made by mid-2009 and plan
  the implementation of the recommendations where
  these are agreed.

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Discussion key issues

• 1. Are the conclusions of the reports and its
  recommendations the right ones? a/ for learned
  societies b/ for the academy and 3/ for ESRC ?
• Please consider this
• a/ from a user perspective
• how would you expect to work/engage with a
  learned society or the Academy?
• as a user have you had any engagement with
  learned societies - if so how?  
• b/ from a LS perspective
• how signed up to being active in this are the LS
   and what do they feel their role should or could
  be,  either independently or with the Academy to
  tease out what their unique contribution would
  be
• What can  Learned Societies and the Academy do to
  persuade and assist academics in doing KT better
  and more frequently
• What sort of audiences are Learned Societies and
  the Academy interested in/capable of providing
  access to ?
• What sort of events /mechanisms should be used to
  engage by Learned Societies and the Academy ?

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Discussion key issues (2)

• 2. Looking ahead how can the report's
   recommendations - or others - best be taken
  forward?
• How to do this with limited resources and what
  resources are essential for Learned Societies and
  the Academy?