Making Research Matter

06 Feb 2026

What exactly is public engagement, and why does it matter? In our flagship event this term, OSSCE gathered experts on the topic for a panel discussion hosted in the beautiful Holywell Music Room.

OSSCE president Luisa Haiß chaired the panel for a crowd of students and researchers. The star of the lineup was Prof. Irene Tracey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The VC has a background in neuroscience and a passion for public engagement, and it was wonderful to hear her perspectives considering her broad background knowledge. Tom Saunders, head of public engagement at UKRI, was able to provide some insider knowledge regarding the ways that your public engagement work can interact with funding opportunities, and how best we can stop people seeing that as “ticking a box”.

Hazel Beaver, a patient representative for Oxford Cancer, shared her experiences as a recipient of public engagement. She had many valuable insights on how researchers can make practical changes to the ways they communicate with laypeople, as well as informing us about the importance of involving patients in all stages of the process. Dr. Rebecca Hill, public opinion and involvement manager at the Campaign for Science and Engineering, discussed research from both CaSE and UKRI, and what it shows we as researchers need to change.

Many thanks to all our speakers for an evening of stimulating conversation and great suggestions that we can all bear in mind in our future work. We hope that all the attendees enjoyed it as much as we did!