Public Engagement Strategy

Our three-year plan to engage with our local communities, inspire future diversity in science, and continue to create an environment where public engagement can thrive.

Download the strategy

The ICR’s public engagement strategy sets out plans for inspiring a diverse next generation of cancer researchers and fully embedding public engagement across the organisation.

The document, Be part of it - our public engagement strategy, lays out our vision to engage with our local communities in Sutton and Chelsea, focus our outreach work on supporting students and young people from backgrounds underrepresented in science, and continue to create an environment where public engagement can thrive.

The strategy uses the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement’s definition of public engagement: “Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit.”

The Communications and Policy directorate developed this strategy in collaboration with the ICR’s Public Engagement Forum and with input from across the organisation, to reflect the public engagement priorities of the organisation and its staff and students.

The strategy includes targets in four key areas:

• Actively engaging with our local community to encourage a sense of ownership and participation in our research, and to generate support for our aims and activities.
• Inspiring future diversity in science by focussing our outreach work on students from backgrounds currently underrepresented in science and research careers – targeting specific schools and audiences.
• Establishing and maintaining productive partnerships to engage with our target audiences in schools and the local community, and to reach new audiences.
• Embedding engagement in the culture of the ICR by providing training, facilitating opportunities and organising events, and recognising and rewarding efforts to engage the public with our research.

We will monitor our performance in these areas and describe our progress in our annual report on outreach and engagement at the ICR.