We believe that engaging society with research is an integral part of what it means to be an academic. It generates mutual benefits for both the public and researchers, enriches the academic experience, and enhances the quality, reach and impact of research.
Reuben College focuses on areas of research that explore challenging issues, pose thought-provoking questions, and hold potential for bringing wide range of benefits to society in the future. This is why at Reuben we promote a unique flavour of public engagement: interdisciplinary public engagement that involves both basic and translational scientists, life sciences and the humanities, social sciences and the public, creating a new vision of how our research can address 21st century challenges.
While many of our fellows already run a range of engagement projects, our Governing Body Fellows in Public Engagement with Research, Culture and Heritage (PERCH) – Janet Stott (Acting Director and Head of Public Engagement at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History), Catarina Vicente (Head of Scientific Strategy and Projects), JC Niala (Head of Research, Teaching, and Collections at the History of Science Museum), and Harriet Warburton (Head of Research and Impact Management in the Gardens, Libraries and Museums) – provide the expertise and leadership that ensures all our students, whether in taught or research-based courses, have the opportunity to receive training in public engagement, and run or participate in their own initiatives if they wish so.
Throughout the year all students (whether or not participating in the Innovation Fund - see below) as well as College Fellows and staff, can benefit from the expertise of Reuben's PERCH Fellows, and can participate in termly events on best practice in PERCH.
We hope that when students leave us, they are equipped with the skills and experience that will allow them to become engaged professionals, whether in academia or in the broad range of other career paths available to our graduates.
Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM)
Reuben College shares some of its main building with the Radcliffe Science Library and the Museum Collections, Teaching and Resource Centre (CTRC). This creates a genuine – and unique – partnership between an Oxford college and GLAM, the University’s Division for Gardens, Libraries and Museums, enriched by the PERCH fellows' associations with GLAM departments. Our students and researchers are encouraged to take full advantage of this partnership to access the full benefit of GLAM's learning and research resources, as well as develop innovative teaching methods and public engagement initiatives that can enhance the influence and impact of their own work.
