Beacon for Wales

The Beacon for Wales was a four year project to embed public engagement to embed public engagement into Welsh universities. The Beacon for Wales was a partnership between Cardiff University, University of Glamorgan, Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales, BBC Cymru Wales, and Techniquest, and was funded by the Higher Education Funding Councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust.

Significant achievements of the Beacon for Wales included:

• Engagement being part of the reward and recognition processes of Cardiff and Glamorgan Universities.
• 27 engagement projects funded across Wales engaging with over 7,000 people for an average of five hours each.
• Effective partnerships between the universities and community organisations.
• A cohort of staff and postgraduate students who are committed to public engagement with research and who are taking responsibility for supporting this work in their departments.
• Academics being promoted on the basis of their engagement work and academics who do excellent research also doing large amounts of engagement.
• Continued momentum since the end of the Beacon for Wales in March 2012 including more bids being submitted for funding of engagement, more staff being recruited to coordinate and deliver engagement, and continued working between the five partners.

The final report can be read by downloading the pdf file from the right of this page. If you would like any further information about the Beacon for Wales, please contact Bruce Etherington, EtheringtonBM@cardiff.ac.uk