UCL wins national public engagement award

UCL Public and Cultural Engagement are celebrating success at the national Engage Competition Awards which took place on 11 June 2014 at the Natural History Museum. The Public Engagement team won the 'Collaborations' award for their project Focus on the Positive and were shortlisted for the 'Established Project' category with Bright Club. The regular networking event Creating Connections was also shortlisted in the 'Collaborations' category. Focus on the Positive is a public event where the audience chooses how to change the world. Organised with a wide variety of organisations from museums to retired learners' groups, the event features a handful of UCL researchers who explain how they want to tackle the big issues in our world. The audience question the speakers both on stage and face-to-face before voting for what they would like to support, with the winning researcher getting £2,000 to spend on the idea they have proposed. Steve Cross, Head of Public Engagement at UCL, said: "We're flattered and honoured that Focus On The Positive has won this award and pleased that Bright Club and Creating Connections were shortlisted too.