Investigating diversity in European audiences for public engagement with research: Who attends European Researchers' Night in Ireland, the UK and Malta?

ABSTRACT: European Researchers' Night is an annual pan-European synchronized event devoted to public engagement with research. It was first held in 2005 and now occurs in over 400 cities across Europe, with the aim of bringing researchers closer to the general public. To investigate social inclusion in these events, we conducted survey research across three national contexts (Ireland, Malta and the UK) and events in seven cities between 2016 and 2019 (n = 1590). The results from this exploratory descriptive study confirmed one hypothesis, namely that event attendees had substantially higher levels of university qualification than the national publics. This is in line with wider patterns of unequal participation in public engagement with research activities based on socio-economic status. However, we

SUBMITTER: Jensen AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8279411 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature