Public Engagement Training in America: Now at Your Fingertips
A new online tool allows anyone to discover and compare public engagement training programs to meet their academic or professional needs. This resource, called the Training Initiatives for Scientists in Public Engagement (TISPE) Dashboard, is an interactive tool meant to compile and categorize the public engagement training opportunities that exist around the country.
Who Can Use the Dashboard?
Anyone interested in the public engagement landscape can use this tool.
- Scientists and students can discover and compare training opportunities that align with their professional and academic goals.
- University administrators and faculty can identify potential partnerships with their existing training programs.
- Policy advocates and funders can leverage insights to inform their advocacy efforts and funding strategies.
- Training practitioners can use insights to benchmark their programs.
Noteworthy Features:
- A customizable dashboard-like template with filters
- Open-ended search queries
- Downloadable summaries
- Embeddable format for use in other sites
Training programs are classified by initiative type, (workshops, degree or certificate programs, conferences, etc.), training domain (scicomm, policy, etc.), and scientific fields (biology, engineering, etc.).
With support from the Lasker Foundation, Research!America plans to further develop the dashboard with additional elements and metrics. This will be a user-driven process, with dashboard users allowed to submit new initiatives, changes, and updates for consideration and inclusion.
The dashboard includes over 330 unique initiatives from over 200 different organizations, including but not limited to courses, fellowships, workshops and certificates.
Looking Forward
This tool fills a need in the public engagement training landscape by providing an overview of the training opportunities that already exist in the U.S. You can read the inaugural report, watch the dashboard launch event, or try out the dashboard tool here.
