Researchers and practitioners worldwide face the challenge of ensuring that participation and Public Engagement (PE) in research are inclusive, ethical and context-sensitive. The Collaborative Futures Academy (CFA), which ran from 2021 to 2025, aimed to collectively strengthen awareness and skills for this work. It thereby sought to advance the practice of public engagement across academic disciplines, geographical regions and cultural contexts.
Taking the form of a professional online academy, the CFA provided a space for participants to discuss shared questions, exchange expertise and build networks. Each year, the academy focused on a theme with direct relevance to the participants’ work, such as creativity, emotions, ethics and equity, and place. Using a variety of methods – including workshops, peer-learning groups, case studies, creative exercises, storytelling, forum theatre and reflective practice – the programme fostered a nuanced approach to PE, based on an ethos of care.
Over a period of five years, CFA brought together more than 250 participants from over 30 countries, building a global network. Based on the themes, the team also produced practice-oriented publications to share insights with the wider community: the Emotions in Engagement Toolkit (2024) and the collaborative Place in Engagement Encyclopedia (2025).
Partners
The Collaborative Futures Academy was jointly developed and organised by the Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the Public Engagement Team at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Wellcome Connecting Science, the Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public (all UK) and Stellenbosch University (South Africa).
The project was funded by the University of Cambridge Public Engagement – Research England Higher Education Innovation Funding and Wellcome Connecting Science.