Public Engagement

Public & Community Engagement Group

The Public & Community Engagement Group (PCEG) is predominantly for Management Professional & Administrative staff supporting and/or leading public and community engagement. Read our full Terms of Reference below. Our TOR was developed through two Away Days and multiple consultation events in 2024.

If you are interested in joining the group, please get in touch with Zara Gladman: zara.gladman@glasgow.ac.uk.

Public & Community Engagement Group Terms of Reference

Public and Community Engagement Group

University of Glasgow, 2024

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background to this document

This document has been collectively created to guide and support engagement staff working across University of Glasgow to work together to achieve shared aims. By ‘engagement’ we refer to public and community engagement.

Our Vision

University of Glasgow has a highly connected, skilled, valued, and confident professional engagement staff cohort that is supported and encouraged to achieve its ambitious activities, delivering meaningful benefits for people and partners within and beyond the university.

Our Values

The Public and Community Engagement Group (PCEG) is an inclusive and non-hierarchical support structure that facilitates collaboration and peer support. All members of the network are equal partners in its success. We foster understanding, trust and appreciation between network members and provide a safe space to discuss our work openly and freely.

Our Objectives

The Public and Community Engagement Group operates to

1. Facilitate peer support, capacity building and support the career development of group members

2. Enable information sharing between members, and collaboration across colleges, schools and services

3. Support coordination of engagement activity and partnerships across the university

4. Collate, share and celebrate good practice

5. Advocate for the critical role of engagement by pro-actively contributing to the university’s strategic and operational planning

Membership of the Network

Membership is predominantly for Management Professional & Administrative staff supporting and/or leading public and community engagement.

Duration and Frequency of Meetings

A minimum of one committee meeting should take place in each 3-month period. Meetings should last around 90 minutes.

An annual away day should be scheduled, ideally off-campus to enable annual priority-setting.

Roles and Responsibilities

The following roles are proposed.

Facilitator:

A rotating role, each committee meeting will have a Facilitator who agrees the agenda and facilitates the meeting. The Facilitator for following meetings will be agreed at the end of each meeting. Agenda items to be sent to the Facilitator.

Secretary:

A rotating role, secretaries’ responsibilities include scheduling and calling committee meetings, managing distribution lists, circulating agendas and any relevant documentation, note taking, file management and documentation of the committee’s activities.

Sub-Groups:

At various points it may be advantageous to have sub-groups who work semi-autonomously on a time-limited basis on projects, thematic interests, or priorities. In this case a sub-group facilitator and sub-group secretary should also be appointed, whose responsibility it will be to feed into the main group meetings.

Meeting Agenda

The following agenda is proposed as a template for the first meeting that will be adapted for each meeting that follows, as required:

1. Facilitator’s welcome and networking

2. Apologies and brief introductions

3. Key items for discussion

4. Sub-group updates

5. Facilitator and Secretary confirmation for next meeting

6. AOB (include member updates if required)

Member updates (roles, projects, programmes, funding, etc) can be submitted in between meetings on MS Teams channel e.g. “I need / I have” – signposting and sharing resources, tools, connections, training.

Updating the Terms of Reference

The terms of reference should be reviewed, and either updated or approved every 12 months at the away day. Updates can be proposed by any group member and should be agreed by consensus of the group

This document was last approved on 22 October 2024.