About Us

Revealing Research is the office that supports staff and students maximise the social impact of the University of Dundee's research portfolio.

We are still a relatively new office, established in August 2008 by Prof. David Boxer. Revealing Research is staffed by a core of experienced and professionally-trained experts that act as a central hub for co-ordinating all public engagement activities in the University.

Our Aims

We aim to provide a friendly and efficient service for all staff and students at the University, whilst creating and developing a University strategy for public engagement and social impact.

We will achieve this by:

enhancing the skills and employability of researchers by providing them with communication training and support,
promoting the profile of our researchers through organising events and co-ordinating with regional and national activities,
supporting colleagues to secure additional funding for their own public engagement projects,
advising on impact statements required by funders to increase research grant success and
support administrators as they prepare for the Impact assessment part of the new Research Excellence Framework.

Our Background

In August 2008 Dr. Jon Urch was appointed the Public Engagement Officer at the University. Jon swiftly established the Revealing Research office, which reported to the head of Generic Skills Dundee until August 2009. During this first year we were funded by a Scottish Government Science Engagement grant in a joint bid with Dundee Science Centre.

In August 2009, as we established ourselves as a more independent unit, we moved to the Principal's Office. At this time Dr. Paul Campbell, a Reader in Physics, was appointed the Academic Public Engagement Champion at the University of Dundee. In this new role Paul took responsibility for driving forward the University's public engagement strategy and the Revealing Research office reported directly to him.

During this year, we were awarded funding by the Scottish Funding Council to create and develop a network of Universities, Science Centres and Research Institutes in the North East of Scotland. Dr. Louise Murphy was recruited to the office as the Public Engagement Assistant to support the newly created OPEN North East network. Louise used her excellent technical skills to create the Engaging Scotland website - a searchable resource of research focussed public events across the nation.

From August 2010 we are pleased to announce that we have joined External Relations, a directorate that is full of experts with skills in areas that will support us in achieving all of our aims. We are looking forward to using our experiences to the benefit of our new wider team.