These awards aim to:
- Celebrate and make visible the significant and wide range of contributions that our University makes to society when working with individuals, communities, nature, representative groups, organisations, policymakers and businesses
- Recognise and reward staff who have undertaken innovative and exemplary public engagement activities resulting in positive societal impact
- Support the culture of public engagement at Maynooth University and continuously expand our shared understanding of how we engage for positive public impact
Applications are welcome from both individuals and teams who are working on collaborative projects.
In 2024 there are two categories of Maynooth University Public Engagement Awards.
1)Maynooth University Public Engagement Award 2024 (Individual)
The Engaged Individual of the Year award recognises an outstanding member of the Maynooth University community who has made significant contributions to public engagement on an individual level. This category is open to any staff member who has engaged non-academic audiences with the University’s research, teaching and learning, policymaking or community initiatives.
2) Maynooth University Public Engagement Award 2024 (Team)
The Engaged Team of the Year Award recognises a group or team that have collaborated in a public engagement activity. This award celebrates the collective efforts of the team. This category is open to academics, researchers, and administrative, technical or professional and support staff members from any (or several) departments or offices of Maynooth University. Teams may also include partner organisations.
Any Maynooth University staff member (Academic, Administrative, Technical, Professional, Support and Research etc.) who has completed their probationary period is eligible to apply for this award. Applicants must be a staff member at the time the recipients are selected (1 June 2024).
People from partner organisations may be included in the application for the team award.
You must obtain permission from the partner organisation/individual named or referenced in your application to be eligible. The award winners will be made public. Please note that any partnerships where the external partner wishes to remain confidential are not eligible for inclusion in the application for these awards.
External funding is not a requirement for these awards; it is impact of the engagement that counts. Projects of all sizes will be duly considered.
Your application should align with the University Strategic Plan 2023-28, and its stated goal to grow “mutually beneficial partnerships to support our strategic objectives.” Please note that evidence of the mutual benefits of your engagement work is an important criterion to include in your application.
Your application project should demonstrate at least one of the following elements: engaged education, research engagement, social responsibility and/or knowledge exchange. Engaged education may include teaching or extra-curricular learning, inside or outside the classroom.
Examples of the types of engagement partners include, but are not limited to:
- Engagement with Community. This includes: communities and community organisations (local, regional or national, international), nature, arts and cultural organisations, sports, civic and civil society organisations, representative/patient groups, schools etc. Queries on other eligible partners can be made to: [email protected].
- Engagement with Policymakers
- Engagement with Industry
Please see Evaluation Criteria listed below.
Examples of impacts with mutual benefit include, but are not limited to:
- Benefits to staff and students may include transversal skills development, enhanced confidence, or understanding processes of engagement and learning that develops practice, scholarship and research.
- Benefits to the public are broad, but may include: evidence of a new method, practice or approach; evidence of impact on a public policy issue, public debate or understanding; evidence of positive impact on a business, scientific or societal challenge; evidence of a change in attitude, perception, understanding or way of working; evidence of excellence, improvement or knowledge transfer as a result of the engagement.
The University welcomes applications where evidence is provided of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) considerations in the planning of the engagement process.
Staff members may apply themselves for an award (individual or team). If applying for the team category, it is essential that all team members are informed about the application and give their approval.
You may submit a written application or a video application.
All applications should be uploaded to https://forms.office.com/e/cBpny6eazH by the deadline.
For team award submissions, please include a list of team members, their email addresses and organisation. We encourage you to include all team members, or their representatives, who have made a significant contribution to the public engagement project. It is essential to include team members who are external partners or who have played a key role in leading/co-ordinating the project.
Your application should cover details of the engagement activity, outcomes and the mutual benefits of your public engagement work within the past two years. Demonstrating the mutual benefits includes impact both internally (benefits for MU staff, students or the University) and externally (benefits for the partner/public). Evidence of work before the two-year period can be included but will not form the basis of the selection panel’s decision.
Written Application:
Written applications must comprise:
- Word document of no more than 750 words
- Other supporting evidence of engagement impact (examples include but are not limited to: images or links to reports, data, testimonials, publicity, websites etc.
Written submissions can include diagrams and links to sources quoted in document.
Video Application:
You may choose to apply by taking a video of you (and/or your team) talking about your engagement work and addressing the criteria. The video should be no more than 8 minutes in length. Video submissions can include illustrations, diagrams, and video content produced by yourself or the project. You must have the rights to this content.
When submitting your video application, you must confirm that Maynooth University has the consent of those people appearing in the video to store and use the video in the assessment of your application. We may also ask for permission to use the video in publicising the competition and/or the winning project.
While it is important that your video is clear and addresses the criteria your submission, it will not be judged on its ‘production quality’ and you should record it in a way that is as simple and manageable for you as possible; for most people this will be done using a smartphone or by inviting your project group to a Teams meeting that you set to record.
Video submissions should be recorded in landscape format (i.e. with your phone on its side). You may find these tips on capturing video with a smart phone useful.
NOTE: We recognise these forms of submission may not be accessible to all. Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss submission options.
Deadline: 1st May, 2024
The winners will be announced in June 2024.
All applications will be reviewed using the following the criteria:
• Evidence of your engaged practice
• Breadth and depth of the outputs and impacts
• Mutual benefits (internal and external) – to the public and partners and the work of the individual or team
The Vice-President External Affairs will convene a panel to select the winners of the awards. The panel may choose to shortlist applicants and invite them to discuss their application before selecting the winners. This is an opportunity for the panel to ask you questions about your engagement work.
In addition to the award winners, the selection panel may choose to commend applications, or make “Special Recognition Awards,” where they feel the contribution to public engagement is outstanding.
The selection panel will consist of the following:
• Director of Strategic Partnerships & Engagement (once filled)
• Vice-President Students & Learning
• Vice-President Research & Innovation or their nominee
• Director of Estates or their nominee
• 1 nominee per Faculty (Academic or ATP)
- Individual with direct public policy experience (internal or external)
• Director of MaynoothWorks or their nominee
• External University Partner or Member of the Public *NOTE: The member will not be currently affiliated with any submitted project under consideration.
