Public Engagement Training for a Complex World
Practical training and tools to help research teams design and deliver public engagement that is credible and effective.
*Beyond communication: handling public engagement in the age of misinformation
Trusted by teams at:
“I was blown away by the thought and care that The Liminal Space put into creating an inclusive yet challenging engagement workshop.”
Public engagement is expected. We help you do it well.
Funders increasingly ask for meaningful public engagement, but research teams are under pressure to deliver it well, at pace, and in environments of misinformation and low trust. Topics that were once confined to academic debate now play out in public, political, and media spaces.
For many teams, this creates challenges in:
Communicating complex ideas clearly without losing nuance
Navigating disagreement, criticism, or misinformation
Engaging publics credibly and responsibly
Too often, engagement is treated as a communications exercise, or added late in a project. But when integrated into the project it is a strategic tool that strengthens research and builds impact.
Who this is for
We work with organisations who want to build stronger, more consistent approaches to public engagement. This includes:
Academic research teams working on complex, sensitive, or contested topics
Research institutes building internal capability
Funders looking to strengthen engagement quality across portfolios
“The two-day event delivered by The Liminal Space was exceptional. From the outset, the team demonstrated a deep understanding of our challenge and they created an experience that went far beyond conventional team engagement… We are excited to continue our partnership”
A practical programme to move from intention to delivery
Our training helps researchers use public engagement as a strategic tool. It provides a structured way to embed good practice early, helping teams move from abstract expectations to clear, practical plans.
In addition to our highly-bespoke team support, we now offer a great value training package to teams:
Two live, interactive half-day online workshops
Small private cohort (typically up to 20 participants)
Guided activities to apply learning directly to your work
Six months’ access to a curated resource hub
Led by experienced public engagement specialist facilitators
What your team will be able to do
Participants leave with the inspiration, confidence and tools to:
Develop a clear, practical and creative engagement plan
Identify and prioritise key stakeholders and audiences
Communicate complex or sensitive topics with confidence
Anticipate and respond to challenge, scrutiny, or misinformation
Align roles, responsibilities, and approaches within teams
The result is engagement that is consistent and integrated into research.
“The Liminal Space have developed a powerful principle of reciprocal exchange. Through the experiences they create, researchers obtain new insights and participants acquire new knowledge by engaging in an entirely new way.”
How the programme works
We begin with a scoping conversation to understand your context and goals.
Two facilitated workshops combine expert input, peer discussion, and hands-on exercises built around real scenarios your team is likely to face. Sessions cover stakeholder mapping, preparing for difficult or contested conversations, and case studies of public engagement that has genuinely worked.
Participants leave with practical outputs they have developed during the sessions, plus a resource hub of tools and templates ready to use immediately.
What makes this different
This training is delivered by The Liminal Space, an award-winning creative consultancy which supports organisations to strengthen the relationship between research and society.
We work with funders, universities, ethics bodies and policy-makers to design and deliver ground-breaking engagement on topics where trust, uncertainty, and public scrutiny are central, from climate engineering to genomic research and bioengineering.
Designed for complex and sensitive research topics
Highly interactive, using immersive, scenario-based methods to build confidence
Focused on practical application with outputs you can use immediately
“The Academy worked with the Liminal Space to create The Departure Lounge – our most ambitious public engagement project to date. Their creativity and innovation was fundamental to the success of the project. They have an ability to unpick complex scientific information and translate it in imaginative and playful ways to create truly engaging and meaningful experiences.”
