Collaborative Futures Academy: Emotions in Engagement

The Academy is primarily aimed at researchers who want to develop their engagement practice but have little opportunity to do so. We also invite engagement practitioners who directly work with researchers and feel called to share and learn in this space

Hope, fear, anxiety, frustration, curiosity, connection, trust ... engagement work with publics and communities is never just about sharing information. Acknowledging and attending to emotion - among practitioners and participants - is a crucial part of the process. But it's also one of the hardest things to accept, to manage and to document, especially where research training rarely prepares us for these experiences.

This year, the Collaborative Futures Academy brings emotions into the heart of our learning. Over three days our global cohort of engaged researchers and practitioners will reflect together on how we encounter emotions in our work: the connection of thinking, feeling and doing. How can we build and foster empathy? What makes emotions an effective route for connection - and what are the challenges? And how do we respond ethically when faced with moments that are unsettling, difficult - and very human?

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