What is a place? A city we feel belonging to… An event location… The land around us… A community of people… A site of contested histories? As we work to connect the worlds of research and society, and create exchange between people from very different perspectives, the places we work with play a huge role. Yet we rarely really stop and think about the WHERE of our work, and how this question matters for an equitable and meaningful Public Engagement with Research.

In this year’s CFA, we take a deep dive into how places shape what we do as engagers, and how we can help create spaces that enable care, reflection and critique. Over three days, a global cohort of engaged researchers and practitioners will come together online in a programme of learning across geographical and disciplinary boundaries. We will hear personal stories from engagers, investigate creative techniques the explore relationships to place, and learn from the diverse experiences of all participants in this unique online space. Join us for a vibrant professional development experience and help push the boundaries of Public Engagement practice.

Joining CFA'25 will give you the opportunity to:

  • develop a nuanced understanding of the emotional, cultural and social aspects of place and how these matter for research engagement
  • practice skills of empathy, active listening and xx to become responsive to the complex experiences of place for different people
  • acquire practical methods how to create meaningful and caring sites of exchange and dialogue
  • get an insight into how practitioners from across cultures work with questions of ... (eg. belonging, connection and displacement)
  • gain confidence in actively considering your own positionality and belonging within your engagement practice
  • find global interdisciplinary connections to discuss, develop and reflect on your own research and engagement work

When is it?

CFA’25 will take place online 1 - 3 July 2025, 9:30-15:30 UTC+1/BST (10:30-16.30 CEST/SAST).

Following the Academy, there will optional mentoring and Action Learning sessions (date to be confirmed)

What can I expect from the Academy?

The Academy is delivered as a live online learning community, and the working language is English. Each day includes a dynamic mixture of case studies, group sharing, workshops and personal reflection. We build on the expertise of participants, with input from international experts and practitioners. Over the course of the Academy, we will jointly produce a published output that collects and catalogues experiences and practical tools from the group.

To get a feel for what it is like to take part in CFA, take a look back at the programme of last year’s Academy, and our collectively created resources from previous years

Who is CFA for?

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. We are specifically looking for an international cohort of applicants that are either:

Researchers who:

  • Come with experience in Public Engagement or related activities (such as community engagement, science communication, participatory research, public and patient involvement or transfer)
  • Want to make Public Engagement a significant part of their work and embed it into their research practice
  • Are looking to become champions for engagement within their local work environment and inspire others with their activities
  • Have experienced challenging situations in their engagement work and want to take time to reflect and develop new approaches

Engagement practitioners who:

  • Are directly working with researchers to develop Public Engagement or related projects on urgent and important topics
  • Build bridges between communities and researchers in innovative ways
  • Have directly engaged with the topic of place in engagement and want to bring their experience to a peer community


How much does it cost?

Places are funded by the host institutions and are therefore free of charge to participants. In return, we ask all participants to fully commit to the Academy programme (see our applicant commitment), and share their learning back to their home institutions, colleagues and collaborators.

How can I apply?

  1. Please read our applicant guide and applicant commitment carefully.
  2. Prepare a short 1-minute video on the question of "How do emotions matter in (your) engagement practice?". More details, including advice on video recording and possible alternative formats, can be found in the applicant guide.
  3. Complete the application form and submit it together with your video before 23:59 UTC on 22 April 2025.

If you have any questions regarding the Academy or the application, you can contact the programme team on BerlinSchoolTraining@mfn.berlin

Join the growing international CFA network of thoughtful, hopeful engagement practitioners working together to expand the possibilities of what Public Engagement can and should be.

Who is behind the Collaborative Futures Academy?

CFA is a collaboration between the Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the University of Cambridge Public Engagement team, Stellenbosch University, the Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science and the Public and Wellcome Connecting Science.