TY - GEN
T1 - Beyond the Ivory Tower: Public Engagement, Class, and Access in Research
AU - Chamberlain, Alan
N1 - Public Output - Open
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain join Matimba Swana to explore elitism in research, the barriers to public engagement and why making research more inclusive and accessible is essential for meaningful community participation. Recorded 11 Oct 2024. In this episode, we speak with Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain about the world of public and community engagement with research, asking who truly gets to participate, and what structural barriers stand in the way. Pete is a Senior Research Associate and sociologist at the University of Bristol whose work focuses on sociotechnical systems and the societal impacts of AI, and Alan is a Principal Research Fellow at the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham, whose research explores the creative and ethical applications of AI through Human-Computer Interaction. Together, we unpack the class dynamics embedded in academic culture and research engagement, from the dominance of middle and upper-class voices in academia, to the socioeconomic exclusion of working-class and marginalised communities from meaningful participation. We discuss what it means to truly listen to “unheard voices,” and why moving research from the ivory tower into the community is fundamental for equity and impact. This conversation centres the need for more inclusive, accessible, and democratic forms of research, and offers reflections on how we can begin to close the gap between academia and the public it seeks to serve. Referenced in the podcast: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/beyond-ivory-tower-public-engagement-class-and-access-research Transcript - https://media.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/ethox/academia/2025-05-12-ethoxacademiaivorytower.pdf Acknowledgement This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the Turing AI World Leading Researcher Fellowship in Somabotics: Creatively Embodying Artificial Intelligence [grant number APP22478], AI UK: Creating an International Ecosystem for Responsible AI Research and Innovation [EP/Y009800/1]
AB - Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain join Matimba Swana to explore elitism in research, the barriers to public engagement and why making research more inclusive and accessible is essential for meaningful community participation. Recorded 11 Oct 2024. In this episode, we speak with Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain about the world of public and community engagement with research, asking who truly gets to participate, and what structural barriers stand in the way. Pete is a Senior Research Associate and sociologist at the University of Bristol whose work focuses on sociotechnical systems and the societal impacts of AI, and Alan is a Principal Research Fellow at the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham, whose research explores the creative and ethical applications of AI through Human-Computer Interaction. Together, we unpack the class dynamics embedded in academic culture and research engagement, from the dominance of middle and upper-class voices in academia, to the socioeconomic exclusion of working-class and marginalised communities from meaningful participation. We discuss what it means to truly listen to “unheard voices,” and why moving research from the ivory tower into the community is fundamental for equity and impact. This conversation centres the need for more inclusive, accessible, and democratic forms of research, and offers reflections on how we can begin to close the gap between academia and the public it seeks to serve. Referenced in the podcast: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/beyond-ivory-tower-public-engagement-class-and-access-research Transcript - https://media.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/ethox/academia/2025-05-12-ethoxacademiaivorytower.pdf Acknowledgement This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the Turing AI World Leading Researcher Fellowship in Somabotics: Creatively Embodying Artificial Intelligence [grant number APP22478], AI UK: Creating an International Ecosystem for Responsible AI Research and Innovation [EP/Y009800/1]
M3 - Other contribution
ER -