From 2008 to 2012 UEA hosted CUE East, a national Beacon for Public Engagement which built upon good practice at UEA and the Norwich Research Park, helping staff and students to connect with communities.
As a culture change programme, CUE East made significant progress, helping to shape the next phase of the engagement with research agenda at UEA. Individual engagement practitioners who had been active long before the Beacon began, no longer had to work, ‘below the radar’ as their contribution became increasingly recognised and rewarded. CUE East (steered by UEA’s senior academics and community partners), enabled UEA to provide a dedicated support service for staff and students with associated individual awards for excellence and a professional development programme which effectively ‘raised the game’ for engagement in all disciplines. In July 2012 UEA established a permanent Community University Engagement Office, supporting a dedicated Engagement Executive and refreshed Corporate Plan.
