HE Staff round table: Understanding HEI requirements and challenges for Digital Action

During November 2022, the academic partners in the UK, Malta and France organised a series of roundtables with community groups, voluntary organisations and HE staff.

The discussions in the HE Staff roundtables were mostly focused on the involvement of HE staff in DA, as the both directly and through collaboration with external community groups or voluntary organisations. Some of the participants were very engaged in DA, with many being involved in the leadership of projects, while others found it difficult to engage as they felt that there was not a lot of time (and specially no paid time) to dedicate to these activities.

The challenges identified for engagement in DA were very varied, including funding, volunteer engagement and online fatigue… but all participants seemed to agree that digital literacy in communities tends to be a big barrier for engaging communities outside HEIs. There was also an overarching need for giving HEI staff proper credit for the time and resources spent in community engagement activities – and, ideally, some financial compensation for it.

The discussions closed in all three roundtables with optimism for the future: the fact that we’re identifying these gaps and proposing ways to address them is a great step towards creating a more fluid conversation between HEIs and the communities they’re immersed in!