Engagement Day

Research often fails to create safe environments for individuals to authentically share their experiences, and this can lead to unintended harm and re-traumatisation. In this session, we will present the Guide to PIE Research, which was co-produced with women experiencing homelessness and offers practical advice on how to create a psychologically informed environment (PIE) within research. We will also share a case study of how we embedded this approach into SHE HEALS, a participatory arts-based study that explored what trauma-informed healthcare looks like for women experiencing homelessness.

Venue: Scale Space

How do you easily capture and record your EDI aims and objectives in a way that is digestible and doesn’t feel like reading a report? This session will enable you to develop a tool that can keep your EDI actions in one handy place and utilise them when you might need access to data and insights. It will also show you how it can be a collaborative effort with the rest of your team, embedding an inclusive culture and how to keep the document alive and workable, avoiding it ending up at the bottom of files forgotten for evermore.

Venue: The Invention Rooms

Come along to this hands-on 'craft and conversation' workshop, to create some asthma-inspired embroidery, no prior sewing or asthma experience necessary. Learn about the Women and Asthma project directly from lived experience participants and community partner, Stitches in Time. The project brought together Imperial researchers and women from the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets to explore asthma through craft and storytelling using creative processes with embedded equity, access and inclusion. The final engagement experience, Stories of Breath, has been presented in community venues across the UK.

Venue: Scale Space

Help us co-create a planning inclusive engagement activities toolkit. This practical deep dive will pool together our collective knowledge and lived experience to start building a useful guide to support people designing accessible and inclusive events. Bring your expertise and share the things that worked, the things that didn't, and everything in between.

Venue: Scale Space

Barriers to inclusive engagement aren’t straightforward or simple. Like engagement work, they are personal, social, organisational, and often deeply connected. This session invites you to move beyond tick boxes and checklists, to think collaboratively about what genuine inclusive engagement looks like in practice.

Drawing on participatory research approaches, you will explore how they can help us work more innovatively, across the boundaries that so often keep communities at the edges of engagement. Through scenarios and open discussion, you will leave with concrete tools and fresh thinking to apply to your own engagement practice.

Venue: Scale Space

Who is your activity designed for? What can you offer that your target audience can’t access elsewhere? How can you tailor your content and format to support your aims?

Imperial Outreach has created a new practitioner toolkit, developed following an independent external evaluation by Cosmos Ltd . The toolkit - Designing Inclusive STEM Programmes: Insights from Evaluation shares key lessons and useful guidance for practitioners running STEM engagement programmes.

This interactive session will briefly introduce the research before moving into discussion and self-reflection activities. Participants will leave with practical, evidence-based tools to apply directly to their own inclusive programme design.

Venue: Scale Space

Engagement Day 2026 will run across two venues:

• Scale Space, 58 Wood Ln, London W12 7RZ
• The Invention Rooms, 68 Wood Lane, London W12 7RH

Most sessions will take place at Scale Space except for one morning Deep Dive session and lunch, which will be held at The Invention Rooms. Lunch will be a served as a buffet provided by a local caterer.

The venues are approximately 300 metres apart, around a 5 minute walk. The path is a shared pedestrian and cycle lane, with a smooth tarmacked surface.

If moving between venues may be difficult for you, please contact the Public and Community Engagement team so we can support .

Please also see the AccessAble guides for both venues:

• The Invention Rooms
• Scale Space

Public transport

Rail and underground

White City is the nearest Underground station to both venues. This station is approximately 640m from Scale Space and is served by the Central line. White City station is not step free.

Wood Lane Underground station is approximately 800m to Scale Space. This is served by the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines and has step-free access from the street.

Shepherd’s Bush station is approximately 1800m to Scale Space. This station is served by the Central line, Overground (Mildmay line) and National Rail and is not step-free.

By bus

Bus routes that can be used includes 72, 95, 220, 228 and 272. View TfL’s local bus routes.

The Imperial shuttle bus enables staff and students to travel between campuses for free. Services run between South Kensington, White City and Hammersmith throughout the day, no booking required. Find the shuttle bus timetable on the Imperial website.

Parking

There are four accessible parking spaces available near Scale Space. Booking of these spaces is managed by Scale Space, to reserve one please get in touch with the Public and Community Engagement team so we can connect you with the appropriate venue contact.

All-gender wheelchair-accessible toilets are available at Scale Space and The Invention Rooms.

At Scale Space, you will find these facilities on the ground floor next to the main conference space.

At The Invention Rooms, all toilets are gender neutral and you will find one wheelchair accessible toilet situated just outside the main event space.

The networking component of the conference may involve standing, although plenty of seating will be available where the catering and refreshments are served as well as in each of the workshops and talks.

Assistance dogs are welcome at Scale Space and The Invention Rooms. Dogs must be suitably trained, supervised, and remain on a lead, tabard, or harness to the person they are assisting while at the venue.

Live captioned shows

All sessions at Engagement Day 2026 will have live captions.

The welcome remarks, panel discussion, Lightning Talks and closing remarks will be captioned by a Speech to Text Reporter (STTR) who will be typing the captions remotely. The Deep Dive sessions will be captioned by AI software on Microsoft Teams.

Hearing loops

At Scale Space, there is a portable hearing loop available that can be used in all spaces where the workshops and talks are held.

At The Invention Rooms there is currently no induction loop in the space where the Deep Dive session will be held but a portable device will be hired based on the needs (shared with us during the registration process) of session attendees.

There will be a designated calm in both Scale Space and The Invention Rooms that can be used by attendees who need a private area away from the conference, whether to escape the hustle and bustle of the event or to avoid any sounds, triggers or experiences that are making them feel anxious or overwhelmed.

The calm space will be in the meeting room Dimco in Scale Space, which is located through one security door. Attendees can ask a member of the Public and Community Engagement team for card access to the space at any time, and we will have several mental health first aiders on hand throughout the day.

At The Invention Rooms, the calm space will be in G38 which is located next to the lunch room and clearly signposted.

Attendees are welcome to breastfeed in any of the spaces being used for Engagement Day. Alternatively, at Scale Space there is a medical room available to anyone who prefers to breastfeed in private. Attendees can ask a member of the Public and Community Engagement team for card access to the medical room at any time.

There is a multi-faith space available at Scale Space for anyone to use should they need a private place to spend time in contemplation or prayer. The multi-faith space is located on the second floor of the building. The lift requires a venue access card, which attendees can request from a member of the Public and Community Engagement team at any time.

The Public and Community Engagement team will be wearing large circular badges that say ‘How can I help?’.  Attendees are encouraged to approach the team with questions, requests or concerns at any point throughout Engagement Day.