Welcome to ENGAGE

ENGAGE formerly known as the Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI), is set out to underpin and realise a civic mission as part of University of Galway's core activities. ENGAGE was initially funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies and core funded by University of Galway in 2007. ENGAGE’s activities are viewed as ‘integral to the University's strategic mission and involved a fundamental examination of the role of the University in the social fabric' and are subsequently reflected as a core priority by the University of Galway's Academic and Strategic Plans. ENGAGE aims to promote greater civic engagement through core academic activities, namely teaching, research and service at the levels of students, staff, courses, programmes and the institution as a whole.‌

The core function of the ENGAGE is to educate students for their role as active citizens and to ensure that graduates have knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to understand and address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) for positive societal change.  This is reflected in the University of Galway Strategy 2020-2025 Mission Statement “University of Galway is for the Public Good”.  ENGAGE established a number of flagship programmes engaging students to community and society.  These flagship programmes connect to the four dimensions of ENGAGE: service learning, volunteering, engaged research and knowledge sharing and help tackle society’s evolving sustainable development challenges. Central to our methodology has been to work as a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) in partnership with students, staff and the wider community, as well as funding agencies and statutory bodies, to develop positive responses to the SDGs.