Everybody Knows: Engaged Research and the Changing Role of the Academic

The rise of the impact and engagement agendas has challenged the role of the academic, and particularly the relationship between the academic, knowledge and the wider public. In this article, we propose that, alongside the existing models of ‘knowledge transfer’ and ‘knowledge exchange’, academic engagement with external audiences can also be conceptualised as a multidimensional ‘knowledge network’. We adopt a case study approach to explore and illustrate what such a knowledge network looks like in practice, and we consider the implications of thinking about university engagement activities in these terms, with particular emphasis on what it means for the shifting role of the academic.