Navigating the peripheries of impact: Public engagement and the problem of kneejerk linguistics

This chapter focuses on the relationship between impact and public engagement. I argue in favour of a greater consideration of public engagement activities in the assessment of impact, and in so doing I discuss the issues associated with developing strong stakeholder relationships. These include, for example, the fact that different stakeholders will have different perceptions of academia and the university, and that these perceptions need to be addressed when developing partnerships. I also consider some of the pitfalls of public engagement, as well as some of the difficulties associated with developing public-facing research projects. These include the problem of ‘kneejerk linguistics’; that is, doing linguistic research in immediate response to some sociocultural event. I discuss some of the reputational risks that this involves as well as the problems associated with publishing popular summaries of linguistic research.