A note on engagement and science communication: it is clear these terms mean many things to many people, and there are many definitions of both (and other terms like outreach) in the literature.

In the scicomm laundromat they are used interchangeably, but, we did find that the term ‘engagement’ put off some people (especially at the managerial level) because they felt they ‘knew all about that already’, and it was also sometimes used about specific things like student recruitment, or public consultation. As the scicomm laundromat project was largely developed for scientist communicators – scientists who are planning to communicate about their own research or area of expertise, or science more generally – that scicomm was the best fit. 

We have found that it really doesn't matter which term you use, as long as it is clear (or becomes clear) to laundromat participants what their chosen terms mean, especially in relation to other actors in their project. I.e., being on the same page as your collaborators, partners (and publics) is key. 

To clarify my position (just to make sure we are on the same page!): in brief, science communication can be considered an umbrella for many terms including engagement, outreach, popularisation and informal education around science, and it can also encompass activities such as exhibition design, data visualisation and other practices which fall within the discipline of design. My favourite descriptor is from Horst, Davies & Irwin (2017, p.884): 

[science communciation is] organised, explicit, and intended actions that aim to communicate scientific knowledge, methodology, processes or practices in settings where non-scientists are a recognized part of the audience

Public engagement with science (PES) encompasses ‘intentional, meaningful interactions that provide opportunities for mutual learning between scientists and members of the public’ (Nisbet & Markowitz, 2015, p. 2), and is generally considered to be (or is aiming to be) a two-way dialogical process between science and society. As such, PES is ‘nested’ into science communication. Hence, in this research, all PES is considered science communication, but not all science communication is PES.