PRII Certificate in Public Affairs and Influencing Public Policy

This programme will be of particular value to communications professionals for whom public affairs or policy development is part of their overall role, and which they wish to strengthen their knowledge to have more influence in this area. It will also be of benefit to those considering a career in public affairs or policy development.

To give Communication and other professionals a better understanding of the current Public Affairs and policy development landscape in Ireland in terms of local, national and EU government. To create a collective and collaborative learning environment to maximise the potential to learn practical skills for devising and implementing public affairs strategies and campaigns.

A mix of  online classes live classes, pre-recorded video lecture and an in-person session. This will allow for a shared learning collaborative and networking experience for participants.  The course will be highly interactive, using guest speakers, online tools, group work and will be energetic and fun!

(i)          Live lectures (online —  subject to prevailing public health guidelines) 

(ii)         A series of pre-recorded video lectures which participants can watch in your own time;

(ii)         Live online sessions to discuss the material covered in the videos and associated exercises, as well as to hear from Guest Speakers (with opportunity for live Q&A).

The videos will be posted and then followed up during the following week with a live online session. These sessions will be two and a half hours each. Participants  will be able to review the videos at a time that suits their schedule while also having the opportunity to interact with fellow course participants and the Course Director via the live online sessions.

• Saturday, 14 September — Introductory Lecture (Live online 10:30am – 13:00pm)
• Tuesday, 17 September – video lecture available
• 05 October — Interactive Tutorial & Guest Speaker (Live online 10:30am – 13:00pm)
• 08 October – video lecture available
• 19 October — Interactive Tutorial & Guest Speaker (Live online 10:30am – 13:00pm)
• 22 October – video lecture available
• 02 November — Interactive Tutorial & Guest Speaker (Live online 10:30am – 13:00pm)
• 05 November – video lecture available
• 16 November — Interactive Tutorial (Live online 10:30am – 13:00pm)
• 30 November — Final in-person session (Dublin City Centre 10:00am – 13:00pm)

The online sessions will start at 10:30am each Saturday and run utill 1pm, with breaks in between.

The classes will take the format of presentation by the course director, class discussion and guest speaker presentations. Notes and related materials will be made available via the course learning resources hosted via the PRII website.

There will be a number of guest speakers during the course.

They will include those working in public affairs who will speak on their experiences of successful and unsuccessful public affairs campaigns, in addition to several with a background working in Government (at local and national level) who will be invited to share their experiences with delegates.

Assessment is comprised of three elements:

• Reflective journal (10% of overall grade).
• Public Representative Engagement [presentation] (25% of overall grade).
• Public affairs campaign project, maximum 3,000 words, focused on applying the learnings from the course to practical issues in public affairs..(65% of overall grade).

Participants are encouraged to apply learning from the readings, modules and discussions and show how these apply to their own work situation.

This course is  accredited by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) - the professional body for communications and PR in Ireland.