Blocked and thwarted – public engagement professionals in higher education deserve greater recognition.

Professional service staff specialising in public engagement in higher education institutions often occupy precarious and poorly defined positions. Drawing on a largescale qualitative study of public engagement professionals (PEPs), Richard Watermeyer and Gene Rowe discuss persistent issues described by PEPs in developing effective cultures of public engagement within higher education institutions and the ways in which the important boundary spanning roles they fulfil are often marginalised by university administrative structures.