Institutional Context
Summary
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has grown “in” and “for” the city of Liverpool from 1823, as the Liverpool Mechanics’ Institute to serve the workers of the city. In 2023 we remain true to our heritage and our new LJMU Strategy 2030 states our vision “to be an inclusive, civic university, transforming lives and futures by placing students at the heart of everything we do”.
LJMU seeks to make a difference through; (1) delivering an excellent Education and Student Experience that equips students to enter the workplace, (2) generating excellent Research and Knowledge Exchange that inspires our curricula and delivers impact, and (3) supporting our Place and Partnerships through staff and students working with our local, national and global collaborators.
Institutional context
Liverpool is home to significant arts and cultural organisations (e.g. National Museums, Philharmonic Orchestra), sporting organisations (e.g. Premier league, Aintree Racecourse), multiple specialist health organisations (e.g. LSTM, Alder Hey) and industrial/private sector groups (e.g. The Very Group HQ, Curtins). Liverpool is one of the most deprived cities in the UK with substantial health and social inequalities. LJMU has existed in some form since 1823 and is currently housed across 5 major city campus sites and five academic faculties support 1210+ staff to deliver a diverse portfolio of programmes (arts to bio-molecular sciences). LJMU has 22500 undergraduate and 5590 taught postgraduate and postgraduate research students.
LJMU’s Strategy 2030 has three focus area of activity (1), Education and Student Experience, (2) Research and Knowledge Exchange, and (3) Place and Partnerships. The enablers to these areas are positive culture, financial resilience, digital and physical infrastructure, and organisational responsiveness.
Knowledge exchange is recognised as a central activity for the university. We will continue to develop the environment, culture, and resources to extend our research and knowledge exchange activity, promote research excellence across the University, inspire student learning by infusing curricula with our research and knowledge exchange activity, co-create and disseminate new knowledge with our local national and international communities, and support a growing, diverse, and intellectually curious postgraduate student community.
LJMU’s primary focus is educational delivery, research, and knowledge exchange. We engage with degree apprenticeships schemes and at level 8 run professional doctorate programmes in multiple areas (e.g. sport science, psychology). Research and knowledge exchange activity occurs across all faculties and is supported by 9 Institutes as “Beacons of Excellence” as well as multiple Centres and Groups. In REF20201, we submitted to 16 Units of Assessment (UoA) and we placed inside the top 50 UK HEIs in relation to Research Power. World-leading research was identified in all our UoA’s. Across LJMU, the volume of research outputs judged to be world-leading (24.6%; 356 outputs) significantly increased from 2014 (15.9%; 134 outputs). World-leading impact activity, demonstrating our knowledge exchange within Liverpool and around the world, were highlighted in all our Beacons of Excellence (e.g. Art and Design, Astrophysics, Engineering, English, Sport Sciences).
Knowledge exchange, in all formats, is supported across the university by our Research and Innovation Services (RIS) professional service team. Our broad spectrum of activities link in with many sectors ranging from specialist professional development for key NHS trusts (e.g. Bowel cancer screening and Endoscopy training); the delivery of evaluation and consultancy with charities, the healthcare sector and the Ministry of Justice; contracted research for the Ministry of Defence; technology development with local SMEs; through to leadership development programmes with local government, healthcare providers and private industry. The institution is developing a significant Innovate UK portfolio across all aspects, in particular, KTPs.
LJMU is committed to public engagement, outreach and widening participation activities that seek to educate, translate, and transform. Knowledge originating at LJMU is having real and meaningful impact with our local, national and international partners, and the general public.
For further information, please send queries to Kectops@ljmu.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) plays a central role in driving local innovation and skills and works in partnership to deliver local growth and regeneration across Liverpool City Region (LCR).
LJMU enables industry to access our research expertise, creating opportunities for new business creation and business growth. LJMU is proud to be working with local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across a number of growth sectors such as Low Carbon, Advanced Manufacturing, Health, and Digital and Creative.
LJMU actively harnesses our knowledge and expertise as well as our resources (staff, students and infrastructure), to serve the LCR and build a sustainable future for our citizens.
Aspect 1: Strategy
LJMU’s strategic plan (2017-2022) sets a specific goal “To act as an anchor institution in the City of Liverpool”. The importance of place, partnership and our impact on local social and economic impact is embedded throughout our strategic plan. Through civic engagement LJMU will be “A University where innovation and enterprise drive economic growth in partnership with business and industry”.
The emerging LJMU Place and Partnerships Plan, to be published 2022-2023 is organised around three themes, People and Skills, Place and Community and Knowledge and Impact. These reflect the areas of work where LJMU can make the greatest contribution and have the maximum impact. Specific elements of LJMU local growth and regeneration activity supports our three themes and demonstrates active partnership and engagement with LCR CA on economic strategy development and subsequent implementation.
Key external strategies over the period that impact upon local growth and regeneration include the CA’s Liverpool City Region: Plan for Prosperity which builds on the evidence base of the draft Local Industrial Strategy and the LCR Science and Innovation Audit Refresh 2022 (SIA). LJMU was one of five core partners in the 2022 SIA Refresh and the updated report provides a robust and current evidence base of the city region’s distinctive world leading innovation specialisms: namely established capability in Infection Prevention & Control, Materials Chemistry, AI Solutions & Emerging Technologies as well as highlighting Net Zero & Maritime as a new, emerging capabilities. The SIA in turn informed the LCR’s first-ever Innovation Prospectus which sets out the road map to achieve the city region’s ambitious goal for R&D spending to teach 5% of GVA, nearly double the UK target, by 2030.
LJMU is active and engaged in the Innovation Governance and Co-ordination structures including representation on both the LCR Innovation Board and supporting Policy and Funding Co-ordination Group. Our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and senior colleagues commit their time and expertise as members of regional boards including LEP Growth Sector Boards and Cultural Partnerships.
Reflecting the importance of the creative and digital industries in the city region, LJMU has entered into a new strategic partnership with Liverpool’s Baltic Creative Community Interest Company. The collaboration will enable more connections between our students and digital and creative business and will grow the local and regional talent pool as well as developing opportunities for collaborative research, graduate entrepreneurship and business growth.
Aspect 2: Activity
Across the period LJMU continued to align local growth and regeneration activity to our own strategic priorities as well as LCR priority growth sectors and areas of particular developmental needs. These focus activities were identified in partnership with key local stakeholders and activity was aligned to those sectors that had the best potential to support and grow the local economy.
2: Logos of the European Union ERDF and ESF Programmes with the HM Government Northern Powerhouse Logo.
Utilising £5.2m secured from the European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) over the 3 years, matched by £5.2m of support from the University, LJMU moved into a period of full delivery across a variety of projects in areas such as business support, skills, and health. The challenges presented by the global pandemic, in particular the loss of face-to-face delivery, were countered by an impressive and agile pivot to online and remote delivery; allowing LJMU to continue to deliver important support across the LCR landscape.
Supported by European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) funding, the LCR 4.0 project continues to deliver innovative practical support to transform LCR businesses through digital innovation, delivering the first city region-wide digital supply chain ecosystem; cross-linking traditional supply chains and clusters to create a city region supply chain network offering greater business resilience, growth opportunities and diversification that facilitated greater innovation in products and services as well as a unique proposition for inward investment. The concept and design of the project and the support delivered to local businesses was developed via widespread regional engagement with the local business community and key collaborative partners such as local HEIs, the LCR Growth Platform and national partners such as the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC).
This period saw the start of the two further ERDF supported programmes. LCR Health Matters which provides bespoke, one-on-one assistance helping businesses to hone their products and services along with real-world validation to demonstrate their practical and commercial benefits. Working in partnership with the LCR Growth Platform and led by the Innovation Agency (the Academic Health Science Network for the North-West Coast), the project assists local businesses with; market gap analysis and research, assessing and validating the clinical need of target markets and providing access to academic/clinical expertise, industry partners and potential customers. In this way the project has provided the support that emerging and established businesses require to launch innovative products and services into the health and care market.
Alongside the support for existing or emerging business, LJMU also promoted the “next generation” of entrepreneurial individuals as they seek to launch their own innovative businesses within the LCR ecosystem. The LCR Founders project addressed a specific gap in the start-up eco-system in the LCR: the promotion of an entrepreneurial founders-led culture that increases the creation of innovative and scalable start-ups from higher education. Working with students and graduates from both LJMU and University of Liverpool, the project worked to increase entrepreneurship activities to create an innovation oriented, cofounding culture and community and involved outreach, coaching, mentoring and network support to promote business start-up, survival and growth delivered by experts drawn from across the project partners.
Driving an increase in local business expertise and successes is a key element of the LJMU strategy for local growth and regeneration and sits alongside a firm commitment to developing the skills of the people of the city region. This commitment is evidenced by a suite of European Social Fund (ESF) funded projects which have people and skills development at their heart. LJMU Graduate Futures has developed an effective and sustainable interface between LJMU, its students & graduates and Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the Liverpool City Region. The project is the latest in a series of initiatives LJMU has mobilised to support business recovery, diversification and growth following the Covid-19 pandemic and to support the City Region to “Build Back Better”. The project provides practical and developmental support through which SMEs can capitalise on the skills & knowledge that degree-level talent can bring to bear on business challenges, not least those arising from the pandemic – for example: insight into how competitor & consumer behaviours are evolving; moving offers online; boosting the digital skills of staff; researching and developing new products & services; and scoping and drafting funding applications. To ensure alignment with both the needs of LJMU students and graduates and the wider LCR ecosystem the project is delivered in strategic partnership with the LCR Combined Authority, the Growth Platform, Professional Liverpool, and the region’s Chambers of Commerce.
Alongside helping LCR SMEs to access emerging degree-level or graduate skills LJMU is also leading the way in emphasising the importance of improving leadership and management skills in individuals currently fulfilling, or with the future potential to undertake higher level, management roles within the City-region’s business base, with long term impact in terms of improving technical competence, and as a result productivity.
Liverpool Business School’s LCR Enhance project is a demand-led and flexible programme, combining non-accredited and accredited elements in formal and work settings, which responds to the needs of SMEs and has a particular focus towards under-represented groups. The project offers workforce training from Level 2 up to Level 7 that is relevant to individuals’ skills needs and local business growth ambitions and encompasses various areas of support such as: Leadership, coaching and mentoring, financial skills, and business improvement techniques.
The Liverpool Business Clinic, through student-led consultancy projects, provides LCR businesses with support to optimise their operations, future planning and upskill their workforce whilst simultaneously increasing the skills and experience of Liverpool Business School students studying at LJMU.
The commitment to both the existing business community and the wider LCR community, in terms of upskilling and providing future opportunities for success, is further demonstrated by participation in the Enterprise Hub Skills project which aims to simplify access to enterprise training and development, building Liverpool City Region as a central hub for enterprise. Led by The Women’s Organisation and drawing together community organisations from across the region, Enterprise Hub Skills offers high quality learning and development opportunities to build the enterprise skills and economic pathways for individuals in the LCR. Through strategic engagement the partnership ensures local residents, no matter what their background and circumstances, can access training and support to build an individual learning plan that assists enterprise development.
The focus on upskilling and providing appropriate pathways for enhancing and expanding the workforce supply chain and building increased capability in the LCR is further evidenced by the LCR Combined Authority Skills Capital funded Construction Skills and Knowledge Hub which enabled the creation of a multipurpose hub on the LJMU campus which provides an interface between FE and HE for learners and apprentices in the construction and built environment sectors.
LJMU’s commitment to driving innovation and skills improvements across the LCR also saw a full, active involvement in the development of the LCR Freeport Innovation Strategy, feeding expertise into the outline and full business case in partnership with the Combined Authority and other key local stakeholders.
LJMU continues to support the City Region’s drive to improve the health of its residents and of the wider world through its involvement in initiatives such as The Pandemic Institute and the Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences. With its headquarters in Liverpool, the Pandemic Institute has a unique local and global ecosystem, unifying on the ground intelligence to generate scientific excellence with societal impact for all whilst providing comprehensive end-to-end capability across the pandemic lifecycle, a game changer that will allow the world to respond at pace in the race to prepare for the next pandemic. The Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences is a partnership of LJMU, UoL and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and is delivering research focussed on reducing the cardiovascular disease and risk burden to the entire LCR.
In 2021 LJMU also pioneered a “Refugee Nursing” course which supports the transition into the NHS of refugees from Syria, Palestine, Africa and elsewhere. More than 100 refugees have now joined the NHS from the course, delivered in partnership with the charities RefuAid and Talent Beyond Boundaries and coordinated by NHS England and NHS Improvement. The initiative has garnered national media attention, praise from the former Minister of State for Health and was recognised with the 2021 Global Good Award in the Community Partnerships category.
LJMU’s commitment to climate change mitigation, air quality, improved health outcomes, and living environments in the LCR continues to be evidenced by the LCR Natural Capital Baseline work which has been adopted by the LCR Combined Authority and featured prominently in the region’s Plan For Prosperity (2022).
Aspect 3: Results
LJMU actively reviews and evaluates the results of its activities at a university and project level and proactively engages with local and national stakeholders to communicate the results. This reflection allows the university to constantly ensure alignment with strategic objectives at an institutional, City Region and international level.
The continued importance of the LCR 4.0 project to the LCR is reflected in its inclusion in the LCR Combined Authority Innovation Prospectus which was produced to present the Region’s “roadmap” for it becoming a “science and innovation” superpower. LJMU’s efforts and expertise in areas of import to the City Region and the wider country are further reflected by inclusion in other key local documents and strategies; such as references to the “highly successful” LCR 4.0 projects and the inclusion of Net Zero and Maritime (as an emerging strand) in the 2022 refresh of the LCR Science and Innovation Audit. These priorities for the region are reflective of the expertise and experiences of the local stakeholders and have been identified as areas of real opportunity for growth and innovative new practices by the Combined Authority.
Individual projects are also actively encouraged to share their success stories via online case studies such as showcasing the entrepreneurial stories of LJMU Graduates or the innovative work of local SMEs with the Health Matters project. These case studies sit alongside the LJMU Impact Hub which showcases the wider impact of LJMU research and includes a specific section reflecting on the research and innovation being carried out in partnership specifically to impact the Liverpool City Region.
The ongoing success of upskilling projects such as LJMU Graduate Futures is reflected by inclusion in the UK Government produced European Social Fund (2014-20) Programme Case Study booklet which gives an overview of some of the projects successes to a national audience, such as “… to 30 September 2022 the project has actively engaged with 213 employers to initiate 118 new roles. 1088 participants have registered to participate in the project, and it has supported 52 into internships and graduate-level jobs …”. The project also showcases its successes via video marketing produced by the project team which is used to encourage further engagement from students.
Engaging with key stakeholders from across the UK to highlight areas of excellence in local growth and regeneration, and to make the case for further innovations in the field, remains a key driver for LJMU and the wider City Region as a whole. To this end, in 2022, working in conjunction with Research England and in collaboration with local institutions such as neighbouring HEIs, the Metro Mayor and local Innovation Board, LJMU co-hosted a delegation of senior representatives from Research England, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovate UK. The “Liverpool Showcase” was designed to illustrate the value of HEIs collaborating to bring economic benefit to a region. Highlighting the city region’s expertise in key areas of capability including Tackling Infection, Advanced Materials, and Knowledge Exchange for SMEs. A case study on LJMU’s collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON) and a Merseyside design partner utilising sensor technology to fight vector-borne diseases featured. Within the LJMU Knowledge Exchange session we demonstrated the work of SMEs supported by the ESIF funded LCR 4.0 and Low Carbon Eco-Innovatory projects.
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Our new Strategy 2030, states that LJMU is an “inclusive civic university transforming lives and futures”, that we care about our communities and make a difference to people’s lives. Further, our 2030 “Research and Knowledge Exchange Plan” and “Place and Partnership Plan”, prioritises community and public engagement activities and links this to specific Key Performance Indicators.
We develop both strategic and reactive partnerships between LJMU (staff and students) and multiple communities to promote lifelong learning, translational education, and impactful research findings. This approach is driven strategically by our leadership as well as reflecting community needs. We have a large and diverse portfolio of public and community engagement activity that engages the whole university with local to global partners. (117)
Aspect 1: Strategy
LJMU has made significant strides towards a more coordinated and strategic approach to community and public engagement since 2020. Within our senior leadership team, we appointed our first PVC with responsibility for both Research and Knowledge Exchange (2020). This provided strategic support, profile, and direction for community and public engagement firmly within the Senior Leadership of the University. This also provided a clear link between the generation of research by staff and PGR students and the people, processes and partners associated with community and public engagement. The PVC for Research and Knowledge Exchange also directly manages the Research and Innovation Services (RIS) team with new investment in public engagement and impact staffing.
In 2022 we developed our Research and Knowledge Exchange Plan 2030 as well as our Place and Partnership Plan 2030, both feeding into the LJMU Strategy 2030 document. This allowed us to articulate the fact that public and community engagement activity sits at the core of our University Strategy as well as detailing activities that range from university wide partnerships to highly focussed local programmes with, and for, specific partners. Significant, long-lasting public and community engagement activity occurs within all LJMU Academic Schools. Our priorities and goals are to co-create significant stakeholder partnerships within Liverpool and the City Region that cover broad areas that reflect our academic portfolio from education to health and sport science to the performing arts. The development of specific partnerships reflects both strategic targeting and development as well as reactive support for groups approaching our staff or the University. In all community and public engagement work we promote equality, diversity and inclusivity concerns and align our work with our university wide approach to Athena Swann, Race Charter and widening participation priorities. In addition, we have good links with the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, and we are associated with the Civic universities Network.
Our recognition of the importance of “Place and Partnership” in our strategic development supports and develops our recognised role as an important “anchor” institution in Liverpool and the City region. Our public and community engagement activity is strategically broad-based to be both reflective of our wide-ranging academic offer as well as the strong cultural, arts, creative, economic and sports-based connections within the Liverpool City Region.
Aspect 2: Support
We support public and community engagement (PCE) through a range of specific academic and support roles across the university. A number of Faculties and Schools now provide direct staffing resource for specific public and community engagement “champion” roles (e.g. School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise Science) to coordinate and grow activity as well as promote links with the STEM ambassador Programme.
Within our Research and Innovation services team we have staff who support academic and student research activity and its translation into impact within various partnerships and communities. The University has identified additional resource to grow this support team to extend its current role that between 2020 and 2022 provided guidance as well as technical training and support associated with “Impact Tracker” software to provide a repository for evidence of public and community engagement and the changes that ensued from this activity.
Further support for PCE has been provided by resource for student engagement including internships, placements, project work (in undergraduate to postgraduate provision) as well as a range of volunteering options. Much of this support, running alongside academic and city based engagement are delivered and supported by multiple central professional service departments - Student Futures; Research & Innovation Services; Corporate Communications and stakeholder relations.
Each year LJMU works with primary and secondary schools and colleges inspiring young people to go to university. Between 2019 and 2022 our LJMU Outreach Team delivered over 1,500 activities to around 20,000 pupils
At LJMU recognition and reward for public and community engagement is extremely important. A key aspect of this has been the ability to apply for Readership or Professorial conferment through an “engaged Scholar” pathway that targets evidence of sustained and significant impact of scholarly activity with multiple external stakeholders. This career progression route is growing in popularity with academic staff with 32 applications for Professorship (11) or Readership (21) in the Engaged Scholar pathway (2019-2022). In addition, in 2020 we relaunched the annual University Research and Knowledge Exchange Conference with specific staff awards in “Knowledge Exchange and “Impact Stories” to recognise excellence in public and community engagement.
To support dissemination of good practice in relation to public and community engagement in late 2021 we launched our “Impact Hub” website to detail important examples of community partnerships and various stakeholder collaborations. This evidence of research translation covered work locally in the Liverpool city region as well as stories from around the globe.
We provide direct funding through Quality-Related Strategic Policy Funding allocations are intended to support universities in undertaking research with local, regional, national and international structures (including parliament, central government, devolved administrations, local government, health and education bodies, the justice system and other regulatory organisations). In addition Quality-Related Participatory Research Funding is used to pump prime a range of public engagement activities including a citizen science / co creation / co production element.
Aspect 3: Activity
Liverpool John Moores University is a distinctive institution, rooted in the Liverpool City Region but with a global presence. Our public and community engagement activities reflect both our local “anchor institution” role as well as ability to reach out across the globe. Both locally and internationally we often work with disadvantaged communities that reflect our commitment EDI principles and to make a positive difference to the lives of our communities. Included below are selected highlights across the period, 2019-2022, which inevitably includes our response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a flavour of our vibrant public events and our ongoing initiatives and research dissemination.
Pandemic Response and the pan university Institute for Health Research
The onset of Covid-19 saw researchers across all 5 Faculties adapting their research towards addressing the pandemic. Engagement with multiple communities through on-line media provided guidance and information that was vital as we all approached new ways of living and working. Selected COVID highlights are included below with a full summary here:
Public Health Institute - undertook a series of rapid data gathering exercises that have informed the pandemic response at home and abroad. For example, exploring the impact of COVID-19 and government restrictions on people attending A&E departments and vulnerable adults using services such as needle and syringe programmes (NSP). Reports have been used by local authority resilience planning forums and Public Health England to ascertain the impact of restrictions on NSP coverage.
The TELL study – in collaboration with University of Manchester, this ESRC impact acceleration funded study investigated the impact of Covid-19 on 16-19 year olds and produced video, resources, and school lesson plans. This has resulted in the publication of a paper and 2 reports. ttps://www.seed.manchester.ac.uk/education/research/impact/teenagers-experiences-of-life-in-lockdown/. Findings have been covered by BBC Northwest Tonight, the Times Education Supplement, and the Conversation.
In 2021 we were founding partners (with University of Liverpool, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and others) of the Pandemic Institute based on an initial £10M philanthropic donation. The Pandemic Institute is supporting ground-breaking activity that reflects the end-to-end nature of such health challenges including recovery from Covid-19 to predicting the next pandemic.
Across the Pandemic staff engaged with multiple public engagement activities - Graeme Mitchell from the Public Health Institute appeared on Radio City Talk with a daily 10 minute slot from March – June 2020. He was a regular contributor on BBC local radio stations throughout the pandemic taking part in phone ins and answering listeners questions. Ruth Ogden’s, from the School of Psychology, had an article on “The passage of time during the Covid-19 lockdown” that was published on PLOS ONE in July 2020 was picked up by 112 news outlets leading to various media interviews.
Public Events
The University runs a vibrant programme of public events every year and collaborates with organisations across the local area to drive discussion and engagement on the major issues affecting our communities. Events have included hosting the Climate Summit for Business, the 2021 Mayoral Hustings as part of our Roscoe Lecture Series and working in partnership with the Liverpool City Council Culture Department to organise the Liverpool against Racism Conference in April 2022. The 1823 Podcast gives access to a host of voices from the LJMU community including academics, professional staff, student, and alumni with discussions on everything from mental health to the cultural legacy of The Beatles. Another new event, the MA Short Film Festival launched in 2021 is an annual event programmed and curated by students on the MA Film programme that showcases the talents of student filmmakers from across the globe. The 2022 festival saw 16,000 visits to the website from 45 countries to watch the amazing films, participate in live Q&A sessions and attend the awards ceremony. Over 1400 entries from 100 countries have been received for the upcoming 2023 festival.
Highlighted Initiatives and Research Projects.
National Schools Observatory [NSO] – This long running and large engagement project continues to provide unique and privileged free access to the Liverpool Telescope for UK and Irish Schools and independent learners globally to their own observations and to the astronomical research carried out by the telescope. The NSO is inspiring a generation of school students to engage with science and potentially change their career and study aspirations.
Racing the King Tide - This is a series of 8 documentaries about the adaptation of the communities of 4 low lying atoll islands in the central Philippines. This work has had significant impact on reframing the international debate on sea level rise and the UN’s intervention in this policy area. Underpinned by community collaboration the films have received extensive media coverage and have been played at COP25 and at the United Nations World Oceans Day virtual event in June 2021.
Legal Advice Centre [LAC] – One of the biggest law clinics in Europe the centre utilises its expertise and resources to address unmet legal need in our communities. The LAC is embedded within the curriculum enabling every LJMU LLB Law student to work in the centre at every stage of their degree if they choose. In this period c.750 number of cases were supported by 500 students providing c.£2.75M value of legal advice.
Eureka! Science + Discovery – The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences have worked in partnership on a new Merseyside visitor attraction which aims to inspire a new generation of young scientists and STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics] superfans. The team have co-created imaginative and stimulating content on the theme of “My Personal Best”. The exhibition space will look at how sport and exercise science can help elite athletes to achieve the marginal gains necessary to succeed at the highest level. It will also appeal to non-athletes, with a focus on nutrition, health, and wellbeing.
All about Stem – Team Absolute Chemistry@ LJMU continue community engagement by supporting schools and colleges with fun and enriching, interactive STEM sessions both virtually and in person.
Littlewoods Heritage Project – Launched in 2019 this National Lottery funded intergenerational heritage project in partnership with Metal arts organisation and Capital Centric aims to capture the history of the iconic former Littlewoods Pools building. Through the collation of archive materials, oral histories and interviews the project will create an interdisciplinary multimedia experience.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
Part of the process of enhancing practice is to look at the impact of engagement on our partners. A specific example shows how partner organisations clearly benefit from our engagement activities. LJMU was acknowledged in 2020 with the award of the International Sport for All (TAFISA) Mission 2030 Academia Award on the basis of contribution to the Global Active Cities programme: ‘Their [LJMU] openness and readiness to share their expertise with the world, and train other stakeholders, universities and cities worldwide to promote physical activity make them a logical recipient of the award’. TAFISA also identified that LJMU through the Global Active City programme had fundamentally changed their strategic outlook and became a key theme in the TAFISA Mission 2030 strategy document that will drive their own activities and engagement around the globe with public and multiple sport and physical activity communities
Evaluation is often built in from the start of specific research activities that we co-create with our partners. In this we support a philosophy of enhancing practice and evidence-based use of resources.
Specific projects produce detailed evaluation and reflection, often in association with funding requirements as well as our own internal drive to develop, learn and progress (e.g National Schools Observatory programme)
We have adopted a process of communicating a range of public and community engagement activities via our 2021 launched “Impact Hub”. This has included videos of specific programmes of activity as well as links to impact case studies from REF2021 with local to global engagement (e.g. Shakespeare North; Global Active Cities)
Aspect 5: Building on success
The last three years has seen a significant change in the strategic oversight and guidance of the broad-based public and community engagement portfolio of activities. This work continues and will focus on resource support, the development of a “community of practice”. The first of this was the implementation of a public engagement review undertaken in the first half of 2022. Key findings from this showed a breadth of PCE activity including high quality exemplars but highlighted the need to strengthen and deepen a PCE strategy and address operational weaknesses around evidence; evaluation and monitoring of PCE.
The PVC is now a central focus and advocate of public and community engagement across the University and works in tandem with staff and student representatives through the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee. This group has produced the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Plan 2030, which has directly impacted upon the updated University Strategy 2030. In addition, the PVC, Faculty Associate Deans for Research and various members of Research and Innovation Services have directly informed the Universities Place and Partnership Plan 2030 and its predecessor the “Civic Engagement Plan”.
Our new Strategy2030, states that LJMU is an “inclusive civic university transforming lives and futures”, that we care about our communities and make a difference to people’s lives. In essence this is the key to the universities mission and values that highlight the importance and consequence of engagement with various communities (local to global). When undertaking reviews or evaluations of specific programmes of activity, key questions will always revolve around “what has changed?” and “what difference will this make to peoples or communities’ lives?”.
We monitor central resource support (ERC, PSF, PRF) through the University Research and Knowledge Exchange committee and this helps guide future investment as well as populate the “Impact Hub” in terms of examples of good practice and significant change. Sharing success and building on our desire to “tell our own stories”, is also a key role for the Impact Team and the Impact Hub. We will continue to populate and share access with staff, students, and external partners.
Note You are currently viewing the latest version of this narrative statement. View the previous version as published in previous iterations of the KEF (KEF1 and KEF2)