Institutional Context
Summary
Our mission is simple: we transform lives. We give people from all backgrounds the opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge and experience to succeed.
Our research, teaching and partnerships are characterised by a focus on real world impact, informed by local, regional, and national policy priorities; addressing the cultural, economic, and social challenges facing society today. We are ambitious for our communities, our partners and our city and region. Our ambitions align fully to this agenda, evidencing the application of knowledge in partnership with business and the wider community in which we reside.
Our vision is to be the world's leading applied university; demonstrating what an institution genuinely focused on transforming lives can achieve in partnership with its location.
Institutional context
Sheffield Hallam is one of the UK’s largest universities. We sit at the heart of our region, and play an important leadership role in the region - improving social mobility, quality of life and the economy through the impact of our students, research and collaborations. Our Civic University Agreement and hosting of the national Civic University Network provides a framework for how we actively contribute to regional priorities. In this context our ‘Transforming Lives’ Strategy is evidenced through:
Creating Knowledge: Our research and our industry partnerships provide innovative, practical solutions to real challenges.
Leading Locally, Engaging Globally: Our place at the heart of this city and region is fundamental to our global engagements, extending the reach and impact between and beyond our locations.
Shaping Futures: Our students are confident, creative, resilient, and responsible, and their KE experience is evidenced at all stages of their learning and employability journey.
Creating Knowledge: Our research and innovation work is delivered through our research institutes, and is characterised by a focus on real world impact across three principal themes that run through our KEF narrative: Driving future economies; Enabling healthier lives; Building stronger communities. Our REF2021 outcomes clearly align with this also, with 78 percent of our impact assessed as world-leading and internationally excellent. Our 2020 KE Concordat submission also reflects this strongly, with connecting our academics to external collaborators and students being at the core of this.
Leading Locally, Engaging Globally: Our place at the heart of this city and region, and our international connections, are fundamental to the reach of our research and KE.
Our commitment to our region recognises the transformative nature of Sheffield Hallam as an economic driver. We add more than £400 million to the city region economy every year, and our £220m campus masterplan will help regenerate significant parts of Sheffield city centre. In leading locally, our Transforming Lives agenda also resonates globally, connecting communities and opening the region up to new economies.
Shaping Futures: Our student-led and enterprise KE activity is a core part of our institutional make-up, as recognised by being named Outstanding Entrepreneurial University at the THE Awards 2021. Our award winning Highly Skilled Employability Plan is a key initiative that unites our KE with our strongest business and community partners, and we are 6th amongst all UK universities for the overall number of graduates in highly skilled jobs. Across the institution we have more than 30,000 students, of whom:
25,000 are undergraduates and 6,000 postgraduates
40% come from within 25 miles of the university
53% of our students are the first in their family to attend university
23% are from low participation neighbourhoods
The demographic profile of our student base is highly reflective of our local and regional demography, and as such we are committed to providing opportunity to students from all backgrounds. We believe our Transforming Lives strategy enables them to have direct impact on the communities in which they live.
For further information, please send queries to innovation@shu.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
At Sheffield Hallam, our approach to knowledge exchange emerges from our values as an institution. Our Transforming Lives strategy (Fig 1.) demonstrates our vision that universities should make material contributions to the cultural, economic, social and health challenges facing society. Most importantly, we contend that the pursuit of knowledge has the power to transform lives through applied research, learning and multi-disciplinary, cross-sector partnerships.
Our collaborations address global and local challenges, for example,
the low intensity of R&D and significant skills deficits and
mismatches in the South Yorkshire (SY). We take a partnership approach
in responding to these challenges, working with the South Yorkshire
Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), and other key stakeholders including
NHS Trusts, businesses, HE providers and local communities. 
Aspect 1: Strategy
Sheffield City Region: Our gateway to KE in global contexts
Sheffield Hallam University’s approach to local growth and regeneration is as an active, anchor institution in support of business and the economy. We leverage our international partnerships, such as our global partnership with La Trobe University in Australia to bring value and opportunities to our national and regional activities where we can deliver impact in close partnership with key stakeholders and beneficiaries. Our work with the SYMCA, local authorities, Employer Representative Bodies, businesses, and national stakeholders is structured to address policy priorities. This builds on our Transforming Lives strategy to enable partnership working to improve R&D take-up, skills development, and improved business growth and competitiveness.
We undertake KE and partnership working strategically across key clusters, using an end-to-end innovation approach to link regional initiatives into national and international programmes, with emphasis on engagement and collaboration with end users to secure collaborative funding opportunities and deliver meaningful impact.
We also invest in capital infrastructure including two new industry facing R&D facilities since 2019. We are a key partner in the region’s successful 2021 Institute of Technology bid, and have also invested in a new, industry-focussed R&D facility, Sheffield Multi-Modal Imaging Centre (SMIC). These complement the SYMCA ambition to grow the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District and the Olympic Legacy Park to explicitly link both skills needs and access to research infrastructure, enabling socio-economic benefit.
Applied knowledge through research and innovation, in collaboration with well-prepared, skilled, and entrepreneurial students, are key features of our approach. Dialogue and relationships with partners through regional and national innovation and economic development planning has identified and informed our KE priorities, namely:
Initiate, broaden and strengthen our partnerships with companies, policy makers, organisations, universities, education providers and agencies to accelerate the achievement of our mission.
Work with partners internationally, nationally and locally to create economic prosperity, increase productivity, competitiveness, and wealth creation through innovation in science, technology, creativity, leadership, and management.
Work with communities, partner organisations, and individuals to enrich and improve health, well-being, social prosperity, and community cohesion.
Ensure, through close engagement, that the University’s approach continues to be business relevant and 'in demand' in the delivery of partner informed KE and workforce development.
Develop strategic HE collaborations and be responsive to regional and national opportunities.
Deploy HEIF and complementary funding to increase collaboration, growing R&D and skills capacity to support long-term sustainability and growth.
Innovation and KE
Our innovation and KE activities are driven by three strategic research themes which galvanise high-impact multi-disciplinary research:
Enabling healthier lives: Creating innovative solutions for today's health challenges. Health is more than just the absence of disease; it is the ability to live a fulfilled and independent life. From conception to old age, the opportunities to improve and sustain health and independence through cultural and technological changes are immense.
Driving future economies: Economic models and structures are undergoing profound changes. This comes from technological developments, not least the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but also in the interplay between the economy and energy supplies, climate change, new forms of economic organisation and the future of work. Our research explores these challenges, providing solutions to increase productivity and keep business ahead of the curve through innovation, and resilience to the impact of global challenges.
Building stronger communities: We draw together and stimulate research across traditional disciplinary boundaries to support more inclusive communities for all, in response to major societal challenges at local, national, and global levels.
Meeting the needs of the future workforce
Sheffield Hallam has made a bold commitment to offer employability and enterprise experiences for every student, on every course, at every level. The Highly Skilled Employability Plan has laid the foundations for a transformative student experience, 94% of our students are in work or further study 15 months after graduating and 74% are in Highly Skilled Employment.
Aspect 2: Activity
Meeting the needs of South Yorkshire
The University's Local Growth and Regeneration KE portfolio includes collaborative R&D, contract research, consultancy, CPD and workforce development, European Structural and Investment Fund regeneration programmes focussing on SME innovation, skills support in the City region, and student-led enterprise.
Our innovation-led KE activity is delivered through 4 Research Institutes whose objectives are to:
promote engagement and collaboration with business to identify and resolve their needs
inform interventions through our research strengths and capabilities
have a close understanding of the external policy drivers and priorities identified by national and local government agencies
work with industry stakeholders and sector focussed industry bodies on the development of our R&D provision, KE investments, and the establishment of industry advisory boards and panels.
Approach: Research and Innovation
Enabling Healthier Lives:
Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre opened in 2020 and employs a unique model of collaboration, co-production and systems thinking to address the challenge of physical inactivity. We bring communities, businesses, clinical services and the public sector together with academic expertise in health, engineering, robotics, software design, psychology, sport and exercise science and the arts to create meaningful partnerships that co-produce innovations that help people move.
In 2019, ahead of the facility formally opening, the AWRC was awarded University Enterprise Zone status by Research England to develop and deliver The Wellbeing Accelerator. This programme provides business, research and innovation mentoring to support start-ups to bring health and wellbeing innovations to market. The scheme also provides funding to participants to carry out industrial feasibility and research projects to develop products and services in collaboration with academics across Sheffield Hallam University. Participants in the scheme received over £8M in follow on funding from private and public sources, including £2.4M of government research funding.
Lab4Living (L4L) is a research unit based on collaborative community of researchers in design, healthcare, and creative practice. The Unit is internationally recognised and is one of the longest-established living labs in Europe. It has gained specific recognition in user-centred design research methods that have informed award-winning products, and in 2019, was awarded a £4M grant by Research England as part of the Expanding Excellence in England (E3) scheme.
Driving Future Economies case studies:
The National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering (NCEFE) developed was established in 2014 after Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) was selected by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) to lead a national response to the challenge of attracting engineering led research and innovation to the food and drink manufacturing sector. The centre aims to deliver research and impact that achieves affordable, sustainable, and healthy food production, NCEFE’s research themes are: 1: Food system sustainability; 2: Feeding a growing population; 3: Healthier lives; 4: Digital connectivity. The bespoke 1815 m2 building, which opened in 2019, is an industry and student-facing facility for industrially led research and innovation, collaboration and workforce development activities.
The Sheffield Innovation Programme (SIP), an ESIF supported partnership with the SYMCA and the University of Sheffield; and Digital innovation for Growth, a partnership with Barnsley Digital Media Centre, are examples of our programmes to support SMEs through access to expertise and facilities.
Cross-disciplinary applied research is a strength of our leading research centres. For example, our Biomolecular Sciences Research Centre is working closely with the Materials and Engineering Research Institute on innovative projects bridging science and engineering disciplines across areas such as imaging, thin films, polymers and nano composites for health, and medical applications.
Building Stronger Communities:
Centre of Excellence In Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence And Organised Crime Research
CENTRIC has global reach to both academic and professional expertise to progress ground-breaking security focussed research and KE. As an example of collaborative development, the Security Communication and Analysis Network (SCAAN) is an innovation that is helping to ensure the safety of UN personnel through a digital system developed in partnership with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) which benefits >21,000 of IOM staff in over 160 countries.
Approach: Skills and Enterprise
Our portfolio of Higher Degree apprenticeships is an example of where we have linked strategic alliances with industry sector skills bodies with our innovation-led KE activity for the benefit of business. We do this by:
A multi-award winning employability and enterprise offer, leading to Highly Skilled Employment for our graduates.
Delivering a comprehensive portfolio of employer focused curriculum and degree apprenticeships.
Student and graduate enterprise through development of our regional enterprise eco-system to support scale-up enterprises.
Delivering student consultancy and knowledge exchange services.
Aspect 3: Results
Outcomes from our KE programmes are logged at project level with oversight through University Boards chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation. Larger scale projects, for example NCEFE, the AWRC, CENTRIC and SIP, have partnership boards and industry advisory groups to monitor progress and inform future strategic interventions. Our ongoing commitment to the Knowledge Exchange Concordat is continuing to embed the importance of Knowledge Exchange at the heart of the Universities operations.
Outcomes include businesses engaged, long-term collaborations between the University, organisations and companies, and quantitative and qualitative improvements in business performance and competitiveness.
Enabling Healthier Lives:
AWRC examples in addition to the Wellbeing Accelerator include:
Working with Canon Medical Systems Europe to develop and deliver projects on Oncology, Digital health, Sports medicine and Musculoskeletal health.
The Innovation Futures Scheme (co-funded by HGF Ltd), a youth engagement programme designed to introduce young people into the health, wellbeing and technology sectors and help them explore future career pathways.
Active Together is an evidence-based service designed to help patients in Sheffield who have upper gastrointestinal (GI), colorectal and lung cancer better withstand their treatment by providing physical activity, nutritional and psychological support before, during and after treatment.
A Strategic Collaboration with Westfield Health. This collaboration led to a KTP, funded PhD studentships, several research projects and has resulted in Westfield setting up its own Research and Development unit, let by the former KTP Associate as a collaborative venture with AWRC
Lab4Living has delivered over 100 research projects with over 80 academic, hospital and community organisations, resulting in creation of IP, open-source collaborative tools, and product design. This includes working directly with partners to design and develop innovations, such as the Head-Up Orthosis, which has delivered ‘life-changing’ improvements for people living with Motor-Neurone Disease (MND) and is now in use at 25 NHS Trusts in the UK and available worldwide through local company, Talarmade.
Driving Future Economies:
NCEFE is working with local, national and global businesses on innovations for the food sector, leveraging over £16.5M of collaborative R&D funding since their launch in 2014.
Key outcomes include:
Reduced energy usage in commercial kitchens with William Jackson Food Group and Dext Heat Recovery
Reduced fat by 20% and salt by 10% in baked cheese products in partnership with Greencore
Optimising oven design to reduce energy consumption by 15% with Nestlé and Spirax-Sarco.
International collaborations with Koolmill in China and India addressing waste and the reuse of the by-products of Rice Milling.
Sheffield Innovation Programme (SIP) outcomes include:
More than 200 Sheffield Hallam academics have worked with more than 400 companies across the region to provide solutions to enable business to enter new online markets, improving product and process performance.
Work during the Covid-19 pandemic, helping many small businesses to quickly adapt to meet changing customer needs and supply challenges.
Realisation of longer term partnerships, including 14 KTPs and other Innovate UK projects, as with Equi-trek and with Guildhawk, where our work from SIP has led to new product development and the successful implementation of KTPs for both businesses.
Collaborations between the Biomedical Sciences Research Centre and Materials and Engineering Research Institute include:
Developing IP for the development of injectable spinal implants to treat lower back pain
Collaborating with international companies such as Ionbond, Hauzer and Zimmer BioMet, enabling the development of new coatings for biomedical implants
On-going collaborations with Labskin UK Ltd, CRODA and AstraZeneca transferring technologies for non-animal testing of pharmaceuticals developed at SHU.
Novel methodology for the detection of biometric and life-style information on suspects from fingerprint evidence is being carried out in collaborative projects with West Yorkshire Police and DSTL.
Building Stronger Communities
CENTRIC outcomes include:
VR-training for incident first-responders, including police and paramedics
SCAAN: A safety and security intelligence dashboard and mobile app which is currently used by UN staff worldwide
MIICT: deploying tools that address the challenge of migrant integration
Award winning Cyber security simulation and serious games for SMEs Yorkshire Cyber
CRYPTOPOL: jointly developed with Europol, an interactive product for cryptocurrency investigation with Europol.
We work with employers to address national and regional skills gaps through an exceptional portfolio of Degree apprenticeships with over 400 employers and 1400 apprentices,
The Highly Skilled Employment programme is a major institutional initiative, resulting in:
New work experience modules to facilitate knowledge exchange; growing student involvement in external consultancy projects from 2,719 in 2016/17 to 3,818 to 4,500+ in 2019/20.
Students working with organisations, including Asda and McLaren, a wide range of SMEs, and voluntary bodies including Sheffield Young Carers and the Royal Society for the Blind.
An internship scheme to support graduates into highly skilled employment and support SME growth, placing 400 graduates with regional SME’s.
Growth in student enterprise interactions from 1,600 in 2016/17 to 2,900 in 2021/2022. The pandemic resulted in a 27% decrease since the 2019/20 high of 4,000.
Growth in graduate start-ups from 30 in 2016/17 to 42 in 2021/22. The pandemic resulted in a 25% decrease since the 2019/20 high of 56.
ScaleUp 360 (launched in 2019) has supported 983 businesses to date.
Hallam i-Lab was launched in 2019 and currently accommodates 310 tenants made up of student, graduate and SU360 businesses.
Growing our partnership with Santander to fund student and graduate start-ups – a new round of funding has just been secured for the 2023/26 period.
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Sheffield Hallam’s Transforming Lives strategy sets out our clear ambitions as a university at the heart of its region. Through our commitment leading locally and engaging globally, we already have a strong track record of meaningful, constructive and impactful activity across the region, as well as on the national and international stage.
Our approach is to work with government, regional and local partners to ensure that the university’s geographic role and responsibility is used more effectively as an agent to drive positive societal change, economic growth, and educational attainment. Our national role in hosting the Civic University Network is a key element of our approach to engaging in place.
Aspect 1: Strategy
SHU’s role as an anchor institution and a key collaborative partner is at the heart of our Transforming Lives strategy. We actively support our staff, students and stakeholders through our Civic Agreement, reflecting our role in hosting the national Civic University Network (CUN) and the accompanying National Civic Impact Accelerator. The Network enables us to support over 60 universities to:
“develop and embed civic aspirations at an institutional level, as well as working with government and strategic partners to ensure that a university’s geographic role and responsibility is used more effectively as an agent to drive positive societal change.” CUN Mission 2020
We are a creative and constructive partner, enhancing economic growth, educational health, and the quality of life in our region. Our global engagement links Sheffield to the world and the world to Sheffield, through for example our partnership with LaTrobe University, Australia. We work with like-minded partners to enhance our impact and reach, developing a culture for excellence and innovation that contributes to regional and global challenges of the 21st century.
Our planning approach: To engage, invest and have impact
To plan for our public and community work we have established our Place and Civic Engagement (PACE) Board. This strategic governance board focuses on extending our civic ambitions and commitment to socio-economic change and to embedding place in our strategic decision-making. It does this through 4 key themes: Education and Skills; Health and Wellbeing; Community and Regeneration; Economy and Jobs.
We developed our strategy in collaboration with stakeholders through a range of mechanisms including identification of public and community organisations representing key focus groups. We have committed to establishing joint advisory panels and working groups, as well as public seminars, symposia, and community intervention programmes led by stakeholder groups themselves. We actively engage with external stakeholders to support their related activities.
We allocate resources for all our public and community programmes based on a commitment to inclusivity and added value. We ensure a fair and transparent commitment to the use of public funds and recognise the true cost of public involvement as an essential component in our work. We provide internal funding dedicated to public engagement across the University, supporting staff, training, widening participation, and our marketing and communications.
Our ongoing commitment to the Knowledge Exchange Concordat is continuing to embed the importance of Public & Community Engagement at the heart of the Universities operations.
Aspect 2: Support
The support we have put in place for public engagement is informed by the needs of external partners, aligned to fit with the civic mission of the University.
Our principal mechanisms to support and underpin engagement are:
Professional practice commissioning groups such as in Sheffield Institute of Education
Established festivals and public programmes such as No Bounds, DocFest and the Festival of Science and Engineering
Innovation Network South Yorkshire, in partnership with the University of Sheffield
Public and industry lectures
Staff volunteering and peer mentoring programmes
Public intervention programmes such as South Yorkshire Futures
Career progression and time-allocation to recognise and promote civic engagement for example the schools’ governors programme
Student work experience programmes in public, industry, and community settings
Key examples:
Enabling Healthier Lives: The Life Café
Marie Curie commissioned Lab4Living and Cambridge University to radically rethink how palliative and end of life care can be delivered and improved. Key findings included the identifying a lack of opportunity for people to talk about what was important to them and how they gave and received care, a key barrier to good care.
To address this Lab4Living developed the concept of a Life Café, using collaborative design and co-creation to work directly with the communities affected. A total of 141 people were recruited for a study that created the Life Café toolkit.
Life Cafés have had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the quality of care. Marie Curie use them across their provision and the toolkit is also utilised by a range of organisations nationally and internationally, including a 1000 bed care home provider in Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Driving Future Economies: Hallam Guild
We prepare students for work in target SME businesses, enabling industries and social enterprises to optimise internships to tackle key challenges. In this way students gain the competencies and skills through a highly engaged curriculum, real world experience, and an understanding of how knowledge impacts on society and the economy.
Net zero ambitions: South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre
We are a major partner in a new research centre that includes South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, the four South Yorkshire local authorities, The University of Sheffield, and a range of private and voluntary sector organisations. The centre brings together world-leading experts from CRESR and the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering with regional partners to develop and implement plans to reduce emissions, while also providing jobs and economic growth.
Building Stronger Communities: Refugee Law Clinic
The Clinic is based within the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice and has supported over 190 family members from all over the world in making applications to join loved ones in the UK. Each case presents an incredible, unique learning opportunity for our students, and every case is life-changing for the refugees themselves.
The Clinic trains undergraduate and postgraduate students to work alongside qualified Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) registered immigration and asylum specialists, directly helping refugees navigate the complex processes and procedures for family reunification.
Aspect 3: Activity
We are building and refining our co-creation models. We are learning from our successful outcomes that our planning, delivery, review and impact are best designed with users and stakeholders from the outset.
Examples of our public and community delivery:
Healthier Lives: Meeting the needs of changing populations
We have a wide range of health programmes that have informed the development of our Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC). The Centre builds on strong foundations of health, sport, and engineering research. collaborating with the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine co-locating NHS services with physical activity facilities, the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity, Yorkshire Cancer Research, and businesses including Canon, Westfield Health and parkrun.
Project delivery involves patient and community user groups at the interface between research and public need. Activities are informed by a Public Involvement in Research Group (PIRG) which invites consultation on future collaborative projects and the review of ongoing research, funding applications, and ideas and products.
Current projects include:
RICOVR - helping people recover and rehabilitate from Covid-19 and manage longer term impacts;
Active Together - a pioneering service designed to help people with cancer prepare for and recover from treatment.
Healthy and active 100 — research and innovation that supports people into 100 years of healthy and active life
Digital innovations to support independent living
Living Well with Chronic Disease — exploring the management and treatment of chronic disease, through physical activity as a therapy
Future Economies: Meeting the needs of lifelong learning
Sheffield Institute of Education (SIOE) is a key research and innovation commissioning group. SIOE has over 2,400 students training to become teachers each year, of whom a significant proportion find employment in South Yorkshire. Alongside other work this provides a link from university activity to the educational improvement of the region.
SIOE leads an extensive range of knowledge exchange, responding to four challenges: improving the effectiveness of educational professionals; enhancing curriculum, pedagogy and learners’ experiences; promoting social justice by addressing disadvantage, discrimination and oppression; and innovating in theory and methodology. This is achieved through activities including professional development, network leadership, curriculum design and research dissemination, and in partnership with practitioners and other stakeholders.
Aligned to this is our unique Early Years Community Research Centre, working in collaboration with Watercliffe Meadow School, Save the Children, and Sheffield City Council. It provides outstanding early years provision for the local community in a disadvantaged area of Sheffield, and the Centre will act as beacon of best practice that can be shared across the region and beyond.
Stronger Communities: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged people and places
As a leading UK policy research centre, the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) seeks to understand the impact of social and economic disadvantage on places and people and assess critically the policies and interventions targeted at these issues. Clients include government departments and agencies, local authorities, charities and foundations, international organisations, and the private sector.
CRESR’s research portfolio includes welfare reform and labour markets, housing, the voluntary and community sectors, and a substantial body of work focused on vulnerable sections of the population including: homeless rough sleepers and the 'hidden homeless'.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
Our public and community engagement activities are co-designed with our stakeholders and regular review and evaluation is part of our project management approach. We emphasise capturing data and evidencing the range, of outcomes for our public facing activity in order to share the impacts more widely.
Examples of how we evidence impact and what we have learned:
Healthier Lives: HIV Nursing
This project has led to a radical restructuring of HIV nursing in Sheffield that cares for a cohort of 1000 patients/ service users. It has extended roles and improved service provision for the most vulnerable patients at the highest risk of morbidity and mortality. The work has informed national guidance documents and influenced workforce planning across the country. It has also shaped specialist advanced training initiatives and stimulated quality improvement projects in HIV services.
Future Economies: South Yorkshire Futures
SYF is our flagship social mobility partnership, committed to improving education and raising aspiration for young people in South Yorkshire. It has engaged more than 60,000 young people from over 350 schools and colleges, holding a range of interventions about further and higher education to develop crucial life skills and valuable routes to employment. SYF has worked with schools and stakeholders to expand the Children’s’ University programme evaluation framework measures impact through overall improvements in education and progression.
Stronger Communities: Centre for Regional & Economic Social Research (CRESR)
Since 2021 CRESR has undertaken 37 research and evaluation projects for government and charities. It delivers a range of events and conferences, informing debate and bringing evidence to bear on policymaking. CRESR continues to influence national policy on various topics including health and wellbeing (e.g. social prescribing), and sustainability (e.g. access to nature for Defra). CRESR works with local and regional private sector and government partners to support policy development. For example, supporting South Yorkshire’s economic inclusion plan, industrial policy (e.g. the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan), and helping local authorities deliver improved services to families with social and housing care needs. Internationally, CRESR’s work on energy communities is cited in the 6th IPPC Assessment; and in 2022 CRESR ran a global policy-expo on autonomous vehicles.
Aspect 5: Building on success
Communicating and acting on the results: Some key factors
Leadership: Influence and recognition
Public and community engagement is a shared responsibility of the University Leadership Team, and key to leveraging partnerships, investment and critical alliances. Relationships with senior counterparts in public, private and governmental arenas are instrumental in joining forces on regional and national strategic ventures around important societal challenges.
Next steps: Building on our commitment to the KE concordat, we will develop larger consortium propositions that respond to the government focus upon ‘place’ and the ‘levelling up agenda’.
Co-design: Involvement at the outset
A strong theme of our public and community engagement activities is cross disciplinary and collaborative working at the outset. This informs project design, sets methods and practices, and enables monitoring and evaluation of outcomes and impacts.
Next steps: Ensure that we adopt good co-design practise across our portfolio and consider how this might enable communities to commission their own research
Results: Sharing outcomes and impacts
Collaborating with our industry advisory boards, festivals and public events, and community partners, we have established a confidence in engaging effectively with our communities. We have gained awards and recognition of our translational work with public bodies and their communities. We can evidence the voices of participants (Life Café) and the impacts witnessed in the adoption of new ways of working and living (Justice for Her).
Next steps: Enable the outcomes of our work to be more easily accessible and readily utilised by communities who may not always have access to technologies.
Areas for improvement: The academic perspective
We have implemented greater accessibility to the outcomes and evidence for our public and community engagement activities. Building on the Civic University Network and our close relationship with numerous regional stakeholders, we are exploring how data observatories might empowering business and the wider communities with the evidence they may need to affect improvements and policy reform.
Next steps: Our Research England funded National Civic Impact Accelerator will be officially launched in March 2023. This ambitious initiative aims to both generate and leverage intelligence on civic innovations and provide tools to deliver meaningful civic strategies.
Areas for improvement: The public & community perspective
We have been successful in establishing research and engagement with the public and key communities, and specifically to impact upon health, education and public policy. Building on the work of our public commissioning research centres and institutes, we wish to focus in upon establishing ‘Living Laboratories’ deeply rooted in the communities we serve.
Next steps: Extending the work of Lab for Living and our AWRC to address new community challenges locally and nationally, scaling up and replicating our existing models in new international contexts.
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