Institutional Context
Summary
The University plays a vital role in training the workforce of the future; as thought leaders through our research; and as champions and a major employer for the locality. We have a strong track record of partnership working to leverage funding and other resources to enhance the social, environmental, cultural, and economic wellbeing of the county through our Changemaker Commitments.
We work with key public authorities, business and industry, community, and voluntary sector organisations, responding to their strategic priorities and needs.
UON is internationally recognised for creating Social Impact, winning awards for this work accredited by the Social Enterprise Gold Mark.
Social impact is a key driver within UON strategic plan and guides KE (Knowledge Exchange) activity within the institution.
Institutional context
The University of Northampton (UON) was awarded full university status in 2005 and in 2013 was the UK’s first internationally accredited Ashoka-U Changemaker Campus. This was in recognition of UON’s commitment to social impact which has been key to the University mission, research strategy since 2013, and embedded within the knowledge exchange plan. Four key themes underpin this commitment – Education, Health and Well-Being, Heritage and Culture, and Business and Enterprise. In 2018 the University opened its new £330m Waterside Campus and welcomed 11,985 students. Our current (2022/23) student population is 17,233 based on campus or with our academic partners. We have a strong widening participation remit with one of the most diverse student populations in the country, and derive most of our income, and dedicate most of our activity, to learning and teaching.
UON is comprised of three Faculties (Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology, Faculty of Business and Law and Faculty of Health, Education and Society), offering disciplines within the Arts, Business, Education, Law, Health professions, Humanities, Social Sciences, and physical sciences and Technology. Our research areas are History and English alongside Health, biomedical sciences, Education, and Geography/Environmental Sciences. Recent research strengths have developed in biological sciences, engineering, psychology and sociology. Within the Faculties are 13 interdisciplinary research centres, focussing on China and emerging economies, dementia research, education, environment, health sciences and services, history, physical activity and life sciences, psychology, sustainable business practices.
UON has three research institutes: the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies (ICLT), the Institute for Social Innovation and Impact (ISII), the Institute for Public Safety and Criminal Justice (IPSCJ). These support research-only staff and focus on key research areas with a focus on interdisciplinarity, collaboration and applied research.
Located within the SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnerships) area, UON is at the centre of the strategically significant Oxford to Cambridge corridor which is set to deliver transformative growth and investment across the region. Northamptonshire is currently home to 384,000*jobs across 37,695** SME and corporate businesses. This includes key growth sectors underpinning the Southeast Midlands Local Industrial Strategy such as those related to digital technologies and artificial intelligence, logistics, clean growth, precision engineering and autonomous vehicles, as well as life sciences specialisms UON algins as best it can to these specialisms.
Following recent local government reorganisation, two new unitary authorities were formed in the North and the West of the County. UON works closely with the new authorities as anchor institutions and to ensure continued benefit from UON’s KE activity is achieved across the county.
Figure: Picture of University of Northampton Waterside Campus
*Total employment, 2021, Business Register and Employment Survey, ONS (Office for National Statistics)
**UK Business Counts, Private Sector Business Count, 2022, ONS
For further information, please send queries to Helen.Miller@northampton.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
UON (University of Northampton) has long-standing partnerships across Northamptonshire and the wider SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnerships) and Ox Cam Arc local enterprise partnership regions. As an anchor institution, we work closely with key public authorities, business, and voluntary and community sector organisations, contributing to strategy development and collaborating to deliver shared strategic priorities.
Our commitment to ‘social impact,’ delivered through our changemaker commitments, ensures our knowledge exchange activity creates real impact within the local area. Commitment four, ensuring a positive environment for entrepreneurial growth and development, underpins most of our local growth and regeneration activities. This commitment guides our knowledge exchange activities towards maximising economic growth with an emphasis on business start-up and growth, and skills development.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Through our status as an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus, we are committed to making a positive social, environmental, cultural and economic impact in the county of Northamptonshire, the wider region of South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) and the Oxford to Cambridge corridor, adopting a local to global approach to social innovation.
Picture 1: Map of South- East Midlands local enterprise partnership geographical area
The University’s strategic ambition is to improve the social, economic, cultural, and environmental wellbeing of all those living, working, and learning in Northamptonshire to positively transform lives and inspire change.
Our ‘social impact’ agenda delivered through our four Changemaker Commitments, ensures our activity creates real impact within the local area. These interrelated challenges are embedded across all our activities and teaching. They focus on the county’s businesses; healthcare; heritage and finally education, and are multi-disciplinary, long-term, real-world projects. They commit us to determined and effective internal and external partnership working and delivering high-impact positive change, while guiding our strategic direction and ambitions to develop and drive value in our community.
The Changemaker commitments are informed through our ongoing engagement and partnerships within the regional area. UON has active representation on, and collaborates with, a wide network of local and regional stakeholders including councils, public service organisations, businesses, business networks, community, and voluntary groups, providing UON with, economic evidence and insights into the local growth and regeneration needs of our region. The following are examples of the stakeholder organisations where we have active connections, and from whom evidence and insight is gathered to help inform our strategy and activities.
Northampton Forward leading regeneration in Northampton town centre
UON has worked with both unitary councils and their predecessor organisations to help shape investment and programmes though the pandemic, we were members of the Local Resilience Forum economic recovery cell we ran the Recovery Through Enterprise Economic Recovery Programme, which provides packaged business support services to small and medium-sized enterprises
SEMLEP – We have worked closely with SEMLEP industrial strategy and subsequent COVID recovery plan. We have representation on a number of key boards and sub groups for SEMLEP including the Growth hub Board which provides strategic direction on the running of the growth hub and support for business as well as the future sustainability of its operational services, the South East Midlands University group which meets quarterly with the Chief Executive of the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnerships) to discuss joint areas of work and alignment to the economic needs of the locality
ARC Universities Group are working together to deliver the ARCs economic development goals
Business Improvement Districts-business led partnerships which are created through a ballot process to deliver additional services to local businesses., UON sits on several theses BIDS.
Northamptonshire’s Best Surprise providing support to the programme which aims to boost visitor numbers focusing on campaigns around Arts & Culture, historic houses, food & drink
Operation of Business Leaders forum and other industry led forums which provide valuable insight on the needs of business.
UON Centre for Sustainable Business Practice is helping charities, civic institutions and businesses work together to improve the social and business environment within which businesses operate. We help businesses ‘do well by doing good..’
Aspect 2: Activity
Working with partners ensures the focus of projects is identifiable and deliverable, meeting the needs of local businesses and the community as identified below by our recent activities structured against the Changemaker commitments.
1. Every young person can flourish and learn
We continue to provide a flexible response to the provision of our Knowledge Exchange (KE) to meet the needs of businesses and partners and continued to support our local community to address skills and vacancy shortages providing key opportunities to work with the university. Our HEIF (Higher Education Innovation Funding) allocation has enhanced our ability to leverage other funding to provide our student projects and internships offer including our ALPHAS (Accelerating Leadership and Productivity in High Ambition SMEs) Time2Grow, Santander, and Blue skies programmes which provide mutual benefit to both companies and the students
UON Apprenticeships provide an opportunity for employers to address skills gaps within their organisations. By partnering with the University to deliver apprenticeships, employers can benefit from our expertise in designing and delivering high-quality training programs that meet industry standards and are tailored to the needs of specific sectors. In addition, they help us to reach out to underrepresented groups and individuals who may not have considered traditional academic routes. By providing a vocational pathway into higher education, we can engage with new audiences and support social mobility agendas.
2. Positive health and wellbeing are fostered and promoted for all
Active Quarter - UON have led in the Active Quarter project to transform existing green and urban spaces and nearby waterways to improve people’s health and wellbeing, at the same time uniting communities, aiding regeneration, and improving safety.
COVID 19 Response – during the height of the pandemic UON provided lab equipment for the testing effort and several of our staff/students provided expertise and worked in testing labs. UON hosted and led Northampton’s first mass testing centre, supporting positive health during the pandemic, and enhancing community wellbeing through the provision of accommodation for key workers and the rough sleeping community.
3. Cultures, heritage, and environment are respected, protected, and enhanced for future generations
Heritage Impact Accelerator is a project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund that will see the University of Northampton focus on enriching and highlighting the heritage of Corby.
Waterside Campus sits within the Nene Valley Way Nature Improvement Area, making biodiversity of Waterside Campus a fundamental part of the university’s sustainability ethos. UON has worked in partnership with West Northamptonshire Council on their sustainability strategy and through initiatives such as Project Awesome (Accessing Waterside’s Ecosystem Services: Observing and Monitoring the Environment) we are:
Enhancing, conserving, and protecting wildlife and the environment in and around Waterside Campus
Ensuring that Waterside one of the most biodiverse university campuses in the UK
Promoting Waterside as a place that nurtures staff and student health and wellbeing
Encouraging both students and staff in volunteering, observing wildlife and monitoring the environment.
4. There is a positive environment in which entrepreneurial opportunities are supported to grow
We have been key partner in Goodwill Solutions Ltd since 2011, delivering solutions and benefitting the local community working with offenders, ex-offenders, the homeless and disadvantaged to secure successful employment. Company was awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise in 2020 in recognition of their impact.
Our role in place making and regenerating Northampton was a key decision in the University’s move to our £330 million Waterside Campus regeneration project on an unused derelict site in the UK’s Largest Enterprise Zone which post COVID is supporting the businesses within Northampton town centre.
The Faculty Business Law (FBL) Challenge is a stakeholder engagement event and competition where students within the Faculty of Business and Law, with support from staff, pitch innovative ideas to business executives which address complex sustainability challenges within their commercial practices. The FBL Challenge is organised and run-in partnership with several local businesses. This further demonstrates the work UON is doing to utilise its convening power to connect stakeholders with staff and students to co-create knowledge exchange activities
Our Business Support & Signposting is another key area we have utilised HEIF as match funding, supporting business growth and start up support. These initiatives include:
SEMSUP (South East Midlands Start Up) a start-up programme from which students and the wider community can benefit.
Growth Curve is aimed at Growth businesses in the SEMLEP area that utilise a mix of business advisor and academic expertise. These programmes leveraged European structural funds and contributed to achieving all the objectives set in the accountability statement.
We continue to work closely with the new unitary authorities in the North and West of the county, the local enterprise partnership (SEMLEP), the Chamber of Commerce, and other statutory partners to expand our HEIF funded business support into an integrated offer providing targeted support and collaborative approaches to support local organisations and individuals as follows:
Management of Additional Restrictions Grants –supporting the delivery of the growth plans of businesses adversely affected by COVID. Delivered in two strands, start-up (registered less than 3 years trading) and established business grants, the Business Resilience, and Innovation Grant. Extension of Working Progress Collaboration Project – a programme of support led by University of Northampton that built the capacity of the VCSE (Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise) sector to support economically inactive individuals into employment and training.
Leadership of ESF project Pathways to Recovery – a UON led consortia including the University of Bedfordshire which provides self- employment support, advice, and guidance to economically inactive individuals and matches candidates with vacancies.
West Northamptonshire Social Enterprise Towns (WNSET) social enterprise internship programme offered 19 student internships within social enterprise and VCS organisations to support sustainability and growth of those companies.
Innovative Industry forums – UON leads several industrial fora which engage hundreds of businesses from larger corporates to smaller SMES. These for a create direct engagement and support with local businesses, local authorities, public health, and offer direct access for UON’s KE delivery. In the21/22 the Diversity & Inclusion forum was developed and is open to all employers supporting Diversity & Inclusion in their company or organisation.
BIG22 invited applications from community entrepreneurs, UON students, graduates, and staff to submit proposals for commercial and social solutions to address societal needs and create new ventures.
We continued to play a key role in Digital Northampton and hosted the live conference – Merged Futures. This is a collaboration between local digital businesses, UON academic and professional staff, students, and local authority partners to promote digital innovation in and around Northamptonshire, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaborations.
Knowledge Exchange for Better Business, (KE4BB) a community renewal funded programme provided Northamptonshire SMEs support to develop and grow by offering free tailored support packages. These packages included access to expertise through a range of UON consultancy, webinars, focused programmes peer networking, membership of business support organisations and networks, virtual assistants, and fully funded student and graduate internships.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) - As part of our Business Support activities, we also have a long tradition of partnering with SMEs through KTPs. One recent example is LightPoint, a surgical device company, who teamed up with the University to enhance its product design capabilities, ensuring that its technologies were highly responsive to the complex demands of modern cancer surgery. The company’s first product, SENSEI®, is a laparoscopic probe designed for real-time detection of cancer during minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgery. The second, LightPath®, provides rapid molecular imaging of surgical tissue specimens in the operating room. Both products are highly innovative and a step change in imaging and sensing capabilities for cancer surgery.
Aspect 3: Results
UON is in the process of adopting a new mechanism for measuring impact through the development of the Social Impact Matrix. 21/22 was the first time the University’s social impact matrix has been applied to capturing, measuring, analysing, and reporting its social impact against all Changemaker Challenges. Taken together with the numerous case studies obtained as part of the process the matrix offers a robust, auditable, and substantial account of the social impact the university produces through its activities. The report offers a baseline against which future progress and development will be assessed, and the university can judge the value of social impact measurement as part of its decision-making process. Plans to improve the methodology, data capture, and reporting are already in place and we see this as part of a continuous improvement process that will inform further development at UON and enhance UON’s reputation as a Changemaker Campus
UON engagement with regional and local organisations and communities has significantly supported local growth and regeneration. While many of the above activities are ongoing, examples of some of the outcomes and impacts are described below:
We have supported over 2000 businesses though our business signposting and helpline
SEMSUP has supported over 124 new businesses The impact of this programme has been significant, and I encapsulated in the following testimonial “SEMSUP has been invaluable resource. I could not believe the workshops & support were free, I was a bit worried & nervous about attending the workshops at first, but I realised they were easy to understand & really help me grow and develop my skill set. Even if you only walk away learning 1 thing, it is still 1 thing you did not know & can help your business. I felt encouraged to learn more & wanted too! It made me think about business in a different way & evaluate each stage of my business.” BRON’S BAKES
The FBL Challenge was first held in the 2017/2018 academic year and has been held an annual event ever since. There has been a total of 66 student finalists over the five-year period that the competition has been running, and we have anywhere between 70 and 100 students entering the competition each year. The success of the FBL Challenge over the years has resulted in some businesses in the county plugging the event into their innovation stream. This means that some of the innovative ideas that have been pitched to business executives over the last five years have been resulted in various outcomes. As an example, the winning pitch in the 2021 edition of the event is now being researched in collaboration with a local business through external grant funding with an objective to have it commercialised
The Business Resilience and Innovation Grant Scheme which operated under the ARG was aimed at addressing the impact that COVID had on the growth potential of the business. Supported over 90 businesses. This programme had an immediate impact on the businesses that accessed support summarised here ““Being accepted for a grant has enabled us to fund the creation of our new website, Online Equine. The new website integrates with a new stock system to control and measure stock flows, in turn managing stock across all platforms and dramatically reducing the risk of error. The new website also integrates with Atlantic Equine’s accounts software and reconciles each order. Having the new website integrate with our other systems enables the use of new sales channels on multiple selling platforms, such as eBay, Etsy, and Google; simultaneous communication with suppliers API stock portals for up-to-date availability; and increased turnover and margins as orders will be able to arrive the next day!” Atlantic Equines
The outcomes and outputs of our business activities are outlined below in Table 1
| SINCE 19/20 OUR ACTIVITIES HAVE RESULTED IN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
£ 1.88m Value of external funding income for local growth and regeneration |
||||
| 2215 business enquiries and signposted support | Over 400 apprentices | 765 businesses supported on funded programmes | 124 new businesses supported * | 96 funded graduate interns |
*Includes community, staff and students start ups
Dissemination and promotion of the impact of these programmes is achieved through
Community News on UON website
Partnership forums
Social media channels
EES UK – https://youtu.be/509IqRG5kOk
Scottish Leather Group - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No_ungJ3XJA&list=PLneMua71BvCRv_whMUippdsBoyNnJKkxf&index=4
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
The University of Northampton (UON) is committed to and undertakes a wide variety of public and community engagement. In 2015 UON became the UK’s first internationally accredited Changemaker Campus with a commitment to engaging stakeholders to create positive social impact. Our UON Strategy strengthened this commitment with an overarching focus on social impact and using our position, as an anchor institution, to work in partnership contribute to improve the lives and prosperity of communities at a local, national, and international level.
Four Changemaker Commitments have guided our P&CE activity with a focus on young people, health and wellbeing, community culture heritage and environment, and building a sustainable and positive business environment.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Purposeful P&CE works comes from knowledge creation and exchange with communities to ensure positive outcomes and effective change. Our approach has been to:
Network and collaborate with key stakeholders and community groups to identify areas of priority.
Train and develop academic and professional service staff.
Embed P&CE within our education, research, and business engagement activities.
Invest in support of open research
Resource key activities – financially (to include software, personnel, projects, and activities)
Evaluate the work undertaken in terms of impact and significance.
Learn from best practice and reward/celebrate engagement.
UON’s public and community engagement priorities are articulated as four Changemaker Commitments in line with our Ashoka U Changemaker Campus status:
Every young person can flourish and learn.
Positive health and wellbeing is fostered and promoted for all.
Ensuring the communities’ cultures, heritage, and environment are respected, protected, and enhanced for future generations.
Building and sustaining a positive environment in which entrepreneurial opportunities are supported to grow.
These commitments encourage cross-disciplinary approaches, focussing activities, and allocation of resources to create positive engagement and social impact.
UON collaborates with established networks to ensure strategic alignment with local and regional needs. Examples of collaboration includes the Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Board, the Southeast Midlands Local Enterprise Partnerships (SEMLEP), the County’s Heritage Forum, and Local Authorities and Statutory Bodies. As part of the university’s strategy development an exercise is currently underway to remap the stakeholders and develop a revised strategy for engagement.
Responsibility for research, impact and knowledge exchange is shared between the Dean of Research, Impact and Innovation and the Director for Enterprise and Employability. These posts work closely ensuring P&CE is supported with an appropriate infrastructure that supports academic and professional service engagement. The co-creation of Knowledge Exchange and Research Strategies and operational plans guide the working of two key University Central committees (the Research, Innovation and Impact Committee and the Business, Engagement, Enterprise, and Entrepreneurial Committee. Both committees report to the University Senate and Leadership Team chaired by the Vice Chancellor.
We believe the key to advancing and embedding EDI priorities is to have strong policies, procedures, training and development alongside dedicated projects and funding to support positive change. UON has staff advocacy networks including the Global Ethnic Majority, LGBTQ+, the Disability, Women’s, and Gender Research Groups. We have developed a suite of training that focusses on EDI including decolonising the curriculum and research agenda, EDI in research methodologies, and unconscious bias training. Internal funding has been dedicated to race and equality-related KE projects. UON is committed to the five principles articulated in the Equality Commission Unit’s Race Equality Charter. This provides a framework to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers faced by UON staff from ethnic minorities.
Aspect 2: Support
UON has a comprehensive support infrastructure (Public and Community Engagement), enabling effective P&CE for academic and professional service staff. All UON Institutes and Centres engage in P&CE and are monitored annually. The same applies to our Changemaker Hub team, UON Support for Business and our School’s Engagement and Liaison teams. The community engagement team provides training and support for staff and students and our online portal provides access to community engagement opportunities and personal development activities. The Changemaker Fellowship provides community leadership development. Our placement team works to align student and community interests and all course validation and review panels have relevant industry/professional representation. Staff are entitled to paid community leave to undertake community engagement and UON is an active participant in the county’s volunteer passport programme.
Resourcing comes from core budget, HEIF, QR, and external funding to support dedicated staffing (Figure 1), and various internal project funding, alongside a commitment to open research via our public research portal (Pure). Funding also supports partnerships with key stakeholders to leverage additional resource.
Fig 1 Organogram highlighting UON’s Public and Community Engagement infrastructure.
In practical terms, Equality Impact Analyses are undertaken for all University policies and procedures related to P&CE activities. We have a range of policies including sabbatical leave, study leave, flexible and remote working, and support for equality-related circumstances including reasonable adjustments needed to support engagement. In terms of P&CE activity we engage with our target audiences and professionals to ensure the event/activity/content will meet the right needs including consideration of venue, accessibility, dietary requirements, financial support, and time-related concerns. Ppublic and patient involvement is underpinned by rigorous risk and ethics procedures.
Please see Aspect 5 for uptake and effectiveness of our provision
Aspect 3: Activity
The key programmes of activity at UON have mostly (but not exclusively) focused around the Changemaker Challenges and our commitment to social impact. All projects listed below have had support.
1. Every young person can flourish and learn
Key focus for the School Liaison and Engagement teams and the Centres for Active Digital Education and Education and Research lead in this area. Partnership work with a range of local, national, and international stakeholders, including children’s centres, NGOs, governments, further and higher education institutions, charities, nurseries, and schools ensure we meet the needs of the relevant communities.
Examples of Projects/Activities:
ACES Action Northamptonshire (cross sector and multidisciplinary partnership focussed on disadvantaged communities in Northamptonshire).
Aspire Higher (part of the Uni Connect national initiative to raise aspirations and support learners living in areas of deprivation).
Artists in Residence (Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded Arts Education project offering pupils access to technical arts skills support through UON’s arts department and students).
ASD East: Autism Spectrum Disorder – Empowering and Supporting Teachers
Children as Researchers of their own Wellbeing (a project that empowered year 5 participants to design evaluation tools to measure the impact of ‘Music for Wellbeing’ delivered by Northampton Music and Performing Arts Trust).
Science Outside the Classroom (European participatory project focussing on children with differing abilities and working with schools and teachers to enhance the learning possibilities and experiences of children).
Song and Cultural Education Capacity in Young People (increased opportunities for youth participation in the experience of live music making through engagement with school choirs).
STEAM Northants (activities to inspire and enthuse young people in all careers and subjects around STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths)
UON Annual Lecture for Children and Young People
2. Positive health and wellbeing is fostered and promoted for all
Key focus for the Centres for Health Sciences and Services, Physical Activity and Life Sciences, Psychological and Sociological Sciences and the Institute of Social Impact and Innovation and the Institute for Public Safety and Criminal Knowledge. International, national, and local partnerships (e.g., Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, National Volunteer Police Cadets) alongside membership of relevant bodies (e.g., Regional Advisory Boards, trustees for national associations and charities, community groups and forums) ensures the efficacy of the projects.
Examples of Projects/Activities:
Angela Project (worked in partnership to develop a national Good Practice Guide distributed via the Young Dementia Network).
Annual Memory Days (established to provide advice and signposting on issues relating to memory and dementia)
Building a Well Communities Research Consortium to address health inequalities across Integrated Care Systems (interdisciplinary and cross-sector to develop new networks exploring how health and care systems can better integrate with community assets)
Café Scientifique (public engagement events where researchers host public lectures and workshops in a local café).
Connected Together CIC (engages communities informing wellbeing policy and practice),
DEFIN-YD (Young onset dementia public engagement project).
Forget Me Nots (set up to provide a normalised social engagement for people with dementia and their families).
Public Health, ICS, and University of Northampton Partnership March 2023
Regional life science forum (working in partnership with East Northamptonshire Council).
Sepsis Roadshow (in collaboration with Northampton General Hospital and Sepsis UK to improve understanding of this disease).
UnityDEM group (provided formal support and cognitive training for people with dementia and a support programme for family carers).
University of Northampton’s Joint Action Dementia forum
Waterside Campus (developed as an accessible community facility for the COVID-19 pandemic response).
3. Ensuring the communities’ cultures, heritage, and environment are respected, protected, and enhanced for future generations
Key focus for the Centres for Cultural and Literary Studies, Historical Studies, Sustainable Futures (this Centre came into existence because of public and business enquiries) and the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies. Partners range for national organisations such as English Heritage to more local ones such Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, Northamptonshire Local Nature Partnership, Nene Valley Catchment Partnership, Northamptonshire Heritage Forum and East Midlands History and Heritage.
Examples of Projects/Activities:
Changing Futures Week (showcases industry careers and opportunities through a packed agenda of masterclasses, keynote speakers, demonstrations, and workshops with leading industry speakers).
Degree Show (to give the public a unique chance to view the work of the next generation of creative talent, showcasing the work from Photography to Fashion, Fine Art to Games Art.)
Fine art Exhibition (public student art exhibitions delivered in community spaces and residencies)
Greening the toy industry (collaborative project to reduce waste generated by poorly designed, products, packaging, and distribution systems)
High Sherriff Lectures (annual lectures hosted by UON on behalf of the High Sheriff)
Nenescape (collaborative project focusing on the River Nene between Northampton and Peterborough to celebrate, protect and conserve the natural and built heritage of the landscape)
Northamptonshire Heritage Forum and Easy Midlands History and Heritage
(NLive is run by community volunteers alongside students and lecturers in developing content, producing programming, and journalism).
Public Sector Poetry (for people working in, retired from, or studying to enter education, health and social care or social work).
4. Positive environment in which entrepreneurial opportunities are supported to grow.
Key focus for the Centre for Sustainable Business Practices, the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies, the Institute for Social Impact and Innovation, the Changemaker Hub and the work of the Changemaker Incubator and Business Support Team. Activities aimed at supporting sustainable and ethical business development and ensuring the public-private-third-academic sectors work together with communities as cocreators in understanding community needs and designing initiatives to address them.
Example Projects/Activities:
Freshpact (collaboration with retailers, manufacturers and agribusinesses operating within food supply chains rooted in developing or emerging economies to identify shared high priority social and environmental challenges).
Goodwill solutions CIC, (provides collaborative research, internships, PhD studentships, and KTP opportunities around logistics, social value, and the rehabilitation of offenders).
Social Innovation Linkages for Knowledge Exchange Network (SILKEN), (partnership work to establish training and consultancy with external stakeholders, advocacy with policymakers and community engagement).
Further UON evidence of outcomes:
500+ outreach activities including public lectures, broadcasting, journalism, roadshows, book clubs, blogs, school visits, heritage events, performances, podcasting, media interviews and acting in advisory capacities.
Open Research 2022: 135227 downloads of research outputs including articles, books, chapters, theses, reports, exhibitions, musical compositions, datasets, patents and performance related materials.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
Evaluation of P&CE activities is included in the university’s social impact report. In 2021, the university adopted a social impact reporting framework all UON P&CE outputs and outcomes which are auditable and open to peer review. The first report produced is due to be published in March 2023.
The Institute for Social Innovation and Impact undertakes the evaluation of the impact of UON’s P&CE activity, building on their expertise in international knowledge exchange networks. HEIF funding will be invested in a further researcher in 2023/24 to expand the capability of the team and inform the wider debate on effective measurement.
Our P&CE plan includes input indicators such as:
allocated HEIF funding to deliver P&CE activities
increasing the engagement of staff and students in relevant CPD and P&CE by 50%
increasing the number of students engaged in P&CE activities to 30%
increase the number of associate professors and professors of enterprise and professional practice by 25%
Output measures include:
increase public engagement with P&CE activities by 50%
increase the number of UON/Community collaborative funding initiatives to 10 per annum
increase staff involvement in P&CE activities by 25%
P&CE social impact framework outcomes are linked to levelling up, build back better, and road map priorities.
UON’s KE governance requires reports to the Business, Enterprise, and Engagement Committee, with recommendations for continuous improvement, and policy changes required to enhance P&CE. These are cascaded through the faculties, institutes, and centres to inform practice and enhance engagement. The KE plan identifies enhanced CPD and training for 2023/24 with £70,000 earmarked to enhance the provision, development, and introduction of new tools to support the development of a community of practice.
UON is in a period of transition in the way P&CE activities are evaluated, moving to a mixed approach including metrics and evaluations to inform continuous improvement. Implementation is at an early stage with the methodology now the infrastructure is in place to move forward. Further work is required to develop reporting systems and refine the KPIs, and measures adopted.
Aspect 5: Building on success
Responsibility for research and knowledge exchange is shared between the Dean of Research and Impact and the Director for Enterprise and Employability. These posts work closely ensuring KE is supported with an appropriate infrastructure. Both are part of the University Leadership Team (ULT) and Senate, giving KE a strategic voice and accountability.
The review of KE and research governance in 2021, identified the need to dedicate more time to ensure good governance of KE while retaining the existing strong arrangements in place for research. Senate agreed a new arrangement (fig 2) in July 2022. This two-committee structure introduced the Business, Engagement, Enterprise, and Entrepreneurial Committee and the Research, Innovation, and Impact Committee, replicated in Faculties to ensure effective two-way communication, best practice sharing, and infrastructure development.
UON’s Knowledge Exchange Concordat identified five key priorities to improve the infrastructure:
Improve clarity of mission
Provide clarity over access P&CE for staff, students, communities, and publics.
Enhance the approach to evaluation
Improve collation and monitoring of data to inform continuous improvement
Create formal governance environment for KE including P&CE
Action plans for these priorities were brought together into the UON KE strategy (priority 1), approved by Senate in September 2022. Action plans form the work plan for BEEEC, with HEIF resources, responsibilities, and progress against milestones reviewed and monitored.
Priority 2 saw the introduction of the community engagement team as a single point of access for P&CE support, Priority 3 saw the adoption of a new evaluation framework, and Priority 4 developed PURE to accommodate P&CE activities. Priority 5 was achieved with the adoption of the governance arrangements outlined above.
Dissemination and promotion of P&CE activities is achieved through partnership forums (e.g., SEMLEP skills forum, stakeholder groups, Industry liaison forums, Social Enterprise Mark HEI group, Social Enterprise UK HEI group, Health and Wellbeing Board, Business Improvement District committees, Northampton Forward, Voluntary Sector forums, University Court, UON’s PR department through a range of media outlets) and UON’s annual report
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)