Institutional Context
Summary
The University of Surrey is a teaching and research dual-intensive campus-based university located in Guildford. Surrey ranked 22nd in The Times Good University Guide 2023. Since receiving its Royal Charter in 1966, Surrey has broadened its strengths in science, engineering, and industrial engagement. It has many subjects ranked in the world's top 100 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2022, including hospitality and tourism management (ranked 2nd) and telecommunications (5G), electrical engineering and computer science, management, nursing, and sociology. Surrey created its pioneering Research Park in 1984.
With a research income averaging c£44m and c1,400 postgraduate research students, Surrey prides itself on collaboration and knowledge exchange, ranking in the top quintile for KEF’s IP (Intellectual Property) and Commercialisation (very high engagement).
Institutional context
The University of Surrey has a proven track record in knowledge exchange (KE) through collaboration with business and industry. Scaling innovation to grow societal impact and maximising the opportunity of our established Innovation Ecosystem is a key strategic activity in Surrey’s Strategy Forward Thinking. And Doing (2021-24).
Innovation (and KE) is a mainstream activity at Surrey for staff and students, with around 60% of students undertaking placements or taking a year out in industry. This focus on practice-based education and employability has led Surrey to be awarded The University of the Year for Graduate Employment in The Times/The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022. Surrey’s strong commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion is demonstrated through our Advance HE Athena Swan Bronze Award (since 2007) and a Race Equality Charter bronze award in 2022.
Surrey’s Research Park (SRP), the fourth largest University-owned Park in the UK, supports c200 businesses and contributes c10% of the Guildford economy (£590,000,000 Gross Value Added (GVA) and 6,220 jobs). SRP proved instrumental in the creation of the Guildford digital games industry (Hollywood of Video Games) with 70 gaming companies contributing c1,000 jobs and £64,000,000 GVA to the local economy.
Working in Partnership with other SETsquared Universities
Surrey uniquely provides effective support for all three stages of business development: start-up and incubation; early-stage; and maturity through our Innovation Ecosystem which creates economic growth and global societal impact. Value is further added through our long-term participation in the SETsquared partnership. The SETsquared partnership has supported over 5,000 UK high-tech start-ups since its inception (2002), helping them raise more than £3.9bn of investment and creating 15,600 jobs and £15.7bn of economic impact to date. By 2030 this is set to grow to £26.9bn. Our incubation hub SETsquared Surrey, located in SRP, focuses support and investment in Guildford but has contributed to GVA and job growth across the UK compared to 2018’s position.
Industry Partnership
Surrey’s pan-University Institutes, The Institute for People-Centred AI and Institute for Sustainability, along with Space South Central, and the Animal Health Innovation Network, utilise our strengths in research, academic offering, and talented graduates to engage collaboratively with business in many sectors, including hospitality and tourism, space and aerospace, telecommunications, transport, creative industries, and health.
Future Investment: Creating new and supporting young companies.
Our KE and commercialisation activities have created a diverse portfolio of spin-offs, licensing, and investments. In the period 2018-2021, nationally we ranked 5th for “formal spin-offs not HEP owned”. During the pandemic, Surrey made additional equity investments and grants to support our local SME ecosystem.
Community Partnership
The University’s Blackwell Park development, for key-worker housing and affordable homes, will support enhanced KE by extending SRP and ensuring its green and sustainable design is at the cutting edge, including a 12.2MW solar facility.
Staff contribute to KE widely through public engagement, e.g., through the successful Bright Club and Innovate Guildford events with c100 community projects running at any one time. The infographic below show Surrey’s 2021/22 KE impacts to the local and national economy.
For further information, please send queries to collaborate@surrey.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
The University of Surrey supports growth and economic activity in the region of Surrey through its Innovation Ecosystem; a network of over 580 businesses that engage with our talent, skills, knowledge, and facilities. Gross Value Added (GVA) assessments carried out by independent consultants showed the largest economic contribution of the University comes from innovation support activities, which in 2021/22 generated £660,000,000 GVA for the UK economy and supported c7,640 jobs. Societal impact is maximised through three pillars:
collaborating and convening – extending our partners, networks and value-add, through enhanced community leadership;
commercialising – through our intellectual property and enterprise creation and enabling of translational activities;
culture – by creating a more motivated, mobilised and vibrant innovation community that values and delivers real-world applications.
Aspect 1: Strategy
To define local, we look to our economic impact study that analyses the borough of Guildford and the county of Surrey and we look to the wider Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (EM3 LEP) boundaries that extend into Hampshire to include our contributions to strategic innovation clusters. Our SETsquared Partnership activities permeate across the whole of the south of England and international relationships like the UK/Singapore Alliance for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (UKSAIE) extend our ecosystem globally.
Our strategic approach to local growth and regeneration activity is described at a high level in our University strategy “Forward Thinking. And Doing”. Our capability for strategic planning and execution, our strong ties with civic and business leaders is evidenced by the University of Surrey’s contribution of £1.2 billion GVA and 18,200 jobs in the County of Surrey in 2020/2021 (3,850 staff and 14,280 full-time students), our culture of entrepreneurial relationships with industry and our strong track-record in commercial innovation means we play an important role in supporting the new economic reality facing our region and are committed to continued investment of our resources.
We have a deep institutional commitment to convert research into societal benefit. Our approach is to continually develop, nurture and protect our Innovation Ecosystem, creating deep relationships with businesses and organisations, allowing our investment, knowledge, and resources to be focused on their growth and development needs, and creating synergistic strategic priorities. We build relationships from the individual entrepreneur, to the large corporate, to local civic leaders, shaping programmes and collaborative methodologies that facilitate two-way engagement with us and optimise economic impact.
We invest in facilities and Intellectual Property (IP), creating commercialisation pathways for university research and bringing local and international businesses onto campus to give them the commercial advantage of access to leading equipment and facilities, such as the 5G Testbed, Ion Beam Centre, and vHIVE (Veterinary Health Innovation Engine).
Our continued investment in office facilities on the Surrey Research Park (SRP), with flexible rental for over 200 companies and enhanced business support programmes such as SETsquared Surrey incubation, is a key anchor for our contribution to regional growth. We are promoting social inclusion, providing excellent public spaces, and leading sustainable development practices through our plans to expand SRP as part of our Blackwell Park major housing project on University-owned land, the continued investment in new student housing, and our Surrey Sports Park facilities that are utilised by students, the local public and national sports teams like Harlequins and international competitions such as the 2017 Women’s Lacrosse World Cup.
Our strategic planning and actions are guided by our partnerships with other institutions and local civic authorities at borough, county, LEP, regional and national levels. We connect to innovation networks such as the One Surrey Growth Board (OSGB), which oversees the design and delivery of a long-term plan for Surrey. Our Vice-Chancellor is a board member and we have invested in a jointly funded Innovation lead role with Surrey County Council (SCC) to drive a collaborative approach to growth.
Since 2018 we have undertaken over 40 collaborative projects with SCC. One example is the ‘‘Charting Surrey post-Covid rescue, recovery and growth’’ project conducted in collaboration with SSC and the Future Economy Surrey Commission (chaired by Philip Hammond, with membership of the Vice-Chancellor). This project demonstrates how we leverage our subject matter expertise and evidence gathering skills to share knowledge locally, on matters of high economic importance.
We have collaborated closely with the EM3 LEP to build the evidence base for their local industry strategy and work with them on High Potential Opportunities (HPO) bids and growth fund opportunities. The strong alignment of our research themes and Knowledge Exchange (KE) delivery mechanisms with the EM3’s economic priorities provides evidence of engagement along with securing local growth grants for 5G facilities and Surrey Heartlands Health Tech Accelerator digital wards.
Aspect 2: Activity
To implement our local growth and regeneration strategy, we form consortiums and secure funds to create new strategically aligned programmes of activity. These activities develop innovation clusters which bring together civic authorities with research institutes and sector networks to facilitate business innovation and growth.
Recent examples of these regional growth activities that demonstrate our commitment to collaboration, commercialisation and innovation culture are detailed below.
Innovation Cluster Focus
Animal Health HPO
vHIVE was established in 2016 in partnership with Zoetis. In 2019, we partnered with EM3, the Pirbright Institute, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to submit a successful HPO bid to the DIT to create an ‘animal health cluster’ building on our existing partnerships, creating new growth momentum. Companies like NatureMetrics and Aura Veterinary have invested in new bio facilities on the SRP, creating a strong cluster of activity adjacent to our veterinary school facilities and laying the foundation for a vHIVE incubator to provide further support and facilities access to this important growth sector.
Space South Central
Space South Central is the largest regional space cluster in the UK, created as a partnership between industry and academia, and designed to; accelerate space business growth, foster an environment of innovation, grow the reputation of the south-central region and contribute to national prosperity.
We have brought together a partnership based on our strong space engineering heritage at the University, both within the academic base and in our partner companies on the SRP including SSTL who continue to be a leading UK space company.
Surrey Cyber Cluster
In 2022 Surrey was approved as a nationally recognised regional cluster for Cyber Security, by UKC3, the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration. This is a joint initiative between Cyber specialists from the region’s private, public and university sectors, including BAE Systems SCC and Royal Holloway, led by the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security, and aligned with our cross-university activity as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education. The ethos of the cluster is to inspire, support connection, and foster the growth of cybersecurity businesses in the region.
Investing in Collaborative Facilities
Leading 5G/6G Innovation
Our 5G/6G Innovation Centre (5G/6GIC) is one of the largest and most renowned academic research centres in its field in Europe. In 2022 we were one of three universities to receive a share of £28 million to team up with major telecoms companies including Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung to design and build networks of the future such as 6G. Our campus test bed continues to be a mechanism for regional SME engagement, enabling accelerated growth in advanced communication in the region and supporting the Digital Connectivity strategic priority in the EM3's Local Industrial Strategy.
Acceleration of Health tech innovation
The Surrey Heartlands Health Tech Accelerator provides a physical and intellectual environment which can support the delivery of the Integrated Care System (ICS) innovation strategy and plan, from early-stage pipeline to spread. Engagement is active with SMEs, including for example, usability testing of a home remote monitoring platform with Docobo, and capability testing and data gathering of sensors used for remote monitoring tech with Yorbyl technologies.
Partnership approach to impact creation
Utilising our academic excellence and business support skills, we form partnerships with institutions throughout the UK and Europe to build Enterprise Programmes that win funding to enable KE into SMEs alongside business growth training. Key examples include: NHS Bid for Better, supporting staff at the Royal Surrey NHS to bring to life their ideas to make a positive difference to the hospital and its patients; and STAR hub, an innovation network of academics to support regional companies developing plant-based nutrition solutions and provide thought leadership on the role of nutrition in starting and staying healthy.
We actively facilitate Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) with local companies. For example, Yeltech are working with Computer Science academics on an AI enabled predictive maintenance platform.
Institutes to focus partnerships
Surrey’s Institute of People-Centred AI brings together knowledge from across the University to facilitate the ability for external partners to collaborate in this ubiquitous and fast-moving sector, full of real-world challenges to which the Institute is enabled to bring AI solutions. The AI Institute works with partners on areas as diverse as healthcare, social sciences and performing arts, as well as core AI topics in engineering, sciences, and maths. It also enables a close relationship with local government, health, and law enforcement organisations to bring AI solutions that offer economic and societal benefits to the local region.
Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability’s (IFS) mission is to be a critical player in the global transition to sustainable living for all, through interdisciplinary research and innovation, in partnership with regional, national, and international organisations, and through education and civic engagement.
In 2022 we announced a strategic partnership with SSE Energy Solutions to increase the amount of our energy generated from renewable sources. This joint venture will also encompass a new research partnership with the IFS, focused on collaborations to deliver on-site demonstrator projects. The partnership underpins our ambition to achieve our net zero carbon target by 2030 and affirms our commitment to being one of the most sustainable universities in the sector, supporting growth in regional sustainability practice and the EM3 Clean Growth priority.
Local area focus
We also build partnerships that focus on key societal challenges in our local area, pooling knowledge, and facilities to create regeneration impacts. Key examples include the University of Surrey Living Lab and Guildford Living Lab that apply current research and innovation using the university campus and surrounding Surrey communities as a testbed. By co-creating projects with businesses, public sector organisations and community and climate action groups, we are addressing real-world issues with tangible results at a local level.
We created the Surrey Energy Partnership, now with a membership of 143 people representing 56 organisations, which helps Surrey businesses, organisations and individuals benefit from the clean energy revolution and be resilient to change, while reducing our collective carbon impact.
Locally we launched the Guildford Sustainable Business Network in partnership with ZERO Carbon Guildford. The objectives of the network are to provide pathways for businesses to reduce their emissions and increase their sustainability. In addition, SRP have created a Sustainability working group for tenants, creating collaborative approaches to sustainability improvements.
We utilise our membership of the SETsquared Partnership to deliver both local and national support for accelerating the growth of innovative start-ups. This includes running our SETsquared Surrey business incubator, the S100 club Angel investment network, Scale-up company R&D support, executive support for spin-out growth and student start-up support.
In 2019 we refreshed our Intellectual Property Code, re-activated our seed fund investment activities and re-focused our Impact Acceleration Account activities to make these funds more accessible to academics and the resulting industry collaborations more palatable to regional small businesses.
We invest in our SME Innovation Voucher scheme to introduce SMEs to new academic collaborations and stimulate R&D activity in the region. A recent example is Crumbs Drinks who are undertaking a project with academics in Chemical & Process Engineering to optimise beer brewing as part of a carbon neutral and zero food waste future.
Our Student Enterprise activities go beyond building graduate start-ups. We have developed a Sustainability Hackathon methodology that focuses on bringing entrepreneurial students together with regional businesses and charities to create solutions to local and globally applicable societal challenges such as preventing fatbergs in local sewers, effective campus food waste separation and reducing cervical screening stigmas.
We also run programmes like IKEEP to support teams of students to solve the innovation challenges of local businesses. An example is PowerQuad who utilised the students to provide business model ideas for new market opportunities for PowerQuad’s clean mobile power solution, based on market research and modelling work.
Regenerating Guildford
In addition to investing in our SRP and Surrey Sports Park we have created development plans for a new site of housing and business units and a solar farm on our land as part of the Guildford development plan, which will deliver powerful economic, infrastructural and social benefit to the Guildford community and the region.
Our Surrey IFS is supporting a major Guildford Station regeneration project, creating an academic, public and private sector collaboration to bring the latest knowledge and technology to the project. It is also supporting the greening of more deprived areas of Guildford and collecting data to monitor and advise on designing to reduce air pollution and heat island effects.
Aspect 3: Results
An independent economic analysis has shown that all elements of Surrey’s operational impact stemming from its core activities, its student community, and the tourism it draws to the area supports an estimated £675,000,000 GVA and 16,730 jobs throughout the UK. Almost 51% of the GVA impact is contained in Guildford, while 63% is contained in Surrey.
The purposeful impacts of the University include the impact of the University’s knowledge exchange and commercialisation activity and the benefits of the support it provides to industry through the SETsquared Incubator and the Surrey Research Park (SRP).
In 2020/21 purposeful benefits accounted for around 57% of the total GVA impact of the University and around two thirds of the total employment impact. This includes the support the University provides for start-up enterprises through the SETsquared incubator, the impact of additional funding businesses secured through the S100 Club and the impact of tenants of the SRP. This support has been instrumental in the success of some of the defining sectors of the region’s economy, including satellites and digital games.
The SRP is the first science park to have undergone the UK Science Park Association (UKSPA) ASPIRE performance review process, revealing an estimated annual contribution to the regional economy of between £450,000,000 and £625,000,000, rated as outstanding. In 2021/22 there were approximately 200 companies with impact examples illustrated below.
The SETsquared Partnership celebrated its 20th year in 2022 and has enabled the University of Surrey to contribute £15.7 billion GVA to the UK economy through the growth of the companies the partnership has supported.
Our SETsquared Surrey incubator has continued to provide award-winning support to regional high-tech businesses and provide commercialisation support to our growing portfolio of spin-outs. Examples include supporting Inovo Robotics to secure nearly £3,000,000 to develop their robotic arm, and supporting Urban Data Collective to partner with Surrey County Council to harmonise data management.
In 2022 tenants of the SETsquared Incubator generated £3,000,000 GVA for the UK economy and supported around 120 jobs that could be attributed to the University. In addition, our spin-out portfolio generated £48,000,000 for the UK economy and supported a total of 870 jobs.
Over the past six years our academics have completed 23 KTP projects, generated £3,000,000 GVA, and supported around 70 jobs across the UK economy. They have delivered impactful innovations such as heatloss reduction pool covers, microbial control strips for food storage, prostate cancer imaging, and logistics management for electric transport.
From 2018 to 2022, we have enabled £24,000,000 worth of collaborative funded programmes to support SME R&D and business growth e.g., the SPRINT programme which has created £1,127,000 in collaborative projects with 12 SMEs and our academics, with 60% of SMEs in the EM3 region, contributing to the growth of the regional space cluster.
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Public and community engagement is central to our University mission which:
Provides excellent education, and advances and disseminates knowledge.
Transforms lives and shapes the world for a better future by partnering with students, governments, businesses, alumni and local communities.
Delivers social and economic impacts through research and innovation, together providing solutions to global challenges.
Driven by partnerships between the University and local and regional communities, Public Engagement activity is divided into two areas.
Community engagement in Guildford and wider region, fostering excellent relationships, understanding and positive sentiment through a programme of communications, engagement and events.
Engagement with our research, focused on sharing knowledge and increasing impact, with varied activities from training and engaged research practice to events and communications.
Aspect 1: Strategy
The University is a signatory to the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) manifesto and Concordat for Engaging the Public in Research.
Our University strategy, Forward thinking. And doing 2021-2024, enshrines Public and Community Engagement as a central pillar across all areas.
Our ambition and goals recognise us as “a leading research and innovation institution with talented staff, students and postgraduate researchers committed to research excellence and to benefitting the economy, society, and the environment. An engaged and connected university which is the intellectual home for staff, students, alumni, supporters and the local community, and aware of its impact”.
Specifically, within Research and Innovation (R&I) our strategic ambition is to contribute greater societal benefit by deepening the culture of innovation, and enhancing our impact, knowledge exchange (KE), and community engagement.
Surrey’s overarching Communications Strategy commits us to promote Surrey’s impact and unique contribution to transforming lives and shaping the world for the better so that Surrey is recognised for (amongst other objectives) advancing and disseminating knowledge. Sitting directly underneath this strategy is our Public Engagement Strategy Framework
Governance of our engagement is the responsibility of the Executive Board, with leadership provided by the Vice-President (External Engagement) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation). Public Engagement (PE) is based in our Communications, Public Affairs and Events team, ideally located to work across all areas of the University to drive forward Surrey’s PE and KE activity.
To achieve strong engagement, we listen and participate in two-way dialogue with our communities. Relevant public and community groups, and their needs are identified, through our annual Guildford Residents’ Survey and YouGov polls, (which provide critical insight into the perceptions, needs and awareness of our local community), and our community webpages and participatory research activities like Greening Southway that directly involve public engagement.
We work closely with local authorities and stakeholders in our home county of Surrey. A joint Surrey Board allows regular strategic interaction between partners. University expertise contributes regularly to local committees and working groups on key areas such as climate change, education and community safety. A recent report, ‘Charting Surrey’s Post-Covid Rescue, Recovery and Growth’ was written by our Politics Department for the Future Economy Surrey Commission and Surrey County Council (SCC). It highlighted the key economic areas, issues and challenges the county faces in the wake of Covid-19 and Brexit.
Through our Athena SWAN Action Plan, we deliver on our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across the broader community. To achieve excellence, we recognise the value of everyone, enabling and supporting individuals to not only achieve their maximum potential, but also to understand their responsibilities in creating a culture of equality, demonstrated through our EDI Awards and Schemes.
Aspect 2: Support
Our internal Knowledge Exchange through Public Engagement Forum, chaired by Professor Jim Al-Khalili, meets termly. Bringing together those involved in the research, design, delivery, and promotion of PE, it facilitates a collaborative joined-up approach and sharing of best practice.
We are members of the South-East Physics Network to participate in Outreach and Public Engagement Programmes, and in 2019 we signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate and share research with Winchester Science Centre.
Funding
We estimate that the University invests ~£1,000,000 per annum in engagement activities centrally, including staffing (c£700,000), central events (c£100,000 per year) and funding opportunities made available to academic staff (c£80,000 per year). Surrey is currently delivering a high-profile research programme supported by £3,000,000 of funding from the John Templeton Foundation. This programme has a significant PE component with many events planned in the UK, i.e. Cheltenham Science Festival, and the USA.
Skills and Training
Our Doctoral College offers 5-10 training courses each year on media and PE skills. The Doctoral College and Public Engagement Team also collaborate on an annual PE Day. Working with Skillfluence and others, the University is delivering a comprehensive R&I training programme designed to help researchers achieve their knowledge exchange and impact goals. Skillfluence courses have had 255 total sign-ups with 5,000 unique visits to a dedicated training support page for Surrey staff.
Recognising and rewarding engagement across the organisation is important and we have included PE as part of the “impact beyond academia” category in academic appraisals and promotion criteria since 2016.
Communications and Media
We use the media to promote research to the public. We monitor all media coverage secured from our activities so we know where our work has succeeded in reaching priority media targets. We conduct further analysis in-house to capture where research has had the greatest impact, and to allow for monitoring of outcomes from successful media coverage.
We share our news and events, including our current research activities, via our community-focused website and dedicated community and PE social media accounts (Twitter and Instagram: @UniOfSurreyCPE). Our community newspaper is delivered to 43,000 Guildford residents twice a year.
Supporting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
When planning our PE activity we take an inclusive approach, ensuring activities are available to all, and that thoughtful planning ensures a range of activities will suit different participants and audiences. We ensure gender balance and representation of underrepresented groups is always factored into planning and delivery.
Community-facing events such as International Women’s Day, LGBTQIA+ History month and Black History month are highlighted and celebrated.
Our communications activity meets our commitment to Athena SWAN by ensuring the diversity of our University community is appropriately represented, i.e. on social media and in Your University newspaper, both visually and in the choice of who we focus on.
Aspect 3: Activity
Collaborating with communities and organisations is a large part of our research success at Surrey, e.g. we partner SCC on 36 active regional projects. Examples with a local focus are clustered below in strategic priority areas, recognising our collaborations extend across the globe.
Sustainability
The University has invited its community and local residents to come to campus to experience two open-access Innovation Exploratoriums, giving life to the University’s sustainability-focused research and increasing awareness on the positive impact of their personal changes.
Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) Guildford Living Lab is working with Woking Green Party to set up the town’s first air pollution monitoring network. Professor Prashant Kumar, founding Director of GCARE, advises local/national/international agencies on air pollution.
Our Living Lab, launched in 2019, enables collaboration between students, academics, staff and community partners to address real-world issues using the University campus and surrounding Surrey communities as a testbed.
A local primary school has received £40,000 from Reclaim Network, an EPSRC-funded network led by the University, to develop (working with children, parents and staff at the school), measures to reduce, remove, and monitor air pollution.
A University collaboration has won £1,250,000 of funding and will enlist 1,500 volunteers to help use space and artificial intelligence technology to restore Surrey’s wildlife habitats. The three-year project ‘Space 4 Nature’ will see the University and the Surrey Wildlife Trust working in partnership with Buglife and the Painshill Park Trust.
Health, Wellbeing and Education
Working closely with HouseProud, social housing providers and residents, our sociologists have effected change in UK social housing policies, improving the lives of LGBTQ+ residents.
The Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity is undertaking an outreach project with the Royal Surrey County Hospital, linking our research in sustainability and energy efficiency with healthcare practice in the local community.
Professor Jane Ogden shares her expertise on eating behaviours and weight management, frequently contributing to magazines, radio and television including Secret Eaters and The Truth about Fat (Channel 4).
Through a UKRI networking grant “CARINA” (network on ageing and immunology), our in-person networking meeting in 2022 included members of the public, indirectly contributing to UKRI funding policy.
Dr Chrissie Jones is Chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Research, Research for Patient Benefit South East Central Region funding committee, bringing a strong emphasis on involving patients and public in research, such as our work to support parents with learning disabilities through pregnancy. This includes a co-applicant with learning disabilities who works closely with other learning disabilities groups, to inform our research, including translating research findings into our student midwives curriculum and co-delivering sessions with people with learning disabilities.
Future Science and Technology
Professor Jim Al Khalili is known for his work on television and radio. He hosts the popular BBC Radio 4 show The Life Scientific.
We participate in national events including: Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities, British Science Festival, Cheltenham Science Festival, New Scientist Live, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition and Pint of Science.
World Space Week. A day of space-related events at Guildford’s Tunsgate Quarter. From satellites to planetariums, Surreys space research is available for all to engage with.
The University’s astrophysics group runs a popular series of stargazing outreach activities at least 6 times per year with c100 attendees at each event.
An ESRC IAA funded project is addressing the lack of a ‘citizen’s view’ in the design of new technology-based mobility services and is allowing local citizens to voice and visualise their concerns.
Engagement Events
Annual Festivals of Research, and conferences, which are open to the public, share our research and encourage audiences to set future research agendas.
Our public lectures are attended by over 6,000 people on average each year. High-profile examples include the annual Adams-Sweeting Lecture and the Roland Clift Lecture, which see experts, innovators and scientists deliver fascinating public talks on pioneering developments in their area of expertise.
Within our art schools activity includes; our community orchestra of public and university musicians delivering performances, grant-supported work with regional theatres delivering outreach workshops to support school children and teachers, particularly those from backgrounds currently underrepresented in the creative industries training sector, and innovative work on audio description to enable greater access to performance.
The University runs three Bright Club events each year, with c75 attending each including a performance at Guildford Fringe Festival.
Surrey Speaks is the University of Surrey's brand-new podcast series. We celebrate the wonderful, unusual and innovative work and fantastic minds associated with the University.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
The University reviews the outcomes of its local activities annually, evaluating progress and celebrating them. Until 2019/20, this was shown in the social impact report “Measuring Up”, published on our website, which included a dashboard of facts and figures used to benchmark ourselves.
In 2022 we launched our Sustainable Development Goals Report (2020-21), bringing together our previous Social Impact and Sustainability reports under the banner of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Surrey is placed 55th in the 2022 global Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings; the University’s highest position in the prestigious international tables which assess more than 1,400 universities' performances against the United Nations’ SDGs.
We have benchmarked our reputation amongst an informed audience of UK business leaders through a national YouGov survey.
Qualitative feedback from the community is gathered through the annual Guildford Residents’ Survey and from specific events. Analysis results appear in an annual dashboard, which is benchmarked and used to review impact of activity and inform planning.
We monitor outputs on research internally using a shared form, allowing researchers to report their Public Engagement activity and impact centrally.
Quantitative outcomes are derived from measuring attendance at events and uptake of projects and activities, e.g., Bright Club has increased from one to three times a year, tripling audience figures from 60 to over 180. Similarly, our local Pint of Science events have tripled to nine events over three days with over 500 attendees on average each year.
Responsible research and innovation, Governance
Health services users are involved in all aspects of our health and medical sciences research; local residents can join our Service User and Carer group, to advise on the design, implementation and governance of this research. Our Ethics Committees have lay members as do our research project boards and steering committees. We believe that engaged research must also be open and accessible. Our open research aspirations extend beyond access, to how we do research and how we disseminate our findings.
Many teams and individuals across the University successfully contribute to our engagement and we utilise the NCCPE’s EDGE tool annually to monitor our performance and inform planning.
Our ED&I approach to P&CE is monitored through our Athena SWAN Action Plan, reported annually to Executive Board and Council.
Aspect 5: Building on success
Our Public Engagement Strategy Framework allows us to build on our existing excellent practice to improve our support for engagement and KE activity across the University. Our External Engagement Committee provides internal governance and evaluation of our PE activities and outcomes. Significant research PE activities, along with Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) captured through our Guildford Residents survey, are reported through our University Research and Innovation Committee (URIC) to Surrey’s Executive Board.
KPI’s include % of respondents who agreed the University:
is a force for good in Guildford
has a good reputation in Guildford
A key measure of success has been our ability to secure further funding for our PE activity, both through the use of internal innovation funds and through enhancing a culture of including PE in research projects and R&I engagement activities. This investment in training and activity that promotes a culture of PE in research programmes will continue.
Our mechanisms for communicating the results of public and community engagement activities include our Social Impact Report, and Sustainable Development Goals report as well as our Surrey Showcase - available to all via our external website and aimed at a broad audience. We use mechanisms such as community webpages, social media and press releases to recognise and celebrate the successful delivery of our activities and contribution to society. We synthesise the outcomes of our activity into easy to digest infographics.
Our Your University Community Newspaper frequently includes “you said – we did” responses to our residents' survey and highlights new opportunities to engage and learn about our research.
Our Knowledge Exchange through Public Engagement forum serves alongside our internal communications route as a method of reporting, promoting and disseminating our progress against our aspirations and targets. We regularly feature internal communications stories highlighting key PE achievements, encouraging further support and participation.
One of our strategic approaches has been to listen and respond locally to what our community needs. We have responded to calls for support, particularly with targeted research and outreach including work in the more socially deprived areas of North West Guildford, tackling education, health, travel, infrastructure and environmental issues identified through engagement activities and closer working with local authorities.
We invite public participation in our research advisory boards, particularly where the public are involved in the research. An example is the SEE-IT trial, which trials the use of live streaming (from a 999 caller to the ambulance dispatch centre) from the scene of trauma incidents. A member of the public acts as a co-applicant to advise and inform our study, and also chair our Project Advisory Group.
Just over halfway through our strategy cycle, we can confidently say that we have made significant progress towards meeting our objectives. We have strengthened public engagement and have kept local and regional impacts at the forefront of our approach.
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)