Institutional Context
Summary
The University of Reading is a research-intensive university with campuses in Reading and Henley and international campuses in Malaysia and South Africa. Ranked among the top 200 Universities worldwide (THE World University Rankings 2023), Reading is highly rated for both research and teaching. With around 4,000 staff (1,800 academic) and 22,500 students (including 1,500 doctoral researchers), we are small enough to be collegial, but large enough to have critical mass in areas of strength and excellent facilities to support education, research and knowledge exchange.
We have an extensive infrastructure supporting knowledge exchange and business engagement, including the University’s Thames Valley Science Park that has become an important driver for growth and employment in the region.
Institutional context
Our institutional strategy positions engagement with communities and businesses in our region as one of our key principles. Ranked 20th in the UK for knowledge exchange and working with industry (THES 2023), we contribute in varied and significant ways to the regional economy, society and culture through R&D, providing skills training, and a wide-ranging innovation infrastructure.
Globally, Reading is one of the leading centres for education and research into weather and climate science, with long-established partnerships with the UK Met Office and the European Centre for Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), whose Headquarters will relocate to the University campus in 2024. Our climate research and engagement with communities, governments and international organisations was recognised with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2021.
We collaborate extensively with partners in government, industry, charities and local communities. This includes partnerships with local NHS Trusts and the Royal Berkshire Hospital, with the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and Microsoft. We work with industry partners (both MNCs and SMEs) in a range of sectors, especially food, health, energy and digital, and we host the Thames Valley AI Hub to connect companies and researchers across the region.
The University is a leading member of EIT Food, a pan-European network of companies and leading research institutions, and has partnered on projects with over 50 companies from across Europe since 2018. Our Institute for Environmental Analytics works with companies and governments across the world on climate and weather modelling and analytics, with over 60 projects in 15 countries since 2016. Henley Business School is one of the largest providers of postgraduate-level degree apprenticeships in the UK, working with both SMEs and large national and international companies, including Lloyds Banking Group, Nokia, Vodafone, the Cabinet Office and Civil Service, and over 25 NHS Trusts.
The University maintains an extensive innovation infrastructure and is a key part of the regional innovation ecosystem. Our Thames Valley Science Park (TVSP) opened in 2018 is an important driver for growth and employment. It has been instrumental, in particular, in accelerating growth in the creative industries supporting the development of the Shinfield Studios complex which will see 18 film and television stages located at the science park.
In addition to TVSP, the University supports business engagement and research commercialisation through an extensive support infrastructure including the Knowledge Transfer Centre, the Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship, and an Angel-Funding network (the Henley Business Angels), which has invested £1.9 million into 39 companies since the network was established in 2016.
For further information, please send queries to frontdoor@reading.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
Engaging with local communities and leadership and contributing to the social and economic success of our region is a key principle of our University Strategy (2020-26). We do this on the basis of our core values: a love of learning; creating and sharing new knowledge; embracing and celebrating diversity of people and ideas; and caring for our environment.
Following consultation with local partners, we identified three priorities for our approach to supporting growth:
improving productivity and employment through a vibrant innovation ecosystem and by addressing skills gaps and improving access to talent at all levels;
attracting investment into the region to create new and high-quality jobs;
supporting the region’s journey to environmental sustainability and net zero.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Although we are a global University, we focus here on activities linked to Thames Valley/Berkshire (TVB) and the wider Thames Valley which form the key geographic regions for our growth and regeneration agendas given the University’s role as both an anchor institution and a knowledge centre with international influence. The Thames Valley’s economic strengths obscure pockets of severe economic deprivation and social exclusion, an imbalance recognised not least in the Reading 2050 vision, developed by the Borough Council in partnership with the University, which recognises that two of the town’s wards are in the 10% of the most deprived in England.
The University engages closely with a range of regional stakeholders, including local authorities, business groups, businesses, and civic groups. It engages with the local LEP, both at Board level and in different working groups. This has helped us to identify key challenges to growth and to develop local strategies to address them, and has focussed our own priorities in this regard:
improving productivity and employment through a vibrant innovation ecosystem and by addressing skills gaps and improving access to talent at all levels;
attracting investment into the region to create new and high-quality jobs;
supporting the region’s journey to environmental sustainability and net zero.
Supporting the business and innovation ecosystem
Building on our research strengths and capitalising on expertise in the University’s Henley Business School, we are addressing regional skills gaps through contributions to sectoral skills bootcamps and an extensive degree apprenticeship programme. We also support R&D collaborations between businesses and University researchers. and provide support to start-up companies through the Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship and the Henley Business Angels.
Supporting investment in the region
We work with local and central government to attract significant external investment to support R&D and commercial activities. We have attracted significant investments to the University’s Thames Valley Science Park (TVSP) and worked with BEIS on a proposal to relocate the Headquarters of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) to our Whiteknights campus. This move of c.200 ECMWF staff will create the largest cluster of climate and weather researchers in the world at the University.
Supporting sustainability and the journey to net zero
We have ambitious sustainability targets, aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030, and we have a strong track record on sustainability, being ranked 4th in the 2023 People and Planet University League Table. We are working closely with partners in the region and beyond to support their sustainability efforts, notably Reading Borough Council, Wokingham Borough Council, the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT) and Reading Football Club.
Aspect 2: Activity
Supporting a strong business and innovation ecosystem
Our activities focus on:
strengthening productivity through addressing local skills gaps in critical sectors including digital, life sciences, and creative industries; and
supporting R&D collaborations with business and supporting start-up and business development in the region.
Addressing key sector skills gaps and delivering inclusive growth
Through Henley Business School we have taken a leadership role to bring together stakeholders from across the educational spectrum, public sector and industry to address the skills gap. This builds on our expertise in securing and managing knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs), work at the Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship, our Army Higher Education Pathway and, in particular, our degree apprenticeship programme focussing on leadership, management, and digital skills. The University is one of the largest Higher Education providers of degree apprenticeships in the UK with more than 1,500 active learners in 2022-23.
Our partnership with the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT) is now leveraging relationships with health and life sciences companies, including Bayer, Lonza and Syngenta, particularly around the digital skills agenda. Our TVAI Hub has entered a partnership with Bayer’s LifeHub UK, to join up regional support for digital and life sciences. The University’s Department of Chemistry is a partner on a DfE-funded Life Sciences Skills Bootcamp (2022-23), with RSSL and Syngenta as the lead employers. Led by the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP and working with local FE colleges, it addresses shortages in analytical science skills identified by the LEP in their Local Skills Report (2022).
The significant growth of TV and film industries at TVSP and the wider region has fuelled a significant demand for diverse and well-trained workers in the creative industries. To address this sector-wide challenge, and realise the opportunities arising from the Shinfield Studios development, we invested in staff resources to grow our strategic engagement with the Creative Industries. We have established a Berkshire Screen Industries Employment Skills Board in collaboration with Wokingham Borough Council, Shinfield Studios and Resource Productions. The priorities of this Board include: (1) developing a Creative Skills Hub to be based at TVSP; (2) building a network of key stakeholders to understand and build a shared ambition for the creative industries in the region; and (3) strengthening pathways for employment into the Creative Industries.
Supporting innovation and growth
The University of Reading plays an active role in developing the regional ecosystem to support innovation and growth. Through running the Thames Valley AI Hub and the Thames Valley Built Environment Hub, we support networking to connect businesses and researchers in these sectors. The University also provides physical infrastructure, such as access to flexible office space and lab facilities for SMEs at the Science Park and the University’s Whiteknights Campus, and distinctive research infrastructure and equipment, such as the Chemical Analysis Facility, the Food Pilot Plant, or the Flavour Centre.
We actively support R&D collaborations with businesses through knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) and collaborative studentships. Priority sectors for these collaborations include food and nutrition (in particular through EIT Food and the EIT Food Accelerator Programme), the life sciences, and digital and data (e.g. through the Institute for Environmental Analytics). The University is a founding member of Agrimetrics, one of four Agri-Tech Centres established by Innovate UK in 2016. Since 2021, the University’s Walker Institute for climate resilience has worked with Microsoft to develop nature-based solutions to climate change challenges. The Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship is key to the University’s support for the creation and growth of innovative businesses and the Henley Business Angels (HBA) provide entrepreneurs (students, staff, alumni, or collaborators) access to Angel investors.
Supporting investment in the region
We have worked to align the commercial vision for the Thames Valley Science Park more closely with our academic strengths and the priorities of our University Strategy, creating stronger and more sustainable links between the two. We have major new tenants from our key sectors with whom we are developing relationships for research, teaching and innovation. Shinfield Studios is building one of the largest studio complexes in the UK with 18 sound stages by the end of 2023, expected to generate £600m annually in the UK.
In May 2022, the Natural History Museum announced the establishment of a new £180m research and digitisation centre at TVSP, to support the digitisation of the museum’s collection of over 80 million specimens. This NHM centre joins the British Museum’s Archaeological Resource Collection (ARC) on the site and both museums will provide opportunities for the local community and schools. as well as creating jobs in the local area.
Sustainability
Sustainability is one of our core strategic principles and has been a major focus in recent years. We are active members of the Thames Valley Chambers of Commerce Sustainability Working Group and recent work of the SWG has focussed on supporting SMEs working towards Net Zero. The University has been a member of the Reading Climate Change Partnership (RCCP) and Reading Climate Action Network since it foundation, and played a key role in developing the RCCP-led Reading Climate Emergency Strategy 2020-25, which will be updated over the next 18 months as Reading works towards being a Net Zero, climate resilient town by 2030.
Aspect 3: Results
Supporting a strong business and innovation ecosystem
Skills
Over the last three years, the University has significantly expanded the number of businesses it works with to provide degree apprenticeships: of the 318 Framework Agreements with employers (March 2023), 69% (221) were formed since August 2020. 40 Agreements are with companies headquartered in Berkshire. 1,984 degree apprentices enrolled between 2019/20 and 2021/22, with another 580 expected to enrol by the end of 2022/23. The creation of a Clinical Simulation and Training Suite on the University Campus, shared with the Royal Berkshire Hospital, has significantly expanded the training infrastructure for health education and training and for the professional development of NHS staff.
At TVSP, there continues to be a focus on skills for the creative industries. To date we have secured £150k capital funding from the Thames Valley LEP’s Get Building Fund to purchase industry-standard camera and ancillary equipment and to train technicians to deliver training for students and entrants to the screen industries. We have also delivered a pilot project with Resource Productions, funded by Wokingham Borough Council, to support and encourage potential entrants to the industry from non-traditional backgrounds, and organised a workshop with key stakeholders to share information and gather input on key ambitions for Berkshire and the creative industries. We collaborated with the same partners on a bid to the BFI Skills Cluster Fund to create a Berkshire Creative Skills Cluster (awaiting announcement of outcome).
Innovation and growth
The TVAI Hub currently has 725 active members, including students, academics, SMEs and large corporates. The Steering Group includes senior staff from the LEP, Oracle, Microsoft and RBFT. A new position of Academic Director for the TVAI Hub has been created to drive leadership in AI across the University. Support for student start-ups and entrepreneurship, in particular in the Thames Valley region, was recognised by the award of the Small Business Charter to Henley Business School in January 2022. This support has included the annual Summer Start-Up Bootcamps, the Henley Greenshoots Seed Finance Award Scheme, the IDEAFEST Student Business Idea Competition, and a dedicated bootcamp for participants and alumni of Henley’s Coaching programmes. Since 2017, the Henley Business Angels have supported 39 companies (35% of those who pitched), with £1.9m investment.
Supporting investment in the region
Since 2019/20, Thames Valley Science Park has attracted significant investment. In addition to the collection, research and digitisation facilities of two world-leading museums, Shinfield Studios are building 18 sound stages (completion by end of 2023), and a post-production facility. Fully operational, the studios will employ up to 8,000 people on up to four productions at any one time.
The University’s partnerships with key organisations on TVSP have generated significant wider benefits. Outcomes of the partnership with the British Museum, for example, developed alongside the Museum’s investment in the ARC, include £3.5m external funding for joint research projects received since 2019/20, and collaboration and co-curation of the Museum’s 2022 Stonehenge Exhibition (attended by 179,000 people; 20,000 jointly authored catalogues sold; associated outreach enjoyed by >1,000,000 members of the public).
Following the decision to build a new Headquarters for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on the University Campus, the University has set up and funded a 15-year, £30m strategic research and KE partnership, Advancing the Frontiers of Earth System Prediction, with ECMWF, the UK Met Office and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. This partnership will build on our world-leading expertise in this area and lead to the advancement of next-generation, extended-range weather and Earth system predictions as well as enabling new applications and services, in partnership with public and private sectors.
Given the scale of our activities and ongoing ambition, we continually engage with regional stakeholders, including national and local government, Thames Valley/Berkshire LEP and local residents, to ensure we develop and deliver further plans or the development of TVSP in partnership with our regional stakeholders.
Sustainability
Work on Sustainability and journey to net-zero can be exemplified by our Climate Stripes initiatives, developed by Professor Ed Hawkins, and designed to grow awareness of climate change in new audiences. Climate stripes have featured on local buses and electric delivery vans and prominently on the shirts of Reading Football club, where we have also worked with them to develop an Environmental Sustainability plan for the club. Members of the Reading Climate Change Partnership (including ourselves) have helped compile a list of resources and a checklist for SMEs considering their environmental performance. We have recently helped the design of a survey aimed at businesses to assess where they are at. This will inform the creation of a State of the Region assessing overall progress and highlighting best practice case studies across the region.
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Being an engaged university is one of four guiding principles in our University Strategy (2020-26). Priorities we have set in this area include enhancing partnership working and linking University expertise on environment and sustainability with local partners and stakeholders.
We do this through:
Engaged research with stakeholders at local, national and international levels
Building long-term relationships with community groups through active listening and collaboration
Wide-ranging community and public engagement, including museums events and local science and community festivals
Cultivating new and existing partnerships with key local institutions, e.g. our Borough Councils, Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading Football Club
Collaboration with local and national media to increase public understanding and trust in research and the HE sector.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Being an Engaged University is one of the four core principles of our University Strategy (2020-26), within which a priority is to link our world-leading expertise on environment and sustainability with local partners and stakeholders. This is underpinned by the priority within our core principle of Excellence to work in partnership with external stakeholders to enhance student learning and career development and to extend the impact of our research.
Accordingly, our engagement activity is built on two levels:
Large institutional programmes with multiple benefits at multiple touchpoints, for example Partnering for the Planet, to raise the profile of climate change research and to build sustainability and climate resilience.
Work with students and researchers to design and deliver relevant, collaborative and consultative public engagement, community engagement and knowledge exchange activities at local, national and international levels.
Following local consultation to develop the University Strategy in 2019/20, and a survey of local community organisations in 2021, we undertook extensive mapping of engagement activity across the whole institution and benefits both for the University and for partner organisations. The resulting model clearly defines what community engagement (CE), public engagement with research (PER) and engaged research/knowledge exchange (KE) mean to us as an institution, and helps acknowledge and manage the boundaries between different types of activity. The model is now used to underpin our public and community engagement (P&CE). In practice, it is used to facilitate discussions and assist in planning, to ensure that the audience and aims for all activities are clearly defined, and to support learning and reflection.
We used this model, together with evaluative feedback received from NCCPE and UKRI, reflections following KEF2020, and other internal consultation to inform our PER action plan, which sets the following broad areas of focus:
Building partnerships and long-term relationships: Strengthening our efforts to develop genuine relationships and embed engaged research as part of our research culture.
Placemaking: Creating a positive sense of place, challenging inequality and empowering local communities.
Becoming and being a trusted source: Addressing future public concerns and creating the conditions for change by making research relevant and the knowledge gained accessible to all.
Support and resource
The University Committee for Research Innovation, Partnerships & Engagement (UCRIPE) chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation provides strategic guidance for PER, KE and engaged research. The University provides funding to support this work via its Impact Fund (~£1m was disbursed to c.300 researchers between 2017 and 2020). HEIF funding supports implementation of our new Impact Strategy, including seed-funding for PER and engaged research activities.
The Vice-Chancellor provides leadership for civic and community engagement, with funding available via the VC’s Endowment Fund and new Community Fund, launched in 2021 in partnership with the John Sykes Foundation. This supports projects that staff are involved with as part of their job or in a voluntary capacity. Projects funded in 2022 include a tuition programme for pupils who have been excluded from school and work with Reading’s homeless to develop skills and build confidence.
We are pro-active and inclusive in our approach to equality and diversity to ensure our activity and actions support a culture that encourages all groups to engage. We have formed partnerships with Reading Refugee Support Group, City of Sanctuary, Citizens UK, Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality and other representative groups to facilitate two-way interaction and trust-building.
Aspect 2: Support
Support for P&CE is provided by the Corporate Communications Team (Research Communications, Community Relations, Press Office), in tandem with a complete ecosystem of professional services staff, especially the Impact Team in Research Services.
The Research Communications and Impact Teams provide bespoke advice, planning and monitoring support, training and seed-funding to enable researchers to lead PER and KE activities, believing that this engaged practice enriches research and enhances the University’s contribution to society.
Our Community Relations Officer works with a team of student Community Champions to facilitate a student-led approach to working with the community. In 2020 they carried out our ‘Cuppa with the Community’ survey, and in 2021 coordinated a listening exercise to better understand how local groups wanted to engage with the University. One outcome was a Black Lives Matter conference co-organised with local Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality. Consultation via a termly Community Forum feeds directly in to our community engagement strategy and workplans.
There is an academic Community of Practice to support Participatory Action Research and a PER Network. The focus of these is information-sharing, networking and peer learning. Academic leadership is provided by our Research Deans. In 2018 we appointed our first Fellow for Public Engagement with Community Research, and we are currently recruiting two Academic Champions for Public Engagement with Research. A Community Action Partnership draws together activity from across the University to make it more cohesive and visible, providing one platform for information and to share opportunities.
We provide introductory training for all aspects of research communications and engagement, particularly for early career researchers and research students. The programme was drastically scaled back between 2020 and 2022 due to lockdown constraints. We are currently designing a new training offer to address a wider range of skills (especially planning, developing inclusivity, and evaluation) and career levels.
Probation and promotion are reviewed each year through departmental and cross-departmental committees. At all levels staff are asked to reflect on the contribution they have made to external engagement and their involvement in activities to achieve impact beyond academia.
Our new Impact Strategy developed in 2021-22 is underpinned by an impact fund and seed-funding for PER and knowledge exchange, funded by the University’s HEIF funding.
We have various ways of celebrating success including the RED awards for student engagement and volunteering run by the Careers Department to encourage skill development, and the Research Engagement and Impact Awards, run annually since 2017. These awards are valued by staff, and often mentioned in staff profiles, funding applications etc.
We further celebrate success by submitting staff to national honours and awards – e.g. in 2021 five teams were shortlisted in the prestigious Times Higher Education Awards, the University was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its contribution to climate science and global solutions, and three staff received honours from the Queen for community engagement.
Aspect 3: Activity
Engaged research
We work with researchers to design relevant, collaborative and consultative P&CE and KE activities at local, national and international levels. Of the 72 impact case studies submitted to REF2021, 13 had a strong PER element.
Successful projects are recognised through the annual Research Engagement and Impact Awards. 2021 shortlisted projects included:
Development of a vacant land inventory and evidence-based strategic plan to facilitate safe housing for migrant workers in Kochi, involving worker communities, NGOs, local academics and municipal government.
Large-scale citizen science to digitise historic rainfall records, with 16,000 volunteers transcribing over 21 million weather observations in just 2 weeks, adding data to important weather models and the ‘climate stripes’ visualisation developed at Reading.
Work with Reading Museum to capture, celebrate and preserve the rich and vibrant cultural history of Reading’s Oxford Road community through participatory community storytelling.
Community-led research
We have recognised strengths in community-led research, stemming from long-term engagement with our neighbouring community in Whitley, one of the most deprived areas of Reading. This has produced a host of community-led reports, toolkits and guidance, which have contributed to local policy decisions. We work closely with Reading Borough Council, facilitating community-led research on social inclusion, digital inclusion, school exclusions, inclusiveness in arts and culture, diversity and ageing well.
A recent extension of this work is the pilot study with the British Science Association (2022-24) on how disadvantaged communities can become involved in and lead science-based research. This builds on the work of Engaging Environments, a NERC-funded programme led by Reading (2019-22) to transform public engagement with environmental research. It aims to make a difference through learning with communities traditionally marginalised from science but most likely to be affected by environmental issues.
Public engagement
We run an extensive programme of events, on and off campus, to inform, inspire and encourage participation. Despite Covid constraints, we welcomed over 5,000 participants to public lectures in 2021-22 (mainly online), including to celebrate the 900th Anniversary of Reading Abbey in partnership with Reading Museum and Berkshire Records Office.
The University is home to three museums that have strong, active community programming (e.g. for dementia support). Extensive collections on farming, food and health; book printing and publishing; childhood and local history are all open to the public. In 2021/22, we welcomed over 35,000 visitors to exhibitions and galleries and over 9,000 for school visits, lectures and other events. The Museum of English Rural Life has National Portfolio Organisation status in partnership with Reading Museum.
We participate in national festivals such as the AHRC’s Being Human Festival, ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, British Academy Summer Showcase and Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. We ensure value for money by re-using activities developed for these at local science festivals (e.g. Swindon, Oxford) and annual Berkshire Show (cancelled since 2020 but due to restart in 2023). These events help us reach a broad audience who might not come to campus, including families and schools.
Our Press Office does extensive work with local and national media to build understanding of research and trust in science and higher education, including a regular weekly research slot on BBC Berkshire. We also share our research through our award-winning online courses which have been accessed by over 1.5m users worldwide (up from a million in 2021).
Partnering for the Planet
In the run-up to COP20 in 2021, we launched a large programme of work to link University expertise on climate change and education with external stakeholders:
The ‘climate stripes’ visualisation allows us to reach audiences worldwide from policymakers to activists to more ‘hard-to-reach’ audiences. Downloaded more than a million times in the first week, they were adopted by Scottish Power and the BBC for coverage during COP21, are a key graphic in the IPCC summary report to the UN, appear on Reading buses and the Reading FC kit (reaching 9,000 season ticket holders, visiting fans and national TV audiences), and more.
We worked with partner organisations, including the Department for Education to organise a Climate Education Summit. Outcomes were a National Climate Education Plan, adopted as a core part of the DoE’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, and a Climate Ambassador’s Scheme to connect climate experts to schools and FE colleges.
Researchers from the Departments of the Built Environment, Environmental Sciences and Meteorology are advising Reading and Wokingham Borough Councils on their climate resilience plans. They also support Reading Climate Action Network’s annual climate festival.
Experts from our Estates Team are working with Reading Borough Council, the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, and Reading Football Club to improve their environmental planning, and working in schools across Berkshire develop climate action plans with children.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
Our approach to evaluating our engagement ensures activities are fit for purpose and meet the needs of all who participate. We have developed a framework to help researchers evaluate their work. This encourages staff to reflect on the purpose, creativity and innovation, mutual benefit, planning, and sustainability of their project at all stages to create an environment of continual learning and improvement.
The teams involved with enabling engagement collect evidence of impact from the activities. This information is used for continuous improvement, ensuring that all parties understand the value and benefits of engagement, that the activities remain relevant, and continue to contribute to the strategic goals of staff, students, the University and external communities. Learning from this process is shared through case studies, project reports, training and internal communications.
One example is evaluation of our participation in the first Swindon Science Festival (2020), where we adapted activities we had developed for the 2019 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. The activity was evaluated against aims and expected outcomes to inform future planning. We used quantitative and qualitative analysis from the event organisers, and qualitative feedback from visitors and from the team who delivered the activities (2 post-docs, 4 PhD students and 2 undergraduates). This showed:
Visitors valued research-led content (compared with general science activities) and the opportunity to talk directly with scientists
Our interactive activities were rated favourably and compared well with other exhibitors
Our team were inspired and enthused by interaction with visitors; all reported having learned a lot.
Our experience at the RSSE and Swindon has informed our PER approach, planning and delivery:
We recognise the importance of widening participation and working with disadvantaged communities. Diversity is now factored in to our selection of locations, activities and speakers.
We recognise the inspirational nature of research-based interactions, both for visitors and staff. This has informed how we design activities and the training we provide.
We have developed value-for-money approaches to ensure we can re-use activities developed for one event in other locations. We focus on activities within the Thames Valley area to make best use of staff time and resource for delivery.
As part of development of our Impact Strategy, we have mapped the development of all PER and KE activity to establish support and training needs. This will inform the design a new training programme in 2022-23 which will aim to embed best practice and focus on planning and design, project management, inclusiveness, evaluation.
Aspect 5: Building on success
Our approach to C&PE is grounded in the evaluation and reflection we have carried out since we commissioned the NCCPE to assess our PER support in 2019. This included reflecting on the submission to KEF2020 and feedback from UKRI, extensive listening exercises with local organisations, and consultation about our impact strategy following REF2021.
The NCCPE report showed that strength of our PER lies in high levels of commitment among staff and students and broad and varied examples of practice. It also found that there was no shared sense of what public engagement is, or what it means to the University. We addressed this by developing and consulting on our model of engagement and developing definitions that align to our institutional context (Section 2 above). Feedback from staff has been positive and a revised assessment using the NCCPE EDGE tool shows progress in some areas.
Areas we are addressing through the PER action plan in its first year include:
Staff: our Impact Strategy mapping has identified opportunities for staff in different departments to be involved in PER activities; a new programme of seed-funding and training will broaden this access
Support & Leadership: We are currently recruiting an Officer for PER and two Academic Champions, along with Community Support champions (students). This will provide a single point of entry for support and, more importantly, increase visibility of the agenda.
We regularly meet and discuss progress, outcomes and learning with our Community Forum. We report formally to the relevant University Committee (UCRIPE) and University Executive Board, and through them to the University Council. Engagement activities are included in our reporting to the University Court (our broad-based mechanism for stakeholder accountability), and reflected in the statutory Financial statements, plus returns to UKRI and the Office for Students.
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)