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Institutional Context
Summary
Anglia Ruskin University, with campuses in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Peterborough and London, is a teaching intensive, research active university ranked in the top 350 in the world. With a strong civic mission, we work with key public authorities and services, business and industry, community and voluntary sector organisations, responding to their strategic priorities and needs. We make significant contributions to our regions through our education activities, including through our large-scale degree apprenticeship programmes, with many graduates staying in the region. Our research and KE activities, with three major themes; Health Performance and Wellbeing, Sustainable Futures, and Safe and Inclusive Communities, are aligned with the needs of our regions enabling us to work with partners and co-develop effective solutions to their challenges.
Institutional context
Anglia Ruskin (ARU) is a teaching intensive, research active university with major campuses in Cambridge and Chelmsford, and a growing presence in Peterborough and London, with 34,000 students and >2400 staff. Our mission is ‘Transforming lives through innovative, inclusive and entrepreneurial education and research’. We were recently ranked in the top 350 universities in the world and 38th in the UK in the THE World University Rankings. We are an inclusive university, excelling in widening participation (top 10 ranking for social inclusion in the Times Good Universities Guide). We are ambitious and innovative, exemplified by: opening the first Medical School in Essex to train local talent as doctors for the region; being one of the largest providers of degree apprenticeships in England; and our selection as the academic partner for the delivery of a new university in Peterborough.
A significant proportion of our students are recruited locally (~70% of UK domiciled), including from communities with multiple indicators of deprivation. We make a major contribution to the training and development of public sector professionals and many remain in the region as graduates (~60% of UK domiciled). Our research, knowledge exchange and economic growth activities respond to priorities of our key partners and stakeholders including SELEP, local and regional councils (e.g. Chelmsford, Cambridge and Peterborough councils, Essex County Council and Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority), NHS and social care, uniformed public services, charities and third sector organisations, and businesses. We work closely with many large businesses but have a particular focus on SMEs.
We engage with our external partners across the following activities:
Talent – developing graduates with the attributes needed by employers through partnership working and activities such as: placements; internships; curricula co-design and delivery; professional challenges set by employers which engage our students in KE projects. We ranked 10th in England for graduates in work or further study in the Graduate Outcome Survey.
Skills – supporting individuals and organisations to meet skills needs through professional doctorates; degree apprenticeships; and a range of continuing professional development opportunities.
Innovation – we engage with our partners, individually and in consortia, to deliver research, innovation and impact to support local, regional and national priorities.
Business Support – we work with business and other organisations to support their growth through consultancy and contract research. We have a strong focus on regional development projects, e.g. the £11M ERDF funded KEEP+ project which supports SMEs to deliver new products and services. We also support SMEs through our Arise innovation centres in Chelmsford and Harlow.
We undertake research and knowledge exchange activities across and within 3 major multi-disciplinary themes, alongside other niche areas:
Health, Performance and Wellbeing
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e.g. medtech; music therapy; the impact of disease on vision; military to civilian transition and its impact on veterans and their families.
Sustainable Futures
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e.g. global risk and resilience; sustainable consumption; education for sustainability; urban resilience.
Safe and Inclusive Communities
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e.g. health and social care professionals during Covid-19; risk management of registered sex offenders; review of the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements.
For further information, please send queries to Business@aru.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
Anglia Ruskin University has deep and longstanding external connections and partnerships in Essex and Cambridgeshire, where our campuses are based. As a civic university, we work with key public authorities and services, business and industry, community and voluntary sector organisations, contributing to their strategy development and responding to their strategic priorities and needs. The means we deploy to ensure effective impact are; Talent development, enhancing the Skills of those already in employment, Innovation activities and a raft of Business Support measures, including a tailored programme to assist with recovery from Covid-19. The outcomes and impacts of our activities are significant and support the local growth and regeneration of our region.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Anglia Ruskin (ARU) is a teaching intensive, research active university with major campuses in Cambridge and Chelmsford, and a growing presence in Peterborough and London. Our university strategy, Designing Our Future 2017-2026 highlights our commitment to the Eastern Region:
The future success of our education and research will increasingly require strong engagement with a range of partners and communities. We will play a significant role in making a strategic contribution to the economic, social and cultural wellbeing in the cities of Cambridge and Chelmsford, and through more focused activities the wider region.
We have active representation on, and collaborate with, a wide network of regional stakeholders including; councils, public service organisations, businesses, business networks, community and voluntary groups, providing ARU with insights into the local growth and regeneration needs of our region. The following are examples of the stakeholder organisations where we have longstanding active connections:
And with:
Success Essex (Essex Business Board)
Chelmsford Business Board
Chelmsford Technology Ambassadors Network
Harlow Growth Board
We have aligned our campus specialities to reflect the economic and regeneration priorities of these localities:
ARU Chelmsford: we have key foci in engineering and health, performance and wellbeing.
Our engineering and business expertise aligns well with the significant engineering base in Chelmsford and Essex, including companies such as Teledyne e2v, Visteon and BAE Systems.
Our health, performance and wellbeing focus includes our Arise Innovation Centre, our Medical Technologies Research Centre, and our Health Faculty and Medical School. This focus links closely to the strong regional focus on life sciences and medtech, including the planned move of The National Institute for Health Protection to Harlow. We have significant relationships with the local Hospital Trusts, social care delivery agencies and emergency services.
ARU Medical School
ARU Cambridge: we have key foci in life science, IT and the creative and digital sectors.
Cambridge is renowned for life sciences and our focus on this area, supported by a recent £45m investment in the new science center, is enabling us to build relationships with, and support the growth of, the many life sciences companies in the area.
Cambridge is also home to many companies in the IT sector, including Microsoft, an Amazon Development Centre and ARM, as well as companies in the growing gaming area, and a creative arts and culture community with whom we collaborate.
Science building
ARU Peterborough: we have had a long relationship with Peterborough with a small campus in the city, and are now growing our presence substantially, recently announced as the academic partner for the development of the new university of Peterborough. ARU-Peterborough will focus on delivering the skills needed by the businesses and communities of the region, alongside supporting business R&D and growth.
ARU Peterborough
Aspect 2: Activity
Anglia Ruskin has a strong focus on working with stakeholders in our regions to respond to their local growth and regeneration priorities and needs. In the last three years our main activities have been directed to:
Developing our region
SME Support
Skills Development for external organisations
Student KE
Supporting Covid-19 recovery
Developing our region
We were recently announced by the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) as the academic partner for the development of a new university in Peterborough. Peterborough is recognised as a higher education ‘black spot’ where attainment is below the national average. We are partnering with the CPCA, Peterborough City Council and Opportunity Peterborough, as well as engaging with stakeholders across the region, to define and respond to local needs. The development of ARU Peterborough will support the economic and social development of Peterborough and the surrounding regions.
In Chelmsford, our strong relationship with the local council has led to ARU being represented on the Chelmsford Business Board and One Chelmsford. We were invited to be a member of the Chelmsford Technology Ambassadors Network, supporting the development of a ‘technology cluster’ to deliver new knowledge (joint funded posts) and new facilities within the developing innovation ecosystem.
We recently opened a £5M innovation centre in Harlow at the Enterprise Zone Science Park, Arise Harlow, which was developed in collaboration with Essex County Council and Harlow Council. We are a member of the Harlow Growth Board and partner in the Digital Innovation Zone. We are actively supporting the growth of the ‘science’ eco-system in the area and developing linkages between SMEs and major organisations such as Princess Alexandra Hospital and The National Institute for Health Protection.
Arise Harlow
Support for SME growth and development
ARU has a particularly strong focus on supporting SME growth and development. Working closely with Essex County Council (ECC), Chelmsford City Council (CCC) and Harlow Council, we have invested significantly in the development of two innovation centres, Arise Chelmsford and Arise Harlow. The innovation centres provide modern, fully equipped space and developmental support for innovative companies working in the area of Health, Performance and Wellbeing. The centres enable SMEs to work in an entrepreneurial environment, supported by links to the academic expertise and facilities of ARU, in particular our Faculties of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care (FHEMS) and Science and Engineering (FSE), our Medical School and our med tech expertise. We have supported over 70 SME’s development through our centres and have regularly engaged with the councils involved to ensure that the centre continues to deliver on the economic development aspirations of those partners.
ARU also has an extensive track record of involvement with European Regional Development Funded and Interreg projects aimed at supporting economic development of SMEs. Projects that ARU has recently been involved with include:
- KEEP+
- SEAS 2 Grow
- REACTOR
- Innovation Bridge
- IRENES
- Growin4.0
- Future By Design
- Blueprint
- Eastern New Energy
More information is provided below about KEEP+ as an example.
KEEP+ ARU lead the ERDF funded £11M KEEP+ project on behalf of a consortium of six universities. The project has provided over 175 SMEs with opportunities for innovation with a focus on the development of new products and services. e.g. a KEEP+ project with ARU enabled Gosling PSL Holding Ltd to develop an environmentally-friendly method of cooling (replacing greenhouse gases with thermo-electrics). Stephen Gosling, Managing Director said:
"The KEEP+ grant has enabled the company to work with a world leading University partner in thermal engineering. The project has provided the company with the innovative technology required to compete on the world market. The company is now starting to commercialise a number of new products under its "PSL Rheotek" brand name."
PSL Rheotek
As part of our Business Support activities, we also have a long tradition of partnering with SMEs through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, e.g. Lane Data Solutions Ltd. Lane worked with ARU to develop an instant messaging service for the NHS with military grade security to keep patients’ data secure. Lane said:
We had the problem we wanted to solve in our mind from the outset. The Knowledge Exchange programme provided valuable additional resources, knowhow and a framework to quickly test the problem and develop a minimal viable product. We're now actively engaging with NHS customers.
Skills development for external organisations
A significant proportion of ARU’s student body is recruited from within our region (~70% of UK domiciled). A large percentage of our graduates also stay within the region (~60% of UK domiciled), contributing to the economy and growth of the East of England. ARU’s degree courses benefit from engagement with industry through an Employer Advisory Board in each discipline area, ensuring that our graduates have the skills needed to support our regional employers in their growth and development. We ranked 10th in England for graduates in work or further study in the Graduate Outcome Survey.
ARU is one of the largest providers of degree apprenticeships in England. We work in partnership with over 330 employers across a range of industries, including organisations such as the NHS, Barclays, the Police, and GlaxoSmithKline. Our degree apprenticeships give organisations the opportunity to contribute to the development of the course to ensure that it provides their employees with the skills needed to support the business. For example, we co-developed a degree apprenticeship in bioinformatics with the Sanger Institute to respond to a lack of relevant skills in that area.
ARU is also a significant provider of continuing professional development to organisations in our region, ensuring that their staff have the skills and knowledge to support the growth of the organisation.
Student knowledge exchange
ARU is investing in student knowledge exchange activities to support both the upskilling of students, and also local growth and regeneration of our region. We have set aside funding from our institutional HEIF allocation to enable students, with support from our academic staff, to engage with local and regional organisations, to work on projects which assist with the growth, development or recovery (e.g. post-Covid-19, see below) of those organisations.
ARU was successful in being awarded funding by Research England and the Office for Students from their fund to explore the impact of student involvement in knowledge exchange. The Students at the Heart of Knowledge Exchange (SHoKE) project will engage students in projects that realise regional social, economic and environmental impact within Essex and Cambridgeshire. Our strong relationships with the CPCA and ECC led to them being partners in this project, along with Nous Group.
Supporting Covid-19 recovery
To assist the recovery of organisations in our region from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, ARU has announced a support scheme for business. The scheme offers organisations fully funded internships to enable access to our student talent, and innovation vouchers which match fund businesses to access our academic knowledge. In the time since the scheme was announced, interest from external organisations has been high. Both the internships and the innovation vouchers provide opportunities for knowledge exchange and will deliver significant support for recovery, and potentially growth, of our regional businesses. We are also gathering intelligence from those groups we are members of e.g. Mayoral forum, business boards, etc; and corralling the resources of the university to respond and support our partners.
Aspect 3: Results
ARU’s 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:
Our engagement with Harlow Council and Essex County Council resulted in an investment of £2.5M, matched by £2.5M from ARU, to develop our Arise Harlow innovation centre in the new Harlow Science Park (opened August 2020) and now attracting SMEs.
We have supported the growth of over 70 SMEs in our Arise Innovation Centre in Chelmsford since 2014. Several of those SMEs have moved to larger premises due to business growth, e.g. FINC Architects and IMMJ Systems.
The individual projects that ARU is, and has been involved in, have assessments of outcomes and impact undertaken as a part of the project. For example:
KEEP+ KEEP+ was initially intended to run for three years (2017-2019). Over the course of that time, the programme engaged with 175 SMEs across 225 projects. An assessment of the outcomes of the project was undertaken at the end of the three-year period and demonstrated the positive outcomes and impacts that it had made. In recognition of its success, KEEP+ was extended for a further 3 years to 2022 by MHCLG.
Our degree apprenticeship programmes teach over 1000 students and engage with a significant number of employers. As an example, feedback from one employer is shown below. Feedback from other employers is available on our web site.
‘As an RICS mentor, ECC enterprise adviser and SME business owner I am hugely impressed that ARU stepped up to this challenge in 2016/17. In my opinion this puts them at the cutting edge of higher education and more importantly they are in sync with what communities and employers really need.’
Lee Hatwell, Director and Chartered Surveyor, Munday + Cramer
ARU publicises the outcomes and impacts of our local growth and regeneration activities through appropriate channels, depending on the activity, e.g. our R&I Highlights. We evaluate our activities with partners and the outcomes of these reviews help to shape and enhance future local growth and regeneration actions.
For further information, please send queries to Yvonne.Barnett@aru.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has public and community engagement embedded in our strategies and as a critical part of our make-up. We routinely engage with our communities to understand needs and deliver activities against those needs, e.g. co-created R&I projects; student KE; economic development projects; patient public interaction groups; participation in community events; and communication of our research through public lectures and articles. We have committed significant resources and funding to ensure that these activities can continue to take place and deliver impacts to our communities as well as to ARU. We regularly review our activities and incorporate feedback from stakeholders and the public. We are in the process of developing a specific public and community engagement strategy.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Impactful public and community engagement and leadership is one of the key pillars supporting Anglia Ruskin’s ambition to deliver inclusive, innovative and entrepreneurial education and research. Our University Strategy, Designing our Future 2017 – 2026, places emphasis on strong engagement with partners and communities to:
build stronger partnerships especially with businesses and employers and work together to solve problems, develop our curriculum and deliver graduate attributes which best reflect future societal and employment needs;
communicate the impact of our research and education to a wider audience;
value the importance of public engagement activities, aligning our resources and processes to reflect this;
Our Research and Innovation Strategy 2018-22 echoes the University Strategy,
‘We will build and sustain stronger and more productive partnerships with collaborators and stakeholders, regionally, nationally and internationally.’
Our University Strategy and the Research and Innovation Strategy were both heavily consulted on during their development, with staff, students and key stakeholders in the wider community, enabling input from all of those groups to influence the final form of the strategies.
We engage with our communities across our Talent, Skills, Innovation and Business Support activities. Our key foci in relation to KE are:
Engaging collaboratively with stakeholders to respond their needs, co-create research projects, embed solutions and deliver impact. e.g. through transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder collaborative partnerships and designing collaborative research with end users.
Public engagement and outreach activities with our communities to exchange knowledge. e.g. lectures, festivals, The Conversation, exhibitions, student and staff volunteering.
We regularly work with a number of organisations within our region, including local and regional councils (Essex County Council, Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority, Chelmsford City Council, Cambridge City Council, Peterborough City Council, Harlow Council), the NHS, uniformed public services, charities and third sector organisations, and businesses. We are represented on a number of groups such as business / growth boards and other community groups. We receive intelligence from these bodies on the needs of our communities. For example, our engagement with the Chelmsford Police Independent Advisory Board has led to a project aiming to reduce knife crime. Our Public Events team engage with our communities to discuss opportunities and agree how we can collaborate and mutually benefit e.g. ARU’s participation in the Mill Road Winter Fair in Cambridge. We receive enquiries from members of the public by email, phone and during physical events (pre COVID-19), which inform our public engagement planning.
Engaging with external stakeholders is incorporated within the university’s expectations of senior managers and leaders, in addition to our new ARU Academic Career Framework.
Up to this time, public engagement and outreach have been supported and resourced both centrally and through faculties, directed by a public engagement plan hosted by our Corporate Marketing team. The plan includes highlights such as hosting the British Science Festival (intended for 2020, now 2021 due to COVID-19). The implementation of the plan is overseen by our Head of Corporate Communications & Events. Our local communities can attend events such as talks, debates and performances, enjoy discounted gym memberships and exercise classes, get a free eye test, visit our Ruskin Gallery for unique exhibitions, and receive free legal advice through the Anglia Law Clinic. Our events, activities and services are promoted on our website, via social media and our community newsletters. After the Covid-19 lockdown was implemented, we have used Zoom for events and for engaging with the community.
To further enhance our Public Engagement activities and to ensure effective co-ordination and impact we are developing a focussed strategy, governance and resourcing plan led by our DVC, R&I.
Aspect 2: Support
The strategic importance placed on public and community engagement by ARU is demonstrated by the significant level of resource, both financial and staffing, allocated to undertake relevant activities.
To respond to stakeholder needs, co-create research projects, embed solutions and deliver impact, we have put in place structures and resources to enable significant activity. Linking and forming relationships with partners is a clear expectation of our staff at all levels, including the DVC R&I, Deans and Deputy Deans R&I from each Faculty and staff in the central Research and Innovation Development Office (RIDO), as well as all academic staff. RIDO has over 15 staff who are responsible for both developing strategic level engagements with key partners as well as for providing support to our academic staff to engage externally. Our Arise Innovation Centres in Chelmsford and Harlow support the growth of local SMEs to boost regional economic development and enable those SMEs to engage with the university’s staff and resources. We invest in priority engagement activities, including from our strategic investment fund, QR (where relevant), and our HEIF allocation e.g. salary costs for partner engagement, seed funding for our co-created projects.
Arise Chelmsford Innovation Centre
We support public engagement and outreach activities through an Events team and a Press Office in Corporate Marketing, and through resources in Faculties who support local events. Our community engagement website showcases our activities. We are heavily involved in and sponsor (sometime in-kind) community events such as the Cambridge Marathon, Cambridge Science Festival, Essex Book Festival and the British Science Festival. We fund a subscription to The Conversation as a vehicle for our academics to share their knowledge. In 2018-19, our staff were involved in 49 events at festivals, 25 public lectures, 8 exhibitions, 24 policy forums, 58 conferences, and numerous other events.
We provide staff with CPD on multiple aspects of public and community engagement, including:
Engaging with external groups;
Communicating with lay audiences;
KE projects and how to get involved;
Generating research impact;
Media training.
The annual Vice-Chancellors Staff Awards, our ARU Academic Career Framework and promotion criteria and the proactive nomination of colleagues for external awards are the primary means for institutional recognition and celebration of public and community engagement. e.g. our VC’s Research Impact Awards were presented to four projects in 2020, covering areas including patient education to reduce blindness due to diabetic retinopathy; and engaging with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for R&I to support EC policymakers to incorporate Social Sciences and Humanities perspectives.
Aspect 3: Activity
Delivering public and community engagement is a key goal for ARU. Below we give some brief highlights, noting that the complete range of activities we undertake is too broad to fully describe in detail.
In the lead up to the 2021 REF exercise we have 37 impact case studies generated from the engagement we have supported, with over 20 more in development. Two examples of research with impact are:
Engaging with the Department for Education and LGBT+ teachers across the UK to identify a need for leadership development, and then developing and running the Courageous Leaders programme to support LGBT+ staff to apply for promotion.
Connecting with the children of WWII black GIs and British women (Brown Babies) to tell their stories, enhance their sense of identity and belonging, and, in some cases, support them in finding their US relatives. The project resulted in TV, radio and other media appearances and an exhibition.
We have invested in co-developing projects through our transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder collaborative partnerships. Examples are: working with MSE Group hospitals looking at their role as anchor institutions in their communities; and with Essex County Council and the Alzheimer Society supporting independent living.
We have also worked with over 200 SMEs in the last 3 years through ERDF / Interreg funded programmes such as KEEP+, Seas 2 Grow, Growin4.0 and others, to support local economic development (see the Local Growth and Regeneration narrative), and via KTPs, consultancy and contract research. We are engaged with Patient and Public Involvement Groups to design research and education around patient need.
Our public engagement and outreach activities look to better link ARU to our communities and to communicate our research and impact. Examples of the activities we undertake and some of the events we participate in are:
Publishing articles on The Conversation - 274 articles published since joining in 2015, which have been read 11,496,331 times;
Public lectures (e.g. Inaugural lectures, Research Institute seminars, Dean’s lecture series, lectures in libraries, colleges and at local community groups);
Engaging in public debates and consultations;
Contributing to policy forums;
Workshops, exhibitions and performances (e.g. Ruskin gallery, Mumford Theatre);
Contributing to festivals (e.g. British Science Festival 2021, Cambridge Festival of Ideas, Chelmsford Science Festival, Essex Book Festival, FantasyCon, Mill Road Winter Fair);
Hosting public events such as the Pride of Essex Awards;
Media engagement through TV, radio, newspapers and news sites;
Contributing to blogs, vlogs and podcasts (e.g. The Naked Scientists);
Staff and student volunteering.
Mill Road Winter Fair
Overall, through these events and others, we engaged with approximately 33,000 members of the public (based on 2018/19 HEBCI Survey data).
Aspect 4: Results and learning
Our academics routinely evaluate the outcomes of KE interactions and whether they achieve the objectives of both the external organisation / community and the university. Many of these projects demonstrated excellent outcomes and high levels of impact, such as those mentioned in Aspect 3 above.
Many of our projects have formal evaluations. For example, the ERDF funded KEEP+ project. After the initial 3 years of the project, a formal evaluation was undertaken. The evaluation demonstrated that the project had worked with over 175 SMEs resulting in a Total Net Economic benefits estimated as £9.2M GVA and 152 FTE jobs, meeting or exceeding the expected objectives. The project also enabled ARU to meet our strategic objectives in working with business to solve problems.
We also routinely evaluate public engagement and outreach events to ensure that they meet the needs of the attendees and ARU. Attendees at every event are asked to complete feedback forms which are reviewed by the Public Engagement Team to improve future events. We also provides the contact details of the Team on our website to allow members of the public to contact them directly.
An example of a testimony from a member of the public is:
It was a great talk, from every aspect; humanitarian point of view, as a children's book author and an artist. Talk was very well presented by Kate herself. I really enjoyed it with the topics close to my heart.
A university wide review of our public engagement was undertaken this year to assess what activities are undertaken and provide a basis to measure how effective the engagement is. This evidence base is being used to shape a new public engagement strategy, which will have formal overarching institutional co-ordination, impact and its evaluation at its heart.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
Our R&I strategic planning and investment process is one mechanism through which we evaluate the success of our engagement activities and ensure that they are aligned with university strategy. Our plans and investments are reviewed annually to take account of outcomes and to guarantee impacts are being realised for both stakeholders and ARU.
At an individual level, lessons learned on how to successfully engage with organisations and communities are shared with academics through support from specialised research impact staff, as well as through sessions delivered as part of our Researcher Development Programme. Our Research and Innovation Committee has oversight of KE activities and discusses major projects to ensure that they continue to deliver on planned outcomes and are in line with our strategies.
We have undertaken a review of our public engagement activities this year to determine the full range of activities and to ensure that they are aligned with our university strategy. We have identified a need for a more systematic approach to ‘place’ in response to our civic mission and the ‘levelling up’ national policy agenda. This gives us an excellent opportunity further enhance our approach to public and community engagement.
We communicate publicly through social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube), the national and international media and through our website. We provide reports on our public engagement activities to our Board of Governors on a quarterly basis, as well as providing information on the plans for upcoming events. Public engagement is also discussed in our Annual Report.
For further information, please send queries to Yvonne.Barnett@aru.ac.uk