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Institutional Context
Summary
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has grown “with” and “in” the city of Liverpool from humble beginnings in 1823 as Liverpool Mechanics’ Institute and College of Arts to its current status as a “new” university (1992). LJMU’s vision is to be recognised as a “modern civic university delivering solutions to the challenges of the 21st century”. LJMU seeks to make a difference by; (1) graduating students ready for the world of work as citizens who can make a valuable contribution to society, (2) producing translational research that provides motivation to students, staff and society, as well as (3) partnering with key stakeholders to be a driving force for the development of social wellbeing, wealth-creation and culture in the city region and beyond.
Institutional context
Liverpool is a city of 450 000 inhabitants and is home to significant arts and cultural organisations (e.g. National Museums, Philharmonic Orchestra), sporting organisations (e.g. Premier league football, Aintree Racecourse), multiple specialist education and health centres (e.g. Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Alder Hey) and industrial and private sector groups (e.g. Shop Direct, Curtins). Liverpool is one of the most deprived cities in the UK and the health and social inequalities are substantial. Within Liverpool, LJMU has existed in some form since 1823 and is currently housed across the City in 5 major campus sites. LJMU has 5 academic faculties where over 1100 academic staff deliver multiple programmes, from art to bio-molecular sciences, to 17000+ undergraduate and taught postgraduate students. LJMU also train 900+ postgraduate research students and post-doctoral research fellows.
LJMU’s strategic plan (2017-2022) has four pillars of activity related to teaching and learning, the student experience, research and scholarship as well as social and economic engagement. In relation to knowledge exchange we seek to embed scholarship all academic staff, promote research excellence within a vibrant and sustainable environment, and disseminate new knowledge to our wider communities and the general public.
LJMU is a post-92 University whose primary focus is educational delivery, research and knowledge exchange. We engage with degree apprenticeships schemes and at level 8 run professional doctorate programmes in multiple areas (e.g. sport science, business). Research activity occurs across all faculties and is supported by 10 Institutes as “Beacons of Excellence”, 11 Centres and multiple research groups. In REF2014, where we submitted to 17 Units of Assessment and were placed 61 out of 128 universities in the proportion of research that is world-leading or internationally excellent. The volume of activity judged to be world-leading (18%) more than doubled from the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. Research Impact at LJMU was rated as world-leading in many areas including Sport & Exercise Sciences and Architecture & the Built Environment.
Knowledge exchange occurs in all faculties and is coordinated and supported via a central team within our Research and Innovation Services (RIS) professional service area. The portfolio of activities cover many sectors ranging from specialist professional development for key NHS trusts (e.g. Bowel cancer screening and Endoscopy training); the delivery of evaluation and consultancy with charities, the healthcare sector and the Ministry of Justice; contracted research for the Ministry of Defence, technology development with local SME (e.g. Sensor application) through to leadership development programmes with local companies. The institution is working hard to increase and develop a solid KTP portfolio, with an ambition to grow to a rolling programme of 18+ KTP’s by 2024.
LJMU is committed to public engagement, outreach and widening participation activities that seek to translate and educate. Academic knowledge originating at LJMU is having real and meaningful impact with our partners, the general public of Liverpool and wider audiences. Impact and change is delivered through University-level partnerships, faculty-based programmes as well as activities promoted by individual academics fully invested with our partners.
For further information, please send queries to j.c.townend@ljmu.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is an important part of the social and economic “fabric” of the Liverpool City Region. LJMU plays a central role in driving innovation and collaboration across sectors and works in partnership to deliver local growth and regeneration.
LJMU enables industry to access our research expertise, creating opportunities for new business creation and business growth. LJMU is proud to be working with local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across a number of growth sectors such as Low Carbon, Advanced Manufacturing, Health, and Digital and Creative.
LJMU actively harnesses our knowledge and expertise as well as our resources (staff, students and infrastructure), to serve the city region and build a sustainable future for our citizens.
Aspect 1: Strategy
LJMU works collaboratively with the Combined Authority (CA), LEP and a range of civic groups to seek to bring their assets together, capitalise on strengths, breakdown barriers and unlock growth.
LJMU’s strategic plan (2017-2020) sets a specific goal “To act as an anchor institution in the City of Liverpool”. The importance of place, partnership and our impact on local social and economic impact is embedded throughout our strategic plan. Through civic engagement LJMU will be “A University where innovation and enterprise drive economic growth in partnership with business and industry”.
Specific LJMU local growth and regeneration activity is informed by 2016 Building our Future: Liverpool City Region Growth Strategy in which The State of Liverpool City Region Report; Making the Most of Devolution (jointly published by University of Liverpool and LJMU) is cited as follows;
‘….a clear sighted analysis of the City Region’s assets, capabilities and opportunities for the future, and an invaluable platform on which to build Strategy. Its conclusion is simple and compelling.’ “Liverpool City Region has achieved a lot and there is a lot to build upon. With the right leadership, capacity and ambition, it could achieve even more in the future.”
Our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and senior colleagues commit their time and expertise as members of regional boards including LEP Growth Sector Boards, Cultural Partnerships, and the Innovation Board. Internal strategic oversight rests with Strategic and Regional (STAR) Projects and Programmes Panel that reports to ELT. STAR co-ordinates our engagement and contribution to both key City Region Boards including the CA, Liverpool Health Partners and the LEP, and key programmes and initiatives such as the Knowledge Quarter. The STAR remit includes foresighting and contributing expertise to external developments in the City Region and oversight of LJMU’s regeneration funded project portfolio to ensure sustainability. As part of a review of our strategic focus, LJMU has committed to produce a “Place-Based” strategy to inform future activity. Internal Governance, including the future role of STAR or its successor, will be part of the strategy.
Aspect 2: Activity
LJMU takes a sectoral approach to local growth and regeneration activities; aligning European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF; £4.1m has been allocated over the 3-year period) activity to LCR priority growth sectors (Building Our Future: Liverpool City Region Growth Strategy) such as Low Carbon, Advanced Manufacturing, Digital and Creative and Health. These sectors, identified in partnership with LCR LEP, focus on activity within sectors that have the most potential to grow the local economy.
LJMU was instrumental in the creation of a LCR Natural Capital Baseline, which is now in use by the LCR CA and other stakeholders to inform policy initiatives such as zero carbon, air quality, flood risk, spatial planning (inc. green infrastructure) and local industrial strategy. This work was developed with regional stakeholders through the Natural Capital Working Group established by LJMU and Nature Connected (LCR Local Nature Partnership). This group continues to support the region’s drive toward a cleaner and more sustainable future.
In advanced manufacturing, LJMU was a key delivery partner in the LCR 4.0 project that gave innovative practical support to transform LCR businesses in the manufacturing space through digital innovation. LCR 4.0 supported SMEs to adopt Industry 4.0 (4IR) technologies through innovative knowledge exchange and providing technical, business and supply chain support that enhanced the business skill set to maximise impact. The conception and design of the project was developed via widespread regional engagement. The operational needs of SMEs were aligned with the LCR 2014-2020 ESIF Strategy.
Driving innovation in SMEs was the major aim of the LCR Activate project that worked with SMEs in the digital, creative and technology industries of LCR. Activity focussed on knowledge transfer to the management teams of these businesses around product development, design, programming, investment, commercial planning and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Regular intelligence gathering allowed LJMU to keep abreast of sector trends and to ensure bespoke SME support. Provision examples included work packages ranging from: sector alignment; building SME capacity to innovate; matching SMEs with an appropriate collaborative partner; product development and supply chain development and financial assistance.
Sensor City is also a core component of the Knowledge Quarter in Liverpool; supporting infrastructure, economic growth and investment, increased social and community wellbeing, and environmental improvement.
LJMU’s focus on the people of the region also extends into innovations in Health. The Centre for Collaborative Innovation in Dementia at LJMU is a European accredited living-lab working with LCR citizens, SMEs, multinational companies, academics as well as commissioners and providers of services to co-create health related innovations and solutions. Over the last three years, the centre has co-created over twenty innovations and solutions. In addition, the centre has worked with the LCR health ecosystem to influence the Local Industrial Strategy and to disseminate (across Europe) good practices developed within LCR.
LJMU supported the drive to see regeneration across the borough of Knowsley (the second most deprived UK SOA, with low life expectancy, poor life chances and England’s lowest level of educational attainment) through its involvement as a key educational partner in the Shakespeare North initiative. Shakespeare North (SN) was a £35m, multi-layered, multi-dimensional partnership project between Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Shakespeare North Trust and LJMU.
LJMU’s Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) takes a leading role in upskilling students and recent graduates to kick-start new business ventures across the region. The CfE offers one-to-one and one-to-many development activities around entrepreneurship, using lean start up tools and a coaching/mentoring approach. A notable innovation during the period included the development of a student accelerator programme, “Idealab”, which supports teams of students to validate technology-enabled business concepts.
The University’s commitment to developing the people of the LCR is evident in its working with private, public and not for profit organisations, alongside Liverpool City Council, Sefton Council and Halton Borough Council; to develop a City Region MBA. This sought to address an identified lack of leadership and management skills across the region that LJMU could address. An MBA in Business Scale Up has also been developed in conjunction with the LEP to support leaders in those businesses that are growing rapidly or have the potential to do so.
Aspect 3: Results
Evaluation of activity is undertaken both at the University and project level. In 2017, LJMU commissioned a full Economic & Social Impact report focussing on the economic impact of the University as a whole on Liverpool City Region and the North West (2016-17). The key outcomes of this report are notated in the infographic below.
The report was disseminated widely and included case studies related to our investment in and impact on the knowledge economy. LJMU is committed to assessing the outcomes of all of its activities and proactively engaging with key city region partners in order to ensure that the benefits of our work is communicated and achieves meaningful impact.
LJMU’s ERDF funded projects take a proactive role in communicating results via e-newsletters, networking, social media, and other marketing materials, business fairs etc, leveraging positive results to engage more businesses. Our projects also conduct summative assessments that provide independent data to help better understand the impact of project. This enables the delivery partners at project level to build on the actions and activities that were most effective. Notable impacts include the fact that LCEI has supported 250 SMEs, saved more than 10,000 tonnes of carbon and helped businesses develop 120 new low carbon products.
We collate feedback to help focus and develop activity such as the following comment: Vighnesh Daas, Director, Blockwalls - “Engaging with LCEI has added so much value to our existing product and future results could prove to be transformational”.
LCR 4.0 is an exemplar project supporting the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies by SMEs in LCR and is the only LCR project to be included in the 2018 ERDF National Case Study Booklet as it was the first of its kind to directly implement solutions in the SME community. The project was named by the Financial Times (Dec 2018) as one of the Top 100 digital champions in Europe. The LCR Activate project provided support to over 120 individual businesses, with more than half reporting new products and services created because of project interventions. An independent economic evaluation by Capita concluded that 70 jobs and a contribution of over £2.653m to the GVA.
The Centre for Collaborative Innovation in Dementia established a regional stakeholder group consisting of health and social care partner organisations working within the LCR. This group analysed the current ESIF policy instrument and identified areas for further development. The group also identified a number of good practices (innovations) within the LCR, which were disseminated through the Interreg Europe good practice platform.
LJMU’s Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) received national recognition, winning the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship in 2017. An economic evaluation from Bathgate (2019) highlighted the positive development of skills in students and graduates who engaged with the “Idealab” and the business start process (see Figure below).
LJMUs MBA in Business Scale Up, was positively recognised by the Scale Up Institute. High Impact Consultancy, who work with LJMU, were successful with a funding bid with the LCR Activate project. Increases in student numbers year on year are an excellent indicator of the value placed on the MBAs by significant numbers of LCR employers.
For further information, please send queries to k.george@ljmu.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
As a “modern civic university” with strong roots in the city, LJMU is committed to “making a difference” with all of our public and community partners. Public and community engagement is articulated as a key facet of the LJMU strategic plan and our core values;
Excellence; Transformation; Innovation; Partnership; Leadership and Community.
The LJMU approach is to develop partnerships between the University and our partner communities to promote; lifelong learning, translational education and impactful research findings. The LJMU approach is driven by University leadership and contains a large and diverse portfolio of public and community engagement activities that involve all areas of the University. Our activities and strategic planning have developed organically over many years and are under continual review.
Aspect 1: Strategy
LJMU undertook a major institutional strategic review and in 2017, our new strategic plan placed public and community engagement at the heart of the University’s mission with the inclusion of a dedicated pillar of activity; Civic and Global Engagement (C&GE). This pillar was led by the PVC for External Engagement and governed through University’s Social & Economic Engagement Committee (SEEC). SEEC is constituted from a cross section of LJMU academic & professional service staff and student representatives. SEEC recognised our ambition to organise, broaden and deepen our public and community connections. Strategic oversight shared best practice, improved activities and identified new partners.
SEEC grew organically drawing initially from areas of the University with well-developed public or community engagement programmes. This has spread to the development of specific roles and reporting lines within the University’s Faculty and School structure that then contribute to the institutions portfolio in this area.
Despite SEEC oversight of activity across the University, we recognise that strategic governance of activity growth continues to evolve. We have good links with the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, and formalising our association with the Civic universities Network. Our recognition of the importance of “Place” in our strategic development will continue to refine, develop and optimise our strong cultural, arts, creative, economic and sports based connections within the Liverpool City Region.
Aspect 2: Support
Support for our public and community engagement comes from SEEC and other pan-University sources as well as localised resource in Faculties and Schools.
In 2018 LJMU established its Foundation for Citizenship to recognise and grow the positive contribution made by staff and students within the local community. LJMU makes “Good Citizenship Awards” to recognise the social contributions of young people across the Liverpool City Region. Professional service departments (Centre for Entrepreneurship; Research & Innovation Services; LJMU Outreach team; Corporate Communications) and academic schools provide logistical, financial and academic support for “The Rosoce Lectures” (an institutional public lecture series) and city-based events such as LightNight and Liverpool Biennial.
LJMU established an Arts and Cultural Partners framework within schools across the Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies. This directly resourced engagement with key Liverpool cultural organisations that include joint practitioner posts (e.g. FACT, TATE Liverpool and RIBA). A number of Faculties and Schools now resource specific public and community engagement roles (e.g. School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise Science) to coordinate and grow activity as well as promote links with the STEM ambassador Programme.
LJMU formally recognises public and community engagement through; (1) career progression opportunities for academic staff [2016 – 2019 17 applications for Professorship or Readership conferment as Public Engagement Leads], (2) the annual award of the Vice Chancellor’s Medal for Social & Economic Engagement, (3) the addition of “Public Engagement” to the award-winning academic researcher training (ACTivator) portfolio, and (4) professional service teams best practice demonstrations at the internal annual Professional Services Conference which rewards excellent initiatives.
Aspect 3: Activity
LJMU engages with communities and stakeholders through its Institutes and Centres:
Significant, long-lasting public and community engagement activity occurs within specific LJMU departments and Schools. The Legal Advice Centre is one of the only law schools in the UK where every student has the opportunity to get pro bono work experience from their first year onwards promoting the legal duty to give back to society. The Centre utilises LJMU expertise and resources to address unmet legal need in our communities with 273 student volunteers working on 194 cases in 2016-2019. LJMU’s Public Health Institute has a focus on engagement and co-production of research within local communities, with a particular focus on hidden and vulnerable groups. Projects delivered in this period include STAMPP, funded by the NIHR, which engaged with over 11,000 teenagers to assess the efficacy of a combined classroom-parental intervention in reducing problematic drinking. In 2016 The Centre for Entrepreneurship secured a partnership with local company Bathgate to support student and graduates through innovative projects e.g. ‘Idealab’ with funding of £350k funding over 200 ventures.
Our research teams deliver “Projects” that engage, educate and enhance communities locally, nationally and globally:
The Roma Education Aspiration Project [REAP] and the Liverpool Roma Employability Project [LREN] have worked with the growing Roma population in Liverpool. Over 300 sessions REAP used filmmaking, social media and theatre performances to engage the community. This has increased school attendance and raised awareness of the benefits of the Higher Education.
Since 2016, War Widows Stories has worked directly with 136 war widows and has developed an open access archive of personal stories. In an innovative participatory research project, the “War Widows Quilt” tells of the realities and effects of losing a loved one during service. This project successfully advocated evidence into the “War Widows’ Association of Great Britain”.
This universal issue of exam pressures and how to cope is an important issue. In the School of Education supporting students preparing for their GCSEs led to the creation of a resource pack for schools. The Department of Education endorsed these resources including a guide for coping with exam pressure. Available on Office of Qualifications and Examinations website (March 2019), the guide was viewed 135,824 times (Ofqual Twitter feed) and downloaded 51,322 times (Ofqual Facebook) and 9,770 times (Ofqual webpage). Further, 12 short films using peer-to-peer coaching were developed for the BBC Mindset campaign.
Staff within the Physical Activity Exchange were recruited as expert advisors by the international Olympic committee and partners to help build and launch the worldwide ‘Global Active City’ certification program. Importantly, the same team were instrumental in the City of Liverpool’s success in achieving certification, making it the first city in the UK, and one of the first 6 cities worldwide, to gain recognition of the sport and physical activity support for all Liverpool communities and >450,000 people.
Across multiple disciplines staff and students deliver projects that widen participation and raise awareness:
Each year LJMU works with around 250 primary and secondary schools and colleges inspiring young people to go
to University. Annually, our Outreach
Team delivers over 1,000 activities to around 70,000 pupils. The award winning National Schools Observatory [NSO] promotes public
engagement and understanding of science through an extensive website with over 15,000 active users and >2
million hits a year, alongside many events for the general public (e.g. public talks, street theatre,
engaging with artists, film makers, garden designers). The school of Sport
and Exercise Science delivered award-winning branded (Face-2-Face with Sport Science) educational
activities in schools, workplaces, and museums to understand how to optimise human performance (e.g. The Perception Machine ; Train Like a Warrior in tandem with
the Terracotta Warriors exhibition at the World Museum) along with promoting physical activity for health in
all. Building on the success and impact of the Chemistry for All outreach project, funded by the Royal
Society for Chemistry, 
Aspect 4: Results and learning
Evaluation and understanding of LJMU’s public and community engagement activities is undertaken at the level of the University and locally in Faculties/Schools. In 2017, LJMU commissioned an Economic & Social Impact report, including public and community engagement. One highlight was the 1 million hours of voluntary community support per year provided by LJMU staff and students across the Liverpool City Region. At a more specific level, the Nationals Schools Observatory (NSO) program has also been evaluated a number of times. Key outcomes include “nearly 2/3 of secondary school students felt more interested in STEM after being part of the NSO” and a teacher stated that “the most noticeable outcome (of the NSO) has been an increase in student confidence”.
The Impact Report, project evaluations and reflections for the pilot KEF exercise has highlighted the breadth and excellence of activity lead by LJMU with its public and community partners. Other important issues drawn through this process include; (a) the drive for activity is often focussed on highly committed individuals and their community connections, (b) rarely are public and community engagement activities formally evaluated, (c) in many cases data capture, such as public participant numbers, are not collected accurately, and (d) translation of activities in Faculties/Schools to the University and professional services (e.g. Outreach and Recruitment) is not always completed to share best practice. Despite the organic growth of public and community engagement at LJMU, the “rich pockets” of co-produced partnerships affords the chance for strong and long-term links to develop, with impactful outcomes that inform strategy and future activity development.
To move forward LJMU will review its structural and cultural approach to public and community engagement. Strategic focus and organisational support will produce greater insight into the impact of current activities and how further co-production with our partners (including process and outcome evaluation) can provide evidence of impact and learnings for other developments. LJMU will reflect on how it enables the flow of information local activities to the University and then maximise promotion.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
Using evidence-based informed reflection LJMU will refresh its oversight and internal governance. After undertaking the 2017 Economic and Social Impact Report the results were reviewed and distributed across the University as well as to external partners. Data highlighted the breadth and depth of LJMU’s civic contribution but a process evaluation demonstrated the need for LJMU to look at better mechanisms for capturing, evaluating and communicating our public and community engagement work, both internally and externally.
LJMU will refresh our strategic focus, including how it engages with national initiatives (e.g. Civic University Network) and produce a “Place-Based” strategy to inform activity development with stakeholders. SEEC, as our core committee, will be repurposed within a review of LJMU’s “Place-Based” strategy. We will strive for a more cohesive, connected and action-orientated governance structure that links all departments, faculties and schools. This will galvanise and empower LJMU staff, our activities and partners.
Finally, it is important that LJMU present clear external engagement gateways, support activity with key resources as well as recognise, communicate and reward excellent practice. We commit to continuing review of strategy and activity that combines both top-down strategic oversight with bottom-up activity development.
For further information, please send queries to k.george@ljmu.ac.uk