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Institutional Context
Summary
Durham University is a research-intensive collegiate university based in North-East England. It is based predominately in Durham City, although it maintains sites in the region (Stockton / Sedgefield) and has field offices in the US, India and London. Its 26 departments cover disciplines across Science, Social Sciences and Arts.
Although global in reputation and reach, Durham University remains rooted in the local area and communities. Analysis in 2016 showed that the University generated £1.1 billion p/a in GVA and supported 13,600 jobs in the UK, of which £650m and 10,000 jobs are in the region. The University plays a critical role in the cultural life of the city, running museums and events that attract over 250k visitors per year.
Institutional context
Fig.1: Durham and its County, also highlighted North East & N8 universities.
Durham is a highly ranked University (4th in the Guardian University Guide 2021), directly employing over 4,000 staff and welcoming over 19,000 students from around the world. The North-East has a mixed economy which includes a growing service and tourism sector. Although employment in manufacturing has declined, the importance of the sector remains more significant than in other UK regions. Deindustrialisation in the area has created several challenges including; low labour force participation, low business density and levels of investment.
Durham actively seeks to engage with these challenges via its University & Knowledge Exchange (KE) strategies. The strategy supports a holistic view of KE approaches, letting the requirements of the customer drive the approach e.g. Durham worked with the Tees Valley Combined Authority to deliver the Process Innovation Audit to improve competitiveness in a locally significant key high-value manufacturing sector.
The University KE strategy recognises that Durham can achieve more in collaboration with others. It works closely with other stakeholders across the region including Durham County Council (DCC) and other local authorities, Universities, LEPs, community groups, cultural organisations and with businesses to identify and support, projects and activities. An example of a recent success is the Northern Accelerator project, which is a Durham-led partnership of North East universities working to commercialise research and boost the regional economy, by attracting talent and external funding to new ventures. In its first three years this supported the creation of 18 new spin-out enterprises.
Durham directly invests c.4m per annum in knowledge exchange, engagement and regional development projects and activities, with projects managed by discrete teams across the University. This funding leverages significant external funding for KE including £17m of contract and collaborative research, £2m of direct regional income and £9m of other KE services such as consultancy and CPD. Durham invests significant resources in building strategic relationships with key partners such as Procter & Gamble and DCC that enable it to realise value across multiple areas including research and regional development.
The University is an integral part of Durham City, occupying a world heritage site at its heart and running several museums. Its capital investment programme in its estate (£900m between 2017/27) is transforming key areas of the city, with new buildings and estate renewal, bringing jobs and leveraging key improvements to the city infrastructure.
One area that sets Durham apart is its college system which supports an enormous body of placement and volunteering projects. Students are actively encouraged to engage with KE and elements such as entrepreneurship, placements and volunteering are recognised in schemes such as the Durham Award. Durham is ranked in the world top 40 for the employability of its students (QS Graduate Employability 2020). One of the unrecognised contributions to the region is that of our graduates, 10% of which remain in the region and each cohort contributes a graduate premium to the local economy of an estimated £66m.
For further information, please send queries to research.policy@durham.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
Durham University has a comprehensive programme of support in place for local growth and regeneration. We have developed this in collaboration with many local partners and through the targeted use of HEIF resource to recruit specialist expertise.
The North East region lags behind most other regions in the areas of entrepreneurship, business start-up rates, innovation and R+D investment and Durham University plays a significant part in the local innovation ecosystem addressing these issues and supporting the region to level up.
Of particular note are two collaborative programmes we have led on behalf of local HEIs: enabling enhanced commercialisation outcomes (Northern Accelerator); and increased knowledge exchange through industrial PhDs; as well as developing internship, enterprise, knowledge exchange and business accommodation offers.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Durham University is in the north east of England, with its main campus in the heart of Durham City. The geographic areas that are strategically relevant to the university in the context of local growth and regeneration are within the city itself, the wider County of Durham and the local enterprise partnership areas of the North East and neighbouring Tees Valley. The university is situated within the North East LEP (NELEP) area.
Figure 1: North East LEP area map
The North East Strategic Economic Plan (NE-SEP) (www.northeastlep.co.uk/the-plan) is driven by the ambition to create 100,000 more and better jobs by 2024. The university is actively engaged with the NELEP at all levels and has been supported by them in the development of key programmes of activity. Additionally, County Durham has a strong economic regeneration partnership, Durham University are active members of this partnership and have developed successful partnership projects alongside other members.
We strongly believe that our world leading expertise and the exceptional talent that resides within our staff and students can have a positive impact on the long-term economic success of the region. The University Strategy (Durham University Strategy Summary 2017 - 2027) demonstrates our commitment to do “so much more” for the areas that we live in and interact with through knowledge exchange, enterprise and innovation.
Over the past three years Durham has taken a leading role in regeneration locally, working closely with strategic partners to identify the needs and potential solutions for local growth and regeneration in our locality. This has helped us to identify the needs of the business population as well as the identification of opportunities to add value through knowledge exchange and business development support.
We have strong formal partnerships in place with a number of key strategic bodies and businesses which support our work to identify and address local needs. These include:
Durham County Council
Economic development is a key strand of the strategic MoU between the two partners. An area of joint work, alongside CPI, is supporting the continued growth and success of NetPark (https://www.northeasttechnologypark.com/) identifying and developing the opportunity for incubator and Space/Satellite support on site. We are also working closely with the council on the Aykley Heads development proposition in Durham city centre enabling us to develop the university’s digital, energy, incubation and business school ambitions alongside focussed knowledge exchange approaches.
CPI
We have a strategic MoU in place between CPI (https://www.uk-cpi.com/) and the university which has enabled two successful economic regeneration programmes to be run in partnership focussing on our complementary research and commercialisation strengths. We actively and regularly engage with CPI to identify new ways of working collaboratively in the future and they are a key partner in university strategic project development.
Procter and Gamble
Procter and Gamble are the university’s largest industrial strategic partnership, and our approach is noted as an exemplar of university-business collaboration within the sector. We have a strategic master agreement in place and have developed a strong partnership base for building collaborative research (c£1m income pa). Procter and Gamble are a close partner in several of our strategic economic development programmes.
Specific activities that Durham University have undertaken to identify local needs are:
The development of a specialist economic development team
Academic lead on the Science and Innovation Audit of the Northern Powerhouse Chemicals and Process Sector
Analysis of regional innovation data and review of successful models of support around the country to identify best practice within a research-intensive university environment
Developing and delivering against a range of strategically important MoUs
Commissioning external consultancy support to establish needs and best approach in key areas
Collaborating with other regional universities to develop large scale strategic programmes that can support the region to level up
Active partners with the NELEP and Tees Valley Combined Authority on Strategic Economic Plan and Local Industrial Strategy development
To support our ambitions, we have accessed a range of regional and national funding sources including ERDF, NELEP, RGF and Research England. This has been vital in supporting delivery of our local regeneration outcomes. In the reported period 2016-2019 we received £1,404k ERDF funding and £429k of other regeneration funds with future year’s income increasing as key initiatives are rolled out.
Aspect 2: Activity
During the period of review Durham University have specifically recruited an economic development team within Research and Innovation Services to support the university ambition in this space and have used HEIF resource to add specialist posts elsewhere e.g. enterprise. We have boosted central support with dedicated post award and compliance posts as well as externally funding a number of project managers and administrators across programmes as they secure funding. This has enabled Durham University to take a leadership role regionally in developing and delivering key programmes of support.
The university have developed and delivered significant programmes of support for knowledge exchange, innovation, business growth and entrepreneurship over this period. The programmes meet identified local needs through responding to specific targeted funding calls and working collaboratively during development with key local policy bodies such as the LEP and Durham County Council. The programme of support developed and rolled out in the three-year period is:
Boosted enterprise support for students enabling more students to receive an in-depth experience of entrepreneurship and new business development. This includes support for the Durham City Incubator https://dcincubator.co.uk/ in partnership with Durham County Council and New College Durham allowing new businesses to access a range of detailed support as they start out. This programme supports the regions ambition for more start-ups particularly those in high growth sectors which will create better jobs.
Internships for Durham under-graduate students and graduates into local Durham SMEs are supported with a 50% wage subsidy for up to 12 months. This supports local firms to benefit from the student expertise and knowledge exchange in developing new products as well as encouraging regional graduate retention.
Two programmes for regional SMEs running in collaboration with CPI which deliver support in key sectors where we have research expertise. COAST allows businesses to access post-doctoral and laboratory facilities in the field of nanotechnology enabling new product testing and Spotlight does the same but in the field of health photonics.
The Water Hub https://www.thewaterhub.org.uk/ is supporting innovation in the water sector in partnership with Durham County Council, the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water Ltd through innovation challenges, mentoring, grants and access to local test beds.
Creative Fuse http://www.creativefusene.org.uk/ is a collaboration with the regional universities to support the creative and cultural sector to apply business school expertise as they grow. The creative sector is vitally important to the north east economy and this programme supports longer term sustainability and growth through workshops and one to one support.
Northern Accelerator https://www.northernaccelerator.org/ is a landmark regional programme developed and led by Durham University in partnership with Newcastle, Northumbria and Sunderland Universities to support and enhance spin out creation and lead to the long-term establishment of a dedicated Venture Capital fund. The region suffers with low levels of business start-ups which Northern Accelerator is helping to combat through dedicated support to spin out creation.
The support on offer ranges from ideas generation support, executives into business, proof of concept funding, innovation assessments and seed capital investments. Early indicators show that this approach is highly successful as spin out start up rates have tripled after the first full year of operations.
Intensive Industrial Innovation Programme (IIIP) (https://www.dur.ac.uk/iiip/) supports industrial PhDs with local businesses across the North East and Tees Valley LEP areas in collaboration with Teesside, Newcastle and Northumbria universities. The project, led by Durham University, has supported over 50 PhDs in key growth sectors to date and is accessing further financial support for a phase 3 delivery. The project strongly supports the 2.4% R+D target and business growth objectives for SMEs in the region enabling them to research new products / services that are then able to be commercialised.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP at Durham) Durham University has been involved in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships across the North East and beyond since 1980. With our track record of over 135 partnerships and wealth of expertise, we help businesses develop new products and processes that underpin future competitiveness. We have an active portfolio of 13 KTPs many with strategic local employers such as Northumbrian Water Ltd and Atom Bank.
ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) (https://www.dur.ac.uk/esrciaa/) funding supports research projects to find their impact. The original IAA Round 1 award of £661,700 was boosted with an additional £529,775 (IAA extension plus GCRF/Brexit funding), resulting in almost 1.2m (£1,191,475) for impact related activities. Supporting around 100 projects, with over 200 non-academic partners and 55 training events with approx. 1,175 participants, the success of the Round1 scheme led to an award of £1.3m for ESRC IAA Round2, to March 2023.
The projects listed above operate over a 2-3 year cycle and support the longer term business partnerships and collaboration activity of the university as well as impacting directly on the business beneficiaries. Total project costs of this portfolio of projects is over £22 million with income from these projects to the university estimated to be £4.5 million over the full delivery period.
Aspect 3: Results
The portfolio of economic development programmes and business engagement offers has successfully supported many businesses to date; this support ranges from relatively light touch engagement through events and short term focussed support through to substantive research projects in the laboratory up to 9 months in length, internships over a year and industrial PhDs that last three years in duration. The outcomes of this support are on track to deliver a minimum local jobs growth of 69 new jobs and the development of 78 independent research collaborations.
Evaluations of current SME support programmes have reported significant impact on economic growth of participating firms. The Water Hub programme evaluation evidenced a £1:£6 financial impact on the economy for the investment made and a 121% increase in R+D expenditure in participants and the COAST programme was responsible for total jobs growth of 55 FTE and a total GVA impact of over £3million.
We communicate programmes and success via a range of social media channels and locally through the media as appropriate. We have the benefit of support of a dedicated Partnerships & Engagement Communications Officer as well as a marketing manager within the Northern Accelerator project. Our increasing involvement in economic development initiatives across the region has led to a range of communication opportunities alongside partners.
As the project portfolio has developed and we have successfully delivered added value to the local economy we have been able to refine and evolve the projects in development as result of feedback and programme experience. We have established a strategic projects pipeline over the last year closely aligned to our research expertise and the sectoral areas of interest to the LEPs. This will form the foundation of our local growth and regeneration portfolio offer as we enter into the next three years of delivery. Particular strengths that we wish to evolve and align strongly with local economic needs and opportunities are geothermal heat, hydrogen economy, surface sciences and data.
For further information, please send queries to Jennifer.a.taylor@durham.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Durham’s approach to Public & Community Engagement (P&CE) is set out in the Durham University’s Strategy (2017 – 2027). We aim to produce and disseminate research that has a positive impact on global, national and regional challenges, and which benefits culture, society, health, the economy and the physical environment. Support for engagement is embedded in our values, led and championed by senior staff, and enabled through targeted use of financial and staff resources. Durham has dedicated exhibition spaces and has a varied annual program of well attended festivals and events e.g. the Celebrate Science annual festival of Science Engagement.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Strategic Approach
Durham has embedded its commitment to P&CE in its core values, as reflected in our Responsible University Statement and Durham University’s Strategy (2017 – 2027) which outline our aim to be a socially responsible institution that contributes effectively to economic and social development of its communities whether local or international. It highlights our emphasis on partnerships with social enterprises and public sector organisations that facilitate translation of knowledge and understanding to wider public benefit; promotes volunteering and community engagement; and promotes sustainable initiatives for the benefit of future generations.
Two core drivers encapsulate our approach:
i) As a world leading research institution P&CE should, wherever possible be informed, supported by and enhance our teaching and research, including through the co-production of knowledge.
ii) As a responsible stakeholder in the local and regional community, we have a responsibility to support and enable a vibrant P&CE ecosystem.
Delivery is via discrete sub-strategies such as HEIF and Teaching and Learning.
Planning and resource allocation
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global) provides overall leadership supported by the Policy Delivery Team, other senior leaders and groups including Council and the University Executive.
Overall approach is implemented via supplementary bodies of activity such as the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) Strategy. P&CE is central to this and is supported by the annual HEIF allocation which supports programmes of research impact and engagement.
Other core documents include the Impact and Engagement action plan, which is overseen by Research Management Committee and operationalised by departments. Objectives are supported by KPIs and dedicated budget which are reviewed at annual planning.
Facilitating engagement with our publics and communities
Durham’s work with community partners is managed via various groups. The Community Engagement Task Force (CETF), involves staff, students, local stakeholders and residents working together help to identify the needs and ways to support the wider community.
Libraries and Collections (L&C) have an established group of key stakeholders. They provide opportunities for wider engagement with public and communities through museums and outreach initiatives.
Durham has strategic relationships with local partners such as Durham County Council and Public Health England. These links have been especially well utilised in the response to COVID-19, for example in the epidemiological analyses of cases and treatment undertaken by Maths.
Academic departments and groups have established relationships, for example participatory research hubs have fostered strong and deep relationships within communities. We encourage and support engagement via the central Research and Innovation Services directorate (RIS) using tools such as the impact and engagement toolkit. Research Institutes play a key role in facilitating engagement, for example the Institute of Hazard and Risk works with communities across the world and provides a resource for others within the university.
Aspect 2: Support
Structural Support
Activity is supported by a practical package of strategic partnerships, targeted investment, senior leadership support and recognition of impact and engagement excellence. Durham has invested significantly in this area in recent years, recruiting a new PVC-Global and dedicated support team. Responsibility for delivery lies across departments and professional support units, notably the L&C, RIS, Wider Student Experience, and Staff Volunteering. Colleges and their affiliated societies undertake and support a significant amount of student led activity.
Heritage & Museums
Durham is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and holds internationally significant cultural collections. Its portfolio of museum and exhibition spaces – including Palace Green Library, Oriental Museum, Museum of Archaeology and Durham Castle Museum – make it a core part of the local tourism economy. Durham seeks to enhance access to and exploration of our collections, knowledge and research though widening participation, hosting exhibitions and events, and promoting learning for all ages. Between 2017/19, these attracted 120,000 visitors and more than 40,000 people engaged in museum education (these figures exclude departmental events). Durham provides venues and programmes for many ethnic, faith, and disciplinary communities, e.g. annual activities centred on Lantern, Holi and Diwali Festivals attracting 1,900 people each year. L&C also support exhibitions, directly and through the loan of collections.
Volunteering: Staff, Students and Colleges
Experience Durham coordinates university sport, staff and student volunteering and outreach, and student theatre and music. Annually, over 2,000 students volunteer in the community across more than 80 projects. Many of the colleges offer a community volunteering programme and there are 50 central projects on offer through DUSVO (Durham University Student Volunteering and Outreach) covering themes of Inclusion, Education, Environment and Sport & Physical Activity. From beach cleans to tutoring, holiday camps to elderly tea parties our projects support a wide range of community partners and the general public. The staff volunteer programme (benchmarked top three in the UK) allows staff up to seven days per annum for volunteering and 1,085 days were recorded in 2019. Our volunteering programmes have achieved the Investing in Volunteering award for the past nine years and Durham received the Queens Award for Voluntary Service for Student Volunteering and Outreach.
Training and CPD
The university’s programme of training and CPD helps grow and enhance capacity for both academic and professional services colleagues to deliver P&CE. For example, the university’s Public Policy Hub runs regular events and training sessions throughout the year designed to help researchers engage with communities of policymakers.
Recognition
Since 2018, Durham has run an annual Impact and Engagement Awards ceremony, recognising academics and postgraduate students who are undertaking original and innovative programmes of impact and engagement. In 2019, impact was made a discretionary evaluation criterion for academic promotion. Collectively this has raised the profile of engagement and embedded it as a significant and valued part of the university’s work. Student citizenship activity is recognised through the Durham award.
Aspect 3: Activity
Overall
Between 2016/19 Durham ran over 2,100 public and community events engaging more than 480,000 members of the community (not including events run at other institutions to which Durham University contributed), including 17,000 as part of the schools’ engagement programme. Many events are recurrent, and feedback is sought to support continuous improvement.
Case Study: Bodies of Evidence Exhibition and Engagement Programme
Durham’s Learning and Engagement Policy encourages participation with and understanding of the University’s research and collections. The ‘Bodies of Evidence’ exhibition and associated engagement programme arose from the 2013 discovery by Durham Archaeologists of 17th century mass burials on the Durham UNESCO World Heritage Site. The discovery was of intense interest to city residents, who had long talked about the lost graves of Scottish soldiers interred in Durham in the 1600s.
Researchers worked with colleagues in L&C, members of the local community, and national and international stakeholders to carry out an investigation that was sensitive to the views and heritage of all the communities involved. The work generated a specially curated exhibition, 'Bodies of Evidence', open from June to October 2018 at Palace Green Library engaging 30,237 visitors. The story of the ‘Scottish Soldiers’ was also brought to life via the 'Woven Bones' theatre production. The project attracted £30,000 of investment from Arts Council England and toured 11 venues in the north-east and Scotland. A permanent museum display and commemorative plaque were installed at the burial site as a legacy for the local community.
Case Study: Science Outreach
Our science outreach activities aim to improve education outcomes, widen access, and enhance employment opportunities. Key activities include Celebrate Science, a three-day science festival featuring interactive science events and workshops, held during October half-term, and attracting approx. 6,000 people annually. Durham’s Schools’ Science Festival involves secondary students and their teachers in the university’s research, taking part in hands-on workshops from all science departments, and engaging 800 students each year.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
Activities are assessed against the two core drivers outlined in aspect one; that they should be informed by and enhance our research work and enrich our community stakeholders both directly and through our support for the local ecosystem. All large-scale activities are fully evaluated, and stakeholder feedback directly addressed when planning future work.
Research & Teaching Link
Where direct links to research and engagement programmes exist (and are recorded) i.e. in impact case studies or where they are captured by Researchfish or HEBCI, we use these to monitor our activities. Whilst we do assess activities for fit to research, we are wary of adding too much administrative oversight in case it curtails activity and stifles innovation. This is not an area the University has fully resolved. There is currently a programme of work looking at metrics, altmetrics and support and we expect this to deliver in time for the Knowledge Exchange Concordat and for that to provide a more robust framework for assessing success in this area.
Direct Engagement & Health of Community Ecosystem
The Community Engagement Task Force continually responds to feedback from its membership. As well as acting upon specific issues, it also adapts to be more relevant to changing community needs e.g. the Culture Sub-group received feedback that its terms of reference and delivery were unsuitable in supporting communication and understanding between the University and the cultural community. It agreed to adapt its focus to address this and to become a more effective tool for the community’s cultural aims. It diversified to include representatives from local cultural organisations. The operation of the group was changed to allow more bottom-up proposals.
WC: 273
Aspect 5: Acting on results
Reporting
Internal and external reporting is generally associated with specific strategies such as HEIF, the Teaching & Learning Strategy and Widening Student Experience as well as with standard returns such as HEBCI. For example, HEBCI outcomes are reported up to the University Executive and figures provided to departments and core units, as well as being submitted to HESA. One of the key areas highlighted in the engagement review (below) was the need to develop a holistic annual review.
Reviewing Strategy – Engagement review
In 2018, the University undertook a review of its P&CE activities in collaboration with key stakeholders. Seven recommendations arose from the review which are at various stages of implementation:
Leadership and coordination: Including to identify a clear strategic lead, develop a framework and to establish working groups.
Identify & develop strategic partnerships: Including to move to an account manager model and put in pace MoUs with government, cultural and business bodies.
Identify and develop major engagement projects. Including the redevelopment of city areas, community poc projects such as mine water geothermal and maths in schools.
Build engagement with the local community. Demonstrate commitment to the local community including use of estate and a community fund.
Increase visibility and active stakeholder management. Build stakeholder engagement, implement CRM systems and establish an annual stakeholder survey.
Networks. Use networks to share best practice, build capacity, profile and reputation.
Measuring Impact. Identify and build on KPIs linked to the University Strategy and produce an annual engagement review.
Acting on Feedback
Feedback is sought through groups such as the Community Engagement Task force. The University has utilised town hall meetings and other forums to seek comment and feedback on its priorities and activities. One of the key learning points the University has acknowledged is the need to ensure that feedback is sought at an early stage and to ensure this impacts on future practice.
Key Performance Indicators
Figures are included in the annual report, including progress towards strategic KPIs such as volunteer hours (goal: 100,000 per annum, actual 2019 37,000) under community engagement / public benefit. We recognise that the institutional KPIs do not fully reflect our ambitions or activities, and although departments do have local objectives, we recognise that a more robust / detailed framework at the institutional level will be valuable. We intend to utilise the KEF to assess this.
For further information, please send queries to research.policy@durham.ac.uk