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Institutional Context
Summary
UAL is a specialist HEI, ranked second in the world for its creative education and knowledge creation, with campuses across London, and an internationally diverse staff and student cohort. UAL delivers one of London’s largest programmes of creative professional development, and forms a significant part of the capital’s creative R&D, innovation and enterprise infrastructure, making a unique scale of contribution to London’s creative economy, which in turn supports economic growth across the UK and globally. Our Knowledge Exchange is shaped by our creative practices and pedagogies, engaging our partners, communities and publics in activities strategically focused on addressing particular challenges and/or places; and supporting policy agendas such as inclusive and sustainable growth, social justice, creative innovation, and resilient healthy communities.
Institutional context
Our underpinning values and mission place creativity at the heart of positive societal change, achieved through a focus on transformative education and creative enquiry. The issues that society faces are increasingly complex and dynamic, and so public service providers, industry, policy makers and civic organisations are increasingly turning to more creative, experimental and human-centred forms of problem-solving, to generate effective new solutions.
Such methodologies are inherent to the creative disciplines and collaborative pedagogies and practices that underpin UAL’s KE activity. These provide UAL with a strong embedded capacity for KE, attracting a diverse and high profile range of partners. By engaging through ambitious forms of communication, collaboration, and creative prototyping, our ambition is to build resilient partnerships at every scale, working with individuals and organisations across government, industry, education, and civic society, using creative expertise to empower others and deliver tangible benefits for society and the economy.
As a specialist HEI, it is important we have a focused and distinctive approach to KE, leveraging our particular strengths and context. The specific histories and achievements of our Colleges, including their legacy as technical, trades and crafts colleges across London, have built a long tradition of civic engagement with the creative and professional life of the capital, as well as strong local partnerships and networks. It is founded on these strengths that we have developed our place-focused strategies, which combine the activities typically associated with ‘Public and Community Engagement’ and ‘Local Growth and Regeneration’ into integrated programmes of activity. In this way, place-making at UAL acts a strategic framework for planning and delivering much of our KE activity.
By taking a strategic place-based approach, we are able to achieve a clear focus and critical mass for our diversity of KE activities, and significant potential for scalable impact. This approach is underpinned by effective and inclusive sets of civic partnerships, which work together to leverage investment and address the challenges of the specific stakeholders and communities in these locations, based on clear evidence as to their needs and opportunities. Driven by our values of social justice and sustainability, we are also committed to promoting and achieving more ethical modes of production, enterprise and place-making through public engagement, and the partnerships and places we work with.
A distinctive characteristic of UAL’s approach is the high level of involvement of our students in these activities, who develop and acquire expert knowledge and skills by applying them in situated contexts where they may work - in different sectors, communities and places. This not only enables UAL to better deliver our core purpose and extend our impact, but also creates significant new social innovation capacity globally, through our graduates, whom independent research has shown to be the most enterprising of any HEI cohort in the UK.
For UAL, place-making is not just about being good neighbours within our local communities, but also extends into those places, sectors and clusters where our expertise aligns to local priorities, offering relevant opportunities for partnership working, meaningful exchange and mutual benefit.
For further information, please send queries to knowledge-exchange@arts.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
UAL is a specialist arts university with a belief in the transformative power of creative education and enquiry. We are committed to social justice and sustainability, and our role in supporting creative economies at regional, national and international levels. Our approach to local growth and regeneration combines these missions, and focuses on several specific sub-regions across North, South and East London (with increasing focus on locales elsewhere in UK and Europe), where we have established industry, government, and civic stakeholder partnerships. In these places, our strategic partnerships work to leverage investment that supports inclusive growth, through activities focused on expanding creative jobs, skills, workspaces, enterprise and innovation within the local economy, as well as facilitating cohesive, resilient and healthy communities.
Aspect 1: Strategy
UAL’s strategic approach to local growth and regeneration has grown out of the long-term involvement of our Colleges with a quadruple helix sets of stakeholders across a number of specific sub-regions in London, and is currently extending into a range of other localities of strategic relevance (regionally, nationally and internationally).
Our places for strategic focus in London were identified in UAL’s HEIF strategy 2016-2021, which stated our commitment to: “Creat[ing] tangible direct and indirect benefits for local businesses and communities through our partnership role in key sites of regional regeneration (e.g. Olympic Park, Poplar, Kings Cross, Elephant & Castle, Old Kent Road, Camberwell/Peckham) where it is anticipated that these will include positive economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts”.
Since making these commitments, our approach has been further informed by several externally commissioned reports, including: ‘Building Creative Economy Infrastructure’ (BOP Consulting 2018), which provided insights on challenges, trends and support infrastructure needs for the creative economy in London and UK; and two area specific reports: ‘East London Fashion Cluster Strategy and Action Plan’ (BOP Consulting 2017) and ‘Peckham & Camberwell Creative Corridor Primer’ (Assemble, 2018).
Source: BOP Consulting 2018
These reports have enabled UAL to take a nuanced and evidence-based approach to our strategy, focusing on Boroughs with a high existing concentration of creative businesses or where significant growth is predicted.
To ensure strategic alignment and responsiveness to identified local needs, UAL also maintains strong working relationships with the Mayor’s Office and Greater London Authority (GLA), and works through a number of funding instruments aligned with their objectives, including ERDF, ESF and Good Growth funds, as well as making significant co-investment in the redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Park, where UAL’s London College of Fashion will relocate in 2023. UAL is also actively engaged in regional partnership discussions regarding the creative economy-focused Thames Estuary Production Corridor - which research shows could create 50,000 jobs and generate £3.7bn for the UK. In recent years, UAL has invested £154m in the regeneration of
priority areas of London, through its capital programme, and will invest a further £468m by 2025.
During 2016-19, our strategic activity has focused primarily on the following 3 major place-based initiatives in London, in which UAL is a lead partner:
Fashion District (Olympic Park, Stratford and London Boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest , Tower Hamlets and Haringay.);
South London Creative and Digital Cluster (Elephant & Castle, Old Kent Rd Opportunity Area, London Boroughs of Wandsworth, Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham);
King’s Cross Knowledge Quarter (London Boroughs of Camden and Islington) - one of the largest innovation districts in the world and the focus for a Science and Innovation Audit in 2018, signalling its strategic importance nationally.
As mentioned previously, UAL is also extending the reach and impact of these initiatives through place-focused partnerships elsewhere in London, the UK and Europe.
UAL’s Place-making Working Group provides effective governance and oversight, co-ordinating the above activities, as well as sharing knowledge and insights, and commissioning horizon-scanning research into new place-based opportunities.
Aspect 2: Activity
The Fashion District (launched September 2018) brings together fashion, technology, business and education to nurture talent, create a network of affordable workspaces, support business and job growth, and develop innovative new products. It will strengthen London’s position as the global capital of fashion technology and drive economic and social transformation in East London. This vision and its objectives were informed by detailed research jointly funded with the Mayor's Office, involving close consultation with industry and public sector partners. UAL funds operational coordination of the partnership, and a core networking and innovation programme, as well as working to secure external funding.
In 2015 UAL secured £4.8m ERDF funding to deliver the 3.5 year Fashioning Technology Emerging Futures (FTEF) business support programme - in partnership with CENTA and London Borough of Hackney, as well as £7.8m funding from the GLA and Fashion District partners to create a fashion manufacturing and training hub in East London which included four major capital investments:
A business start-up, manufacturing and training facility with 40 affordable work spaces at Poplar Works;
Grow-on studios for more established businesses at Trampery Fish Island Village; including co-working and showcase space, an innovation micro-factory, and a Sustainable Fashion Accelerator , creating Europe’s largest fashion campus.
A new Tailoring Academy at the Fashion Enter manufacturing & training unit, to meet demand for high quality fashion production skills;
A hub for emerging fashion businesses at Arbeit Studios Leyton Green.
In 2018/19 Fashion District successfully delivered across its five workstreams, building extensive stakeholder networks through roundtables with industry and Borough Councils and the creation of new innovation and investment funds.
In 2018/19, UAL also secured two projects that extend the reach, connectivity and impact of Fashion District:
The Business of Fashion, Textiles & Technology (BFTT) - with £5.5m funding from the AHRC-run ISCF-funded Creative Industries Clusters Programme, the programme is led by UAL and will support the growth of UK fashion, textiles and technology businesses through R&D investment.
DeFINE, a £2m EU-funded project, developing a transnational network of incubators, accelerators, businesses, and financiers, to drive the fusion of cutting-edge technologies with Europe’s fashion and design industries.
South London Creative and Digital Cluster
UAL and several strategic partners across London are committed to development of a specific sub-region of South London as a creative digital content cluster and knowledge hub. In 2016/17, UAL and London South Bank University (LSBU) gained recognition and support for this strategic vision through HEFCE’s Leading Places programme. This collaborative approach has enabled UAL and partners to secure funding for a number of strategic projects supporting this vision.
In 2018 UAL delivered the award-winning HEFCE-funded Games Fusion project in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London, co-developing new games design curriculum with industry partners to address sector skills shortages. In 2018, UAL also worked with LSBU to secure two further projects: Accelerating the Creative Economy through Immersive Technologies (ACE-IT), a £1.4m ERDF project providing support for SMEs to grow by developing innovative immersive technology or technology-enabled products and services; and Digital Grid Partnership, a £1m ESF-funded project supporting businesses build capacity and access higher-level digital skills talent in South London.
In 2019, UAL joined the South London Innovation Corridor (SLIC) initiative with partners from HE, business support and workspace providers, and local government, towards developing investment plans in talent and business development for the creative and digital sector. In 2019, UAL also launched its Creative Computing Institute (CCI), located in the SLIC area, which works at the intersection of creative and computational technology disciplines. Working with HE partners, FutureLearn and supported by funding from the Institute of Coding, the CCI launched a £1.5m project ‘Creative Solutions to Digital Transformation’ which will promote the role of creative digital technologies in transforming media, manufacturing and engineering businesses.
Since 2016, UAL has also run the Talent Works programme in this area (funded by local trusts and foundations) pairing creative students with local third sector organisations to improve these organisations’ UX/web design, impact and reach.
King’s Cross Knowledge Quarter
UAL is a founding and Board member of the Kings Cross Knowledge Quarter, which brings together over 100 organisations spanning multiple disciplines, industry sectors and global networks to share knowledge and collaborate. UAL plays a major partnership role in the Knowledge Quarter, and the regeneration of the local area, acting as a dynamic source for creative talent , providing creative consultancy to local partners such as Google, Universal Music/Vivendi Group and the Institute of Physics, and acting as a hub for (social) innovation.
The Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) (developed out of an AHRC-funded project in 2015-16) has provided a focus and vehicle for strategic partnership with London Borough of Camden Council, supporting their ambitions for greater resident participation in local governance by bringing academia, business, public sector and local community together to tackle complex issues through social innovation. In 2017/18 PCL secured support from the Council and other local partners to deliver a range of projects addressing locally defined challenges, culminating in co-investment in MAKE@Story Garden a new public place with facilities and programmes supporting creative collaboration, social innovation and enterprise between students, staff, researchers and local community. MAKE involves local government, major developers, Global Generation and the British Library.
In 2019 UAL successfully applied, with a consortium including Camden Council, for £7.2m of Horizon 2020 project funding to extend the learning from the Knowledge Quarter, PCL and MAKE@Story Garden through the T-Factor project. The project will include partnering with 3 organisations in Bilbao, where Zorrotzaure Island will act as a pilot site for creative economy-led regeneration, enabling the transfer of learning from our existing local place-making activities into an international context.
Aspect 3: Results
The following results were delivered in our key places of strategic focus during 2016-20 (except where stated):
50 new jobs through the Fashion Enter Tailoring Academy and 100 industry apprenticeships in tailoring.
11 new studios at Arbeit Studios Leyton Green, a communal/gallery space and a programme of innovation challenges across the London Borough of Waltham Forest .
28 SMEs supported to date through the Sustainable Fashion Accelerator at Trampery Fish Island Village and a Fashion Internship Programme launching in 2021.
11 networking events with over 1000 attendees at launches, stakeholder forums, focus groups, suppers and seminars.
Innovation Challenge programmes on the circular economy and retail tech, with prizes worth £15k from Climate KIC and £25k sponsorship from Westfield - receiving 67 SME applications.
London Fashion Fund - an independent investment vehicle established with £520k of pump prime funding for 10 fashion/tech SMEs, and attracting £1.2m of private sector, VC and angel investment.
UAL also supported a successful bid for Creative Enterprise Zone status for the Hackney Wick and Fish Island area.
FTEF delivered 10 core business support programmes over multiple cohorts, with 341 individual businesses participating - resulting in 165 new products/services and the creation of 104 new jobs.
BFTT received over 80 applications in 2019 for the first cohort of its R&D SME Support Programme, delivering critical innovation support to businesses during the pandemic – see UKRI article.
South London Creative and Digital Cluster
UAL and LSBU presented outcomes of the Leading Places project at UUK national conference.
The Games Fusion project won the prestigious TIGA Industry Awards for Best Education Initiative and Talent Development.
ACE-IT launched in early 19/20, adapting to Covid-19 by engaging 26 SMEs online using Google Classroom to run Innovation Challenges.
Digital Grid Partnership will start delivery in Autumn 2020.
UAL partnered with Southwark Council on a Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) bid to the GLA – that was successfully allocated a £50K development grant but sadly was not one of the two areas to be awarded CEZ status in the final round.
The Creative Solutions to Digital Transformation programme launched in April 2020 and has so far had over 30k enrolments globally.
Talent Works provided over 170 students paid placements with 30 local charities and social enterprises to improve their business performance. A survey of beneficiaries found 80% were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’. 100% would recommend UAL and would collaborate again. Approximately 30% of students involved were first generation participants in HE.
King’s Cross Knowledge Quarter
PCL delivered a range of community projects involving over 50 different local organisations, these addresed issues including overcrowded living spaces, causes and impacts of obesity, and co-designing and developing a new community market to strengthen community enterprises, networks and assets.
This work has been expanded through MAKE@Story Garden engaging 1326 local participants (1062 local residents and 296 students) in events and workshops. 9 community organisations have also co-delivered activities with the MAKE@Story Garden team engaging 371 residents in collaborative creative skills development projects. In response COVID-19 the MAKE@Story Garden team have actively prototyped new online remote delivery platforms.
T-Factor has provided a platform for collaboration with the city of Bilbao, and in 2019 UAL and Bilbao Town Hall signed an MOU committing to deepening our collaborative partnerships in the region, with a particular focus on the role of UAL and other HEIs in supporting creative economy-led regeneration in the region.
For further information, please send queries to a.aldous@arts.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
As the UK’s largest art and design university, with campuses across London, a commitment to public and community engagement lies at the core of UAL’s practical purpose, and our approach embraces the public context as a learning environment, and staff and students as societal resources. For UAL, culture and creativity are fundamentally collaborative and engaged, undertaken with a broad range of publics, drawing meaning and value from interactions and relationships with others. Our methods and approaches are experimental and co-creative, and situated in place-based contexts. Our objectives are to: to widen access and participation in our creative disciplines, to inspire and engage new audiences and communities through creative and collaborative practices, and to create mutually beneficial forms of civic partnership.
Aspect 1: Strategy
UAL’s approach to public and community engagement (P&CE) is embedded in our academic practices and throughout our institutional strategy (UAL Strategy 2015-2022), which places creativity at the heart of social change, through a focus on: ‘transformative education’ that is accessible and inclusive; ‘communication and collaboration’ that builds resilient partnerships from local to international communities; and ‘inspirational environments’ that enable enhancement of our College Estates across London, increased interactions with our communities, and the development of major strategic place-based initiatives.
UAL’s P&CE activity engages with a range of places and publics regionally, nationally, and globally, and our public programme of events, exhibitions and performances attracts large diverse audiences. However, an intensity of our participatory engagement is strategically focused in certain identified areas of the capital, and aligned to the Greater London Authority’s 2011 ‘London Plan’ Objectives. UAL has created strategic partnerships with eight of its local London Boroughs, and a wide range of other important local stakeholders, with a focus on major regeneration areas in London: Kings Cross Knowledge Quarter in Camden and Islington; Fashion District in Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets, Haringay; and South London Creative and Digital Cluster in Southwark and Lambeth. In these locations UAL has established networks enabling us to activate the quadruple helix innovation model of civic engagement, pooling intelligence and insights around local needs and challenges, and leveraging the assets and expertise of academia, business, community and the public sector to address these challenges, through context-sensitive and co-developed interventions. We facilitate engagement activities through a diversity of participatory projects, collaborative research, training and skills development, enhancement of physical environment, as well as via events and exhibitions.
Aspect 2: Support
Engaging with external audiences through creative place-based initiatives is core to our mission. UAL dedicates an average of 1,500 days of staff time to engage with more than 500,000 people in over 350 P&CE initiatives per year.
These creative models of practice are supported by teams of KE professionals within Colleges, who with academics, coordinate and drive partnerships between external communities, industries and government, and oversee protocols, project management, governance and evaluation, undertaken by staff and students with partners. P&CE is embedded in our academic programmes, expanding opportunities for students and communities across London to participate in social and cultural initiatives, events and activities. UAL has implemented a ‘Knowledge Exchange Career Pathway’ for all academic staff, facilitating progression to Reader and Professorships. A UAL Research Impact toolkit is available for all academics to access, and staff involved in P&CE can attend the NCCPE Engage Academy.
UAL has a well-established track record in practice-based research, and our Research Centres and Institutes provide the focus for exploring new insights and ideas through creative engagement with multiple stakeholders; supporting communities in understanding how to develop innovative and sustainable solutions through co-design, co-creation, and socially-responsive practices.
To ensure strategic co-ordination of our place-based initiatives, UAL’s ‘Place-Making Working Group’ was established in 2019, providing a framework for co-ordinating teaching, research and KE activities (including P&CE); commissioning horizon-scanning research into new place-based opportunities; and ensuring that effective co-governance is in place for initiatives, including with key partners like the Greater London Authority and London Boroughs. UAL co-founded Kings Cross Knowledge Quarter, with the British Library, to actively engage in advancing and disseminating knowledge with 100+ academic, research, scientific and media organisations.
Our Estate across London enables students and staff to showcase their creative practice, increase public engagement, build new collaborations with communities, and provides the physical infrastructure for P&CE. In recent years, UAL’s capital programme has invested £154m in the regeneration of priority areas of London, and will invest a further £468m by 2025.
Aspect 3: Activity
P&CE at UAL is established in response to needs of public and community groups, and identified through consultation and/or local government evaluation. UAL does this through an innovative outreach programme, UAL Insights and through two intersecting modes of academic activity: strategic place-making frameworks, and project-based social justice activities.
Place-making frameworks:
CSM Public is the P&CE framework at Central Saint Martin’s College (CSM, UAL), and includes strategic initiatives, such as: Public Collaboration Lab (PCL), established in 2016 as an embedded research partnership with London Borough of Camden and a platform for co-design projects; MAKE@Story Garden, a strategic place-based partnership for creative collaboration and social innovation between UAL, Camden Council, STCA and Lendlease, Global Generation and the British Library. Enhanced through CSM’s EU Horizon 2020 consortium bid T-Factor (2020-2024) this has now secured £7.2m funding for action-research in the HS2 Euston Regeneration area.
Better Lives is the framework for UAL’s P&CE work in East London, using fashion as catalyst for change. Within this a partnership with Poplar Harca is establishing a community-focused training and manufacturing hub at Poplar Works (PW) in Tower Hamlets, informed by the Poplar Works Community Partnership Report. Making for Change: Waltham Forest is a partnership with Waltham Forest Council for London Borough of Culture 2019 that comprises a programme of community engagement, educational and design research activities.
Local Engagement is the framework for P&CE around London College of Communication (LCC, UAL) in Elephant & Castle. This includes Talent Works, which is an initiative for social enterprise, charities and community groups to access communications expertise, while assisting students from disadvantaged backgrounds kick-start their careers. Established in 2016 the project has been supported by The Wakefield and Tetley Trust, Bermondsey Square Community Fund and Workspace Group.
Our frameworks also include a significant public events programme of inclusive activities, and help to structure curricular and extra-curricular collaborative practice-led projects creating opportunities in P&CE for over 1000 students annually. Events at the UAL Gallery Spaces are attended by over 500,000 people annually, with Degree Shows generating 68,000 attendees alone. Additionally, UAL partners with other cultural organisations such as Tate, V&A and the Imperial War Museum to further its P&CE reach.
Project-based social justice activities:
Making for Change is an award-winning fashion training and manufacturing unit within HMP Downview that works with women to aid rehabilitative journeys, through professional skills and qualifications in fashion and textiles.
The Makeright Design Academy provides prison inmates with design and making skills, increasing well-being and reducing reoffending rates, equipping participants with professional skills and qualifications in a supportive environment building inmates’ soft skills, such as confidence and team working.
The Refugee Journalism Project (RJP) supports displaced and exiled journalists, who face professional barriers in continuing their careers. Participants are offered workshops, mentoring and placements which create opportunities to publish and build their networks in the UK media industry.
Finally, a recent P&CE response to Covid-19 was CSM loves NHS, which mobilised UAL’s communities and the public to sew non-surgical scrubs to support the NHS and frontline health workers.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
Measures of success are informed by the Greater London Authority’s 2011 ‘London Plan’ which establishes that HEIs: contribute to local place-making; build strong and inclusive communities; and build skills and opportunities. UAL achieves this using creative expertise to empower others through the creation of inclusive opportunities for participation.
The UAL Outreach programme engages with approximately 8,000 young people annually. UAL Insights engages with approximately 400 young people (16-19yrs), many of whom progress to UAL for Foundation Studies or Undergraduate studies.
The Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) engages over 3,000 Camden residents, over 100 council officers from 9 local authorities, and more than 5 schools annually. Engagement occurs through participatory projects, aimed at improving local public services. For example, PCL designed and rolled out 3,000 toolkits to support families living in overcrowded housing and delivered the Home and Community Library Services (H&CLS) - extending social care provision into the community, whilst delivering cost savings for the council. The Camden Plan for 2018-2025 is framed as ‘shared endeavor’ and the collaborative design approach of the PCL has been championed by the Leader of Council and Chief Executive as an exemplary way of working.
MAKE@Story Garden engaged 1326 participants (1062 local residents and 296 students); MAKE posts generate 17K+ Instagram hits; and 9 community organisations have co-delivered activities with MAKE to date. These activities contributed to improving social cohesion and well-being; reducing social isolation by connecting people through collaborative creative activities; increasing employability and entrepreneurship through skills development. Evaluation research is underway, to report in 2021, with the aim of delivering conceptual and methodological innovation
Making for Change: Waltham Forest collaborated with 3 Schools and FE Institutions through 5 programmes, embedding sustainability and future thinking into their curriculum. 3 LCF researchers undertook residencies in fashion design and manufacturing businesses based in Waltham Forest, addressing issues of economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainability. MfC engaged through fashion and making, local residents, businesses and hard to reach communities, developing and retaining creative talent in the Borough.
Talent Works engaged over 170 students in responding to 99 briefs from local charities and social enterprises in the boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth. In March 2019, a survey of beneficiary organisations found that 80% were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’. Typically, a third of students taking part in Talent Works were also ‘first in family’ to go to University.
UAL’s measures of success for project-based P&CE activities are set against specific social justice challenges. For example, Making for Change has supported more than 150 women in prison. Out of these, 69 completed Level 1 or 2 awards and 5 completed Release On Temporary Licence (ROTL) placements at LCF/UAL, left HMP and were employed or set up their own business. An independent evaluation of Making for Change at HMP Downview (2017), undertaken by Bath Spa University through consultation with participants, found that women experience improvements in mental health and wellbeing, social skills and confidence and future aspirations. The project’s success was recognised by the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award (2014) and the Worshipful Company of Educators: Inspirational Educator Award (2018). This initiative was also won the Green Gown Award 2018 – Benefitting Society category (Rethinking Rehabilitation – Connecting Communities Through Craft).
The Makeright Design Academy involved over 100 inmates through 7 iterations of the project in 3 prisons. Over 50 UAL graduate and student volunteers have participated, mentoring UK inmates (and volunteers from other colleges including Goldsmiths, RCA and Sheffield Hallam). Volunteers go on to work in prison and there are plans for 3 prisoners on ROTL to work with the DACRC team for 3 months. The project led to awards including the British Council’s INDIA-UK Excellence Award (2017), Sublime Magazine’s Best Design Initiative (2016) and the European Centre for Creative Economy’s N.I.C.E Award (2017).
Lastly, UAL’s ongoing Refugee Journalism Project, identified by The Big Issue as one of the 100 change-makers in 2019, engaged 63 refugee journalists from 20 countries. In addition to personal and professional development, the project helped challenge assumptions about refugees prevalent within the media. A group of participants were invited to participate in discussions at the House of Commons with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
UAL is commited to civic engagement and our P&CE frameworks are well-established internally. We have a continuous improvement approach to P&CE, managed through ongoing review of our approaches to evaluation and creating opportunities for sharing of best P&CE practice.
UAL’s recent further investment in its Development Department has resulted in a marked increase in philanthropic income for social impact. UAL invests 10% of its annual HEIF funding in P&CE, supporting academics in developing partnerships to secure further income. PCL, for example, secured further funds from EU Horizon 2020 (£7.2m). Talent Works has secured funding from Trust for London for next phase, working with 16 more charities based across Southwark. MFC secured a grant from the Sir John Cass’s Foundation of £200,000 per year for 10 years, which will enable ground-breaking community engagement work. The Refugee Journalism Project secured funding from Open Society's Foundation.
The recently established Social Design Institute, supported by an external donor, will enable UAL to champion socially responsive and sustainable design initiatives with our communities, through diverse disciplinary interactions, evolving methods of evaluation for social and public value impact.
P&CE outcomes are reported to funders, and internal KE committees, as well as through HEIF submissions. Additionally, project outcomes are featured publicly in websites, blogs, academic/non-academic publications and wider press.
For further information, please send queries to a.aldous@arts.ac.uk