Note You are currently viewing a previous version of this narrative statement as published in previous iterations of the KEF (KEF1 and KEF2). View the latest version
Institutional Context
Summary
By 2030, Warwick will be one of the world's exceptional universities, helping to transform our region, country and world for the collective good. We are committed to high quality Knowledge Exchange (KE), driven by our core purposes of Research and Education, and underpinned by our four strategic priorities; Innovation, Inclusion, Internationalisation and Regional Leadership. We are working to remove barriers to innovative and creative activity and to foster an openly innovative culture. Our research increasingly tackles the major economic, environmental and societal problems facing our region, nation and world, and we continue to deepen our engagement with industrial and other partners who share our ambitions and approach to innovation.
Institutional context
Delivery of KE is central to our wider institutional strategy (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/strategy/). We are committed to championing social, cultural, and economic growth, and to being a catalyst and partner for regional, national and international development and sustainability. From our inception we have had close ties with industry, as well and public and third sectors. We engage with partners from the international to the local - the University of Warwick is a global institution, a node in a network of local and global economic, social, cultural and political interactions, firmly anchored in Coventry and Warwickshire – being of the area, not simply located within it - an exemplar of an ‘anchor institution’.
Our staff and students are out and about in the region learning and listening. Warwick Arts Centre (https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/) serves diverse audiences. Our volunteer networks actively help those in need. We take our engagement work out across the region, from community halls and pubs to big festivals and country fairs. The campus welcomes the region and the world to our events. We invest in meaningful public and community engagement, and reward those who do it well.
We have a strong track record of regional KE. For example, WMG (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg) has been delivering innovative research with the automotive sector for over forty years, bringing long-term local productivity gains and benefiting the wider national economy. The building of the National Automotive Innovation Centre with partners Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technical Centre (https://www.tmetc.com/) and WMG on our campus exemplifies our dedication to this area. We continue to engage in further exciting opportunities within our region for consolidated and cross-regional infrastructure investments, including the Catapult Centres (https://catapult.org.uk/) and Energy Research Accelerator (https://www.era.ac.uk/).
In 2016-17 our total economic impact (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/community/regionalpartnerships/warwick_regional_impact/) in the West Midlands was £1 billion, sustaining 9,245 jobs and with student expenditure contributing £194m.
Our research, including the new £3m ESRC-funded Productivity Institute, and our engagement with regional partners, underpins local growth strategies.
Warwick Ventures (https://warwick.ac.uk/services/ventures/) commercialises innovations produced from Warwick's world-leading research. Last year, its portfolio of 30 spinout companies attracted over £27 million in investment. It is a delivery partner for Innovate UK's national ICURe Programme (https://warwick.ac.uk/services/ventures/midlandsicure/), giving experience-based training for early career researchers.
Businesses can access our state-of-art scientific equipment and expertise through Warwick Scientific Services (https://warwick.ac.uk/services/ris/impactinnovation/impact/warwick-scientific-services), with 300 investigations carried out last year. The University of Warwick Science Park (https://www.warwicksciencepark.co.uk/) has 130 tenant companies employing more than 2,900 staff and provides facilities for start-ups and established companies. It also manages the Minerva Business Angel Network (https://minerva.uk.net/), and the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF)/Warwickshire County Council-supported Business Ready Programme (https://www.business-ready.co.uk/).
The key to our KE Strategy is strong and committed leadership at all levels of the University. It is led jointly by the Pro-Vice-Chancellors for Research and Education and the Vice President for Engagement, and governed via a two-way dialogue between them, the University Executive Board and Steering Committee. Finally, the University Council has an important role to play in embedding the delivery of KE across the University, delivering high level and robust scrutiny, insight, direction and support.
For further information, please send queries to KEF@warwick.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
Warwick has clear strategies for the growth and regeneration of our local area. Our focus is in Coventry and Warwickshire, along with the greater West Midlands. We have 3 key strategies for leading the economic, social and cultural growth of our region. We are making it a better place for all to study, work, live, visit, and enjoy - and more sustainable for future generations - through: Thought-leadership, Place-making and Partnerships. We are supporting the local ecosystem by ensuring local growth strategies benefit from Warwick’s expertise, as well as supporting the development of infrastructure and facilities. The difference we make is evidenced in a variety of ways; from policy changes and industry partnerships, through to transformational impact.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Warwick’s Regional Leadership Strategy (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/strategy/regional-leadership/) is one of four strategic priorities underpinning our University Strategy 2030 and covers its approach to local growth and regeneration. Our overall strategic objective is to play a still greater role in leading the economic, social and cultural growth of our region, achieved through:
Thought-leadership – working with partners to produce evidence-based research which shapes regional policy and strategy
Placemaking – combining our activities, leadership and civic responsibilities to contribute to economic and social value. Warwick has a responsibility to play its part in creating a connected innovation ecosystem with the infrastructure, talent and ideas to generate sustained and inclusive growth.
Partnership – working with and through key local organisations to make our region and communities better places to live, work, study and enjoy; leading and convening partners where appropriate. Partnerships provide an assessment mechanism for the delivery of the strategy.
Our geographical focus is on Coventry & Warwickshire (the area represented by our Local Enterprise Partnership, CWLEP) which remains at the core of our identity. In addition, we will contribute to the wider region, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Midlands Engine.
Local growth and regeneration strategies sit at three levels:
WMCA has responsibility for creating and delivering a Local Industrial Strategy, Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) and regional Energy Strategy. The West Midlands Mayor has established a series of Commissions to support aspects of local growth including Skills & Productivity, Mental Health and Leadership.
CWLEP has responsibility for the economic strategy of the sub-region, the delivery of local growth and European Structural funding and business support.
The University sits between three local authorities (Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council and Warwick District Council), with our Wellesbourne campus in Stratford District Council. These authorities have responsibility for regeneration and development.
In recognition of Warwick’s importance to the local economy, our Regional Leadership Strategy supports us in prioritising its regional activities and steering local strategies and delivery plans to areas where Warwick can make the greatest contribution; in particular, where we can lever our international strengths for local benefit.
The strategy is to 2030, aligning with key regional strategies including the Strategic Economic Plan and Local Industrial Strategy.
Aspect 2: Activity
The University’s local growth and regeneration activities are focused on three broad areas:
Ensuring key local strategies benefit from Warwick’s expertise and that the region’s economic direction has a rigorous, evidence-based approach:
Senior Warwick academics (e.g. Profs Driffield (https://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/person/nigel-driffield), Warhurst (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/people/cwarhurst/), Roper (https://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/person/stephen-roper/) have played key roles in establishing sound foundations for the West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/west-midlands-local-industrial-strategy/west-midlands-local-industrial-strategy) including productivity, skills, quality of work and diversity. One foundation for this was the WMCA Skills and Productivity Commission on which Prof Driffield was academic director and deputy chair.
Prof Driffield (https://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/person/nigel-driffield) played a pivotal role in the development of the West Midlands inward investment Strategy (https://www.wmca.org.uk/media/2232/inward-investment-productivity-across-sectors.pdf) with West Midlands Growth Company.
Prof Singh (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/staff/singhs/) was a member of the WMCA Mayor’s Mental Health Commission (https://www.wmca.org.uk/what-we-do/mental-health-commission/), Prof Currie (https://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/person/graeme-currie/) is engaged with the CLAHRC (https://clahrcprojects.co.uk/about) and Prof Meyer (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/people/profile/?wmgid=1110) has worked with WMCA on wellbeing.
Dr Kuzemko (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/people/kuzemko/) was part of the Regional Energy Commission, chaired by Sir David King, which established the regional energy policy.
Warwick continues to engage in key local growth networks including CWLEP Board and working groups, West Midlands Growth Company (of which our VC was a Board Member), Energy Capital, West Midlands Academic Health Science Network and is a Midlands Innovation partner.
Ensuring the region has the infrastructure to enable local growth, place-making and attract inward investment. These facilities support co-location with industry, contract and collaborative research and industry-level testing. Examples include:
The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC - https://www.ukbic.co.uk/) has £126m to establish the national centre for battery manufacturing research and “prove-out”. It was incubated by WMG and spun out as a separate company in 2019, 33% owned by the University, 66% owned by Coventry City Council.
The National Automotive Innovation Centre (£103m including £85m from industry - https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/naic) provides a 33,000m2 environment for co-located and collaborative automotive R&D (CAV and electrification) including an Advanced Propulsion Research Laboratory (additional £14.5m UKRPIF investment) and the Midlands Future Mobility programme (£17.5m).
The Energy Innovation Centre (EIC - https://www.ukeic.com/): completed in 2019 with funding including £20m as part of the Midlands Engine’s Energy Research Accelerator programme. The facilities are unique in Europe with a battery forensics laboratory; battery cell, module and pack testing; prototyping and pilot manufacturing capability.
The Advanced Materials & Manufacturing (AMMC) and Materials Engineering Centre (MEC) buildings (completed 2018) included £1m CWLEP investment to enable local SME support.
The Degree Apprenticeships Centre had a £10m CWLEP contribution to increase capacity for higher level skills development in high-growth, high-value local manufacturing businesses. The building opened in 2019 with initial capacity for 500 students.
Building and supporting a local ecosystem of innovative and high-growth companies through:
Innovation support - Warwick uses a range of mechanisms to support the exchange of technology and ideas with local businesses, including contract research, collaborative R&D programmes, demonstrations and events. In 2018, WMG was allocated £100m from government as part of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult, to continue strengthening UK industry. The HVM Reach Programme has around 40 innovation experts providing SME support.
Warwick runs major local innovation programmes through WMG SME team:
Product Innovation Accelerator (2016 - 2018), assisted regional businesses to develop new products, processes and services and strengthen their innovation culture.
Digital Innovation for Manufacturing (DI4M - https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/business/innovationexperience/digitalsolutions/), has assisted regional companies to grow, develop new products and become more competitive through digital manufacturing since 2018.
The University builds innovation capacity within regional industry; currently engaging in 13 KTPs as well as numerous Doctoral Case Awards.
Enterprise space and growth support - Our Science Park (UWSP - https://www.warwicksciencepark.co.uk/) has space for high-growth companies (currently 130 tenant companies employing more than 2,900 staff) and dedicated support addressing the most common barriers to growth: access to Finance, Skills and Markets. UWSP delivers Business Ready (https://www.business-ready.co.uk/), a c£1m ESIF-funded programme (with 25% University contribution) and operates the largest syndicate-based business angel investment activity in the UK (Minerva Business Angels - https://minerva.uk.net/). Warwick’s Wellesbourne Campus is developing into an innovation hub with high growth businesses connecting to R&D.
Commercialisation of Warwick research - Warwick Ventures (https://warwick.ac.uk/services/ventures/) commercialises innovations from University research. It has two programmes supporting local growth:
Midlands Innovation Commercialisation of Research Accelerator (MICRA) was launched in 2018 to create a start-up ecosystem across the eight Midlands Innovation universities.
Warwick delivers the Innovate UK-funded Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) programme across the Midlands, using development programmes for early-career researchers to undertake knowledge exchange. ICURe was published as an exemplar in the Innovate UK delivery plan.
Apprenticeships, internships, training and CPD – Warwick is addressing chronic skills shortages in local industry, including through bespoke/customised programmes for business and cross-sectoral short courses and masterclasses (eg Battery School) to address skills gaps.
Funding from local sources (e.g. CWLEP) and industry demonstrates the close working relationships around regional growth priorities, the importance of place-making and the delivery reputation of the University.
Aspect 3: Results
The University has made a significant impact on local growth through:
Policy influence:
Warwick’s expertise has greatly influenced local economic policy, including the West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/west-midlands-local-industrial-strategy/west-midlands-local-industrial-strategy) which was agreed with government in 2019 (the first in the country) and dedicated to the life and achievements of Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, founder of WMG.
Prof Meyer was a key part of the WMCA/Midlands Engine Thrive at Home (https://mhpp.me/thrive-at-home/homeworkers/) programme which provided wellbeing information to 400 organisations (nearly 235,000 employees) across the Midlands.
Warwick Medical School led reform of youth mental health services (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/impact/mentalhealth/): launching the first service in Birmingham for 0-25 year olds. Following its success, services have been replicated in 10 cities, benefiting a population of over 8 million.
Warwick is now committed to putting local strategies into delivery with industry and public sector partners; exemplified by its role in UKBIC, which will accelerate the UK capability for battery manufacture and where a team of 60 is already in place.
Industry partnerships:
Investment in Warwick’s facilities has enabled co-location of strategic partners (e.g. Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors, Bosch) facilitating collaborative R&D in regional priority areas. For example, the EIC facility has attracted Innovate UK funded collaborative R&D projects totalling around £100m with regional partners including JLR, JCB, Aston Martin, Potenza, etc.
Lotus Engineering is establishing an Advanced Engineering Centre on Wellesbourne campus, initially with 130 engineers.
Truly deep relationships have been created: for example, WMG is lead partner in delivering JLR’s Technical Accreditation Scheme – a key element of JLR’s Academy for Lifelong Learning and Development – delivering training modules as well as sponsored engineering doctorate and PhD programmes.
Business and innovation programmes:
Warwick’s innovation and growth programmes have had huge regional impact:
HVM programme (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/hvmcatapult/): 789 SME interventions, 5 start-ups and £55m value added to the West Midlands Economy.
Product Innovation Accelerator (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/business/accelerator/): supported 107 local companies, 41 new collaborative partnerships and 46 new products. Independent assessment1 showed the £1.1m project delivered a net £12m GVA increase.
DI4M programme (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/business/innovationexperience/digitalsolutions/): 86 companies assisted, 45 R&D collaborations, 61 new products/processes created, and led to 5 KTP projects.
Advanced Steels Programme (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/materials/steels/): 39 companies introduced new products, safeguarding 76 jobs.
UWSP’s latest 3 year figures show business support to 1,171 businesses, 47 workshops delivered, 240 start-ups supported and 28 companies incubated. 218 jobs have been created.
Transformational impact:
Transformation outcomes from these programmes include:
Pashley cycles. Prototyping a new, light-weight bike led to a TfL contract securing the jobs of the 52-strong workforce in Stratford-Upon-Avon, with plans to recruit an additional 15 staff and to fully re-shore bicycle manufacture. Impact to date is estimated to be £3.5m.
Delta Waste Management. Material specialists supported the company in eliminating over 30,000 tonnes of plastic from landfill.
Barkley Plastics. WMG helped the company diversify from being 100% reliant on the automotive market, helping them launch a range of products generating £1m per annum revenue in new markets.
Start-ups:
The ICURe process has resulted in 14 spin-out companies which have attracted £8.6m funding (£3.7m from private investment). Since 2017, Warwick has created 23 spinouts and 55 licenses, including:
Sarissa Biomedical (novel device for early diagnosis of stroke) now employs 15 on UWSP, has trials of its devices nationally, regionally (University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust), and internationally.
NanoSyrinx (entirely novel approach to delivering protein drug molecules into cells which promises major impacts in oncology and immune therapy) has secured 3 new highly skilled, high value jobs on UWSP.
Medherent (transdermal drug delivery technology) have just signed a licensing and partnership agreement with a pharma company and employ 20 people. New investment funding in 2019 was £2.4m.
Talent and training:
At any time, Warwick is delivering around 1,000 apprenticeships, mainly with local engineering companies, and around 900 individuals are on training programmes for companies including JLR, Rolls-Royce, Syngenta, Network Rail, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline etc.
The WMG Internship Programme connects 40 interns to companies each year, helping them access University resources, supplies, and expertise for the first time. An 8-week internship with Bellagio Stone (Warwick) delivered annual cost savings of over £25,000 with further work saving an estimated £1m.
WMG Academy Trust has operated academies in Coventry and Solihull since 2017, encouraging STEM and offering invaluable opportunities with business. 100% of students attending WMG Academy go straight on to university, advanced apprenticeships or work.
Feedback and response:
The University responds to direct feedback (e.g. workshop feedback forms; evaluation of the support received) and independent evaluation of programmes.
The outcomes and impact of local growth activities are communicated through our marketing and communication activities, events and publications including case studies.
A critical aspect of the University’s local growth strategy is to continue to build on its business relationships and ongoing relationship with key economic development and funding partners. This allows new innovation and business support programmes to be built on the success of past activities and to directly target business needs.
For further information, please send queries to Kerry.Kirwan@warwick.ac.uk
Report available on request.↩︎
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Warwick’s staff and students are active throughout the region learning and listening to our communities. Warwick Arts Centre serves diverse audiences old and new on the back of major investment. Our volunteers actively help those in need. We take our engagement work to community halls and pubs as well as big festivals and national events. The campus welcomes the region and the world to our events. We motivate and reward the people who give their time and energy to communicating our knowledge. Engagement runs across our strategies and throughout our governance. This autumn we shall launch the Warwick Institute of Engagement to bring together professional expertise and academic rigour to make Warwick a national leader in engagement.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Warwick’s PE/CE strategy is guided by the University’s 2030 vision (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/strategy) to be one of the world's exceptional universities, helping to transform our region, country and world for the collective good. Engagement is core to this. We are an anchor institution for our region and align engagement to the needs of partners and communities – including playing a significant role in writing Coventry’s 10 year cultural strategy (http://covculture.com/) and Coventry’s successful bid for City of Culture 2021 (https://coventry2021.co.uk/).
We aim to:
Play a pivotal role in place-making - connecting and building inclusive, sustainable partnerships with local communities and stakeholders
Meaningfully engage the public in our research agenda
Engage with all communities
Create a welcoming and inclusive campus environment
Contribute to an enriched staff and student experience of engagement
Inspire and raise skills and aspirations in formal and informal learning environments
Pioneer an evidence-based approach to define the value of engagement
Develop recognised standards of excellence in engagement and support our staff and students to deliver it
Academic leadership for PE with Research is provided by the PVC (Research) whose portfolio includes research and impact (RI), and the VP (Engagement) whose portfolio includes wider public and civic engagement. The PE Steering Group (PESG) provides coordination, with members from across the institution under the chair of the VP, who reports on PE and CE through University Executive Board and thence to University Council.
Under a senior administrative lead, the PE, CE, and RI teams work with academic departments, outreach, student societies, Warwick Volunteers and the regional and international teams. CE has built strong relationships with all key public, private and third sector stakeholders as well as deep relationships in our focus communities.
A new Warwick Institute of Engagement will launch autumn 2020, co-led by Academic and Professional Services Directors to deliver the next level of co-ordination across the university to pioneer evidence-based engagement models in relation to place-making and levelling up.
Aspect 2: Support
Public Engagement Training/Best Practice sharing is facilitated by the PE and RI teams. A mixture of standard and bespoke training sessions (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/publicengagement/support/training/past) are delivered across the year, covering topics such as an introduction to PE, evaluation advice, and engaging with WP audiences.
Staff and students are able to join our PE Network to receive updates and opportunities regularly, and attend an annual conference to share best practice across disciplines.
Funding for PE activities is drawn from a variety of sources including departmental, research grant, HEIF, UKRI and other sources. The University is in receipt of Impact Acceleration Accounts from ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC and STF, and a Wellcome Trust award.
The University additionally provides a PE seed fund, and a Warwick Impact Fund, with funding drawn from its HEIF allocation.
Community Engagement
The CE team leads strategic community programmes and works across the university to align with local needs. It is the first call for the public to contact the university. It works closely with the Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL - https://warwick.ac.uk/study/cll/) to build best practice.
Warwick Volunteers (WV - https://warwick.ac.uk/about/community/volunteers) provides students with the skills to create, lead and develop community support programmes. Staff advise, train, and help manage risk, safeguarding, health & safety and help students protect reputation across all the partners in their endeavours.
Reward and Recognition
Impact, outreach and engagement are included as promotions criteria at academic career levels from FA6 to FA9 with an increasing minimum requirement for more senior grades.
The formal annual Personal Development Review which applies to academic staff includes a section on Impact, Outreach and Engagement.
The Warwick annual Staff Awards (https://warwick.ac.uk/insite/uni_awards) include an award for Public and Community Engagement.
Aspect 3: Activity
Portfolio of PE activities
We engage with around 25,000 people every year through a portfolio of centrally supported events aligned to our strategy. In the last 3 years these have included a regular ‘Science on the Hill’ (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/publicengagement/events/scienceonthehill/pastevents) event series, on-campus Family Days, contributions to major national events, including Cheltenham Festivals and Tate Exchange, Royal Society Summer Showcase, and Pint of Science (https://pintofscience.co.uk/). We contribute annually to the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences – with more than 500 participants in 2019 across 10 events.
In 2019 Warwick hosted the British Science Festival for Coventry, and will build on the legacy with support from local and national stakeholders (including BSA and NCCPE) as we move forward with our ambitious plans for a new Warwick Institute for Engagement.
City of Culture
Collaboratively with Coventry University we have run 3 annual funding calls (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/get-involved/projects/) for city-based cultural-arts, public and third sector organisations. These allow communities to discuss and address their own needs, working with our academics to drive the direction of research. The VP (Engagement) sits on CoC’s governing board responsible for all aspects of its strategy.
Canley Planning for Real
Canley borders the University campus and is an under-served neighbourhood with high levels of deprivation. We aim to build community capacity, resilience and pride; working with residents and city-wide stakeholders to deliver long term transformational impact.
CLL ran a free Community Leadership course to encourage establishment of the Canley community plan using a professional community consultation approach (Planning for Real - http://www.planningforreal.org.uk/), run in genuine partnership with local people. We worked with 700+ people and received 1,500 suggestions on community issues and priorities across 8 themes, in partnership with Coventry City Council, CoC Trust, West Midlands Police, Transport for West Midlands, elected members, Citizen Housing and Positive Youth Foundation. We are now developing an action plan to deliver community resilience and empowerment, playing a convening role with a network of partners including Assemble (https://assemblestudio.co.uk/) to plan the development of community assets.
Public and Patient Involvement at Warwick Medical School
Working through our PPI Lead with Research Involvement and Engagement (BMC Springer Nature) we are strengthening the public voice in publishing and normalising public engagement with research. We are collaborating with multiple national organisations to shape public and professional dialogue on genetics and screening. Integral to the vision of Tommy’s National Miscarriage Research Centre (Warwick, Birmingham, Imperial College), patient-centred research has raised public awareness of Recurrent Pregnancy Loss leading to the continuous education of healthcare professionals. Our ‘Yoga for Bump’ initiative engaged women from two diverse communities in Birmingham in maternity-related research with sessions with researchers linked to free yoga sessions.
Warwick Volunteers
A different type of impact comes through WV. Examples of their support include night shelters for the homeless, and a conversation club teaching English to refugees and asylum seekers.
Response to COVID-19
Our Director for Regional Strategy sat on the Major Incident Community Leadership Team convened by Coventry City Council and we asked people directly to let us know what support they needed. Students and staff have been actively encouraged to volunteer and we are providing regular volunteer, vehicle and equipment capacity (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/community/newsandevents/news/spotlight_on_food) to Canley’s newly established food hub, supporting vulnerable residents. We have also been sending community e-newsletters (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/community/newsandevents/communitynewsletter/emailarchive/) with useful resources and relevant expert commentary.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
KPI’s are set for each PE with research event/activity; including reach, audience diversity, measures of engagement experience and awareness, and subject understanding. We engage more than 25,000 people every year and their feedback is used to inform future activities.
British Science Festival
Warwick hosted BSF in 2019. The focus was to build awareness, understanding of, and interest in Science/ research with diverse audiences. The programme included 128 events over 4 days (88% on campus) featuring 221 speakers (35% from Warwick).
As detailed in the BSF evaluation report (https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=029adcfa-2171-497e-8bc0-d364a244a28e) we saw 16,910 visits over the week, with a broad mix of visitors attending from a variety of economic, social and racial backgrounds with varying existing interest in science. Over 92% of audiences rated events as excellent or good.
Warwick Family Days
Our largest Family Day was held at the end of the BSF to celebrate science with local families. The programme included almost 100 activities across the campus, including 45 run by Warwick staff/ students. Approx. 8,000 people attended, half with no connection to Warwick, and 70% had not previously attended a Family Day. 97% found the event to be good or very good and 97% would attend again.
Warwick Arts Centre Creative Learning Activities
WAC’s Creative Learning Activities (https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/creative-learning/) engaged with 18,040 school aged children during 2018-19 and 5,727 so far in 2019-20. Many larger events were cancelled due to COVID-19 but their Young Producers RECLAIMED Festival (https://chinaplatetheatre.com/young-producers-reclaimed-fest) was hosted online which had 3,000 views.
City of Culture
Warwick’s leadership of Monitoring and Evaluation for Coventry 2021 has delivered an evidence informed and impact driven framework. City of Culture 2021 will be measured on the societal change it delivers through a Theory of Change model (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/get-involved/monitoring/).
Warwick academics from 18 departments have engaged with over 56 local organisations in Coventry. We have built sustainable partnerships and submitted joint applications for large external grants, such as SiPF, which will drive long term impact within communities.
Many of these projects have already delivered tangible outcomes (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/get-involved/projects/) including the creation and development of; new community spaces and enterprises, new networks, specialised educational resources, and a number of events, art/photo exhibitions, and performances. Several projects will be included in the Coventry CoC 2021 programme and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022.
Canley Planning for Real – Community Leader Testimonies
“The planning for real events have been a great success. They’ve managed to get everyone in Canley together to discuss the good and the bad things in Canley. With all the different cultures in this area it has made us realise that our main aim is mostly the same. It is great to see local people and the University working together.” Manager, Canley Community Centre
“As a long-term resident of Canley over the last few years I have seen a marked improvement in communication between the community and the University. Getting to know individuals in the community engagement team enables us to talk to them about any problems or ideas that they can help with. It’s important that we work together as equals and recognise the different contributions we can each make.” Chair, Canley Stakeholders
Warwick Volunteers
Over the last 3 years 2,800 WV students volunteered 35,473 hours within local communities. These hours would account for a £320,000 investment in the local area on Living Wage Foundation values.
Feedback is sought annually from community partners on the performance of each project, in turn feeding into the decision-making process for project maintenance.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
Annual updates are provided on our PE and CE strategy internally and reviewed against our institutional strategy. PE and CE updates are reported within key institutional strategic priorities such as Regional, Research and Widening Participation Strategies. Updates on strategic programmes are shared with the University’s lead academic body and governing body with feedback for improvement.
City of Culture
The CoC Theory of Change and Monitoring and Evaluation framework is continuously reviewed by the Cultural Partnerships Programme Board chaired by the VP (Engagement).
Local organisations/ communities are co-producers and active participants in research projects. Many projects have culminated with public workshops and exhibitions to disseminate research findings and celebrate partnership achievements. Project leads submit end of work reports which are reviewed by the Research Development Team, with a focus on the integration of project leads with local communities and participants. A brochure of projects (https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/) is distributed to partners across the region.
Warwick Volunteers
The ongoing strategy development is vested in the steering group for WV which comprises of: senior leaders in the University, community representatives and notable individuals in the local volunteering world to ensure alignment with University strategies and local needs and goals.
Better Engagement and Evaluation
The establishment of the Warwick Institute of Engagement by the University Executive Board is intended as the next stage in creating a joint academic/professional services-led vehicle to coordinate, showcase and develop all aspects of Warwick’s engagement with wider society. This will enhance our ability to focus institutional efforts and resources and deliver our strategy with a stronger evidence-informed approach and evaluation of impact.
For further information, please send queries to Kerry.Kirwan@warwick.ac.uk