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Institutional Context
Summary
UWE Bristol is a future-focused, engaged university, locally embedded and with global reach. We work with communities and business to shape and drive future prosperity across all parts of our region and beyond, creating opportunities for all.
Our students, relevance and impact are at the heart of everything we do. Our priority is to deliver an outstanding university experience for our students through innovative, practice-led, research-informed courses.
Our extensive network of stakeholders and partners – across high-growth companies, multi-nationals, public service providers, third-sector bodies and local communities – offers our students and staff unique opportunities to help shape the future. Engaging in a wide variety of Knowledge Exchange activities provides valuable experiences and delivers impact for our staff, students and external stakeholders.
Institutional context
UWE Bristol is a post-92 university with over 29,000 students and 1,660 academic staff, with multiple campus locations across the Bristol city-region and historic roots which are embedded within the region’s communities and city networks.
Our ambition is to address future challenges through outstanding learning, research with impact and a culture of enterprise (Strategy 2030: Transforming Futures). Impactful, internationally excellent, challenge-based research is a defining characteristic of our overall mission alongside outstanding learning, community and business engagement, and enterprise.
UWE Bristol engages in a wide variety of Knowledge Exchange activity that directly and indirectly benefits the West of England’s prosperity. We are a large, diverse university, contributing over £400m to the West of England economy - equivalent to 1.3% of the region’s economic output. Every year more than 50% of our graduates remain in the region to work.
We work in partnership with the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership - UWE Bristol’s Vice Chancellor is the current Chair – and the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), to identify the skills, business, cultural and societal needs of the region. Our activity focuses on strategically important sectors such as aerospace and high-value manufacturing; an internationally-significant high-growth cluster of digital and creative industries; next-generation, tech-enabled financial, legal and business services; health; education; and cultural provision.
This rich ecosystem provides the University with wide-ranging opportunities for collaborative research and knowledge exchange with major businesses and SMEs, NHS partners and community organisations.
Working in collaboration with WECA and stakeholders UWE Bristol supports, and has a focus on, ensuring all parts of our region have equal opportunities for access to higher education and economic support. UWE Bristol leads on collaborative projects across the city providing outreach opportunities to hard to reach communities; and funds innovative growth businesses in need of support.
There is a strong regional focus to much of our collaboration and engagement – our 2030 strategy describes UWE Bristol as in, of and for the West of England. Beyond this, we have high levels of engagement both across the wider Southwest of England and nationally – and our research partnerships stretch across the globe.
Over the past 3 years, UWE Bristol has worked with over 3000 SMEs and created over 900 jobs in the region. One of the UK’s four original University Enterprise Zones is located on our Frenchay Campus. It is home to over 80 fast-growing high-tech businesses and hosts hundreds of visiting professionals throughout the year, attracting tens of investors during the annual investment showcase event.
UWE Bristol is proud to be at the heart of the region’s response and support to the Coronavirus pandemic. The region’s NHS Nightingale hospital is located on our Frenchay Campus, providing 300 additional intensive care beds for critically ill patients.
The University has always been a vital part of the local and regional economic ecosystem and through our many knowledge exchange activities and initiatives delivered by staff and students we continue to provide a crucial role to the continued success of the business and communities we serve.
For further information, please send queries to Tracey2.john@uwe.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
UWE Bristol actively engages in a wide variety of Knowledge Exchange activity that benefits the region's growth and regeneration. We are a large, diverse university with 3,500 staff and 29,000 students, contributing £400m+ to the region’s economy.
We directly support innovative start-ups and growing businesses - including digital, sustainable and creative industries - to promote innovation, jobs and opportunity. Our wide range of innovation services means we’ are well placed to deliver activity that gives organisations a competitive advantage, boosts productivity and creates jobs.
We are an engaged university, locally embedded and with global reach, working with communities and business to shape and drive future prosperity across all parts of our region and beyond, and to create opportunities for all.
Aspect 1: Strategy
UWE Bristol actively engages in a wide variety of Knowledge Exchange (KE) activity that directly and indirectly benefits the West of England’s growth and regeneration. We are a large, diverse university with over 3,500 staff and 29,000 students, contributing over £400m to the West of England economy - equivalent to 1.3% of the region’s economic output1. Every year more than 50% of our graduates remain in the region to work.
We work in partnership with our Local Enterprise Partnership – and the West of England Combined Authority – to identify the growth and regeneration needs of the region, focusing our activity on strategically important sectors such as Advanced Engineering and the Creative Industries, as well as key cross-sector challenges including skills, productivity and inclusivity.
There is a strong regional focus to much of our collaboration and engagement – our emerging 2030 strategy – UWE Bristol Strategy 2030: Transforming Futures - describing UWE Bristol as ‘in, of and for the West England’. Beyond this, we have high levels of engagement both across the wider Southwest of England and nationally – and our research partnerships stretch across the globe.
As set out in UWE Bristol’s 2020 Strategy, one of our four Strategic Priorities is to develop partnerships, connections and networks that differentiate our academic activity and enhance the global reputation, health, sustainability and prosperity of the University, Bristol and our wider region.
As the largest University in the South West, we ensure that our students have consistent and practical interactions with industry to facilitate a successful transition into the workplace. With one of the largest paid internship programmes in the UK, we arrange over 9,200 industry placements annually. Our Pro Bono Unit enables our Law and Business students to provide free legal and business advisory services to businesses and organisations in our community.
UWE Bristol is the largest quality professional development and training provider with the broadest course offering in the region. Our courses are designed for the real world, with tangible business benefits in mind from day one, and underpinned by academic excellence and the latest research. Through our long-standing experience of supporting businesses in the region, we have become a key provider of degree apprenticeships in the South West (1300+ learners over 15 courses from 200+ organisations).
Aspect 2: Activity
The University is host to one of the UK’s four original University Enterprise Zones (UEZ), located on our main Frenchay campus and focusing on high-tech businesses. UEZ is a thriving enterprise centre for the region providing space, business support, and incubation for 80+ growing resident businesses as well as 100’s of visiting businesses from across the region and beyond. UEZ includes:
Future Space - a commercial innovation hub for growing high-tech businesses. Future Space supports the growth of its clients through a dedicated Innovation Support Team. To stimulate research and KE activity between UEZ companies and UWE academics, R&D Vouchers and funded internships with UWE undergraduates are offered.
Launch Space - a graduate incubator for the region’s entrepreneurial graduate start-ups
Robotics Hardware Incubator - a dedicated start-up incubator linked with Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) which provides porous interaction between growing businesses and robotics research.
Health Technology Hub (HTH) - a regional initiative providing space and labs for businesses to advance their developing health technologies. The HTH offers companies tailored support for product development and prototype testing, including access to state-of-the-art technology and specialist support from UWE Bristol academics.
BRL Robotics Innovation Facility (RIF) – support for SMEs in the region to explore the benefits and use of robots and automation for improved efficiencies and productivity in their products and services.
The University has designed, developed and delivered a number of targeted programmes to support the growth of the region’s strategic priority sectors outlined by the West of England Combined Authority. These have secured £11,000,000 for the region, leveraged over £10,000,000 of private investment and the university has invested over £3,000,000 in these programmes.
Innovation 4 Growth - R&D funding to support growing businesses across all sectors but predominately tech led.
Health Technology Hub - business support providing R&D collaborations for health tech products and services to be developed and launched.
Regional Arts Incubation Network - delivered in partnership with the region’s Creative Arts sector to support entrepreneurs.
Scale up 4 Growth – grant funding and business growth workshops, delivered in partnership with NatWest and Foot Anstey LLP, to support the West of England’s high growth businesses.
In April 2020, UWE launched its Digital Innovation Fund – offering £1m in grants and online Innovation & Bid writing workshops for SMEs in the West of England that want to innovate and address new challenges arising from Covid-19. In a time of unprecedented change, the University is proud of the role it plays in helping the region’s SMEs respond to the pandemic and financial crisis and will be launching similar programmes in Gloucestershire and Swindon & Wiltshire, later this year.
Our City Campus is hard wired into the creative and cultural fabric of the city-region with shared space, including Arnolfini and Watershed, and co-designed and co-delivered courses with the BBC’s Natural History Unit. Driving to improve the performance of the Creative Industries in the region, we have led on the £6.5m South West Creative Technology Network offering funded programmes to SMEs and creative entrepreneurs on immersion, automation and data, and the £10m Bristol and Bath Creative Industries cluster. The Cluster aims to build and strengthen the Creative Technologies sector across the region, and is very much aligned to the national and local industrial strategies. It also hosts Creative Workforce for the Future, a £600,000 programme funded by the West of England LEP, that offers a flexible and bespoke programme of professional development for companies and paid placements for young people, aiming to make the creative industries as representative as the society in which we live.
Throughout the reporting period, UWE Bristol has continued to actively engage with the region’s SMEs and communities in support of local growth and regeneration through R&D, professional development and skills initiatives. Whilst not an exhaustive list of activity, targeted interventions include
Grants 4 Growth – small R&D grants to help fund university-business collaborations
City Leadership Programme – senior city leaders addressing Bristol’s big challenges
Non- exec director posts, governors and chairs of Schools & FE academies
Development and hosting of the West of England Robotics Network
Aspect 3: Results
As a university, we have won praise from the UK’s City Growth Commission for fuelling economic growth by pioneering progressive practices. In particular, the Commission highlighted the way we encourage entrepreneurialism among our students and how we work with employers to embed job-ready skills and internships into our curricula.
UWE produces 7,000 graduates every year, over half of whom are recruited by local businesses, schools and the NHS. This includes almost 1,000 health professionals, directly supporting the region’s health and wellbeing. Our students contribute to the regeneration and growth of the region through 30,000 hours of volunteering into local organisations.
Over the past 3 years, UWE Bristol has channelled more than 100 research and innovation grants - worth £7m and attracting £8m in private sector investment - to fast-growth businesses through our Innovation 4 Growth Programme and other targeted initiatives. This has secured nearly 1,000 new jobs in the region. The success of this activity is communicated across the local innovation ecosystem and feeds into the design and delivery of our portfolio of future business support programmes included our new Digital Innovation Fund.
At an event for Scale Up 4 Growth businesses in late 2019, companies directly commented on the impact of the funding and workshops on their businesses and the region:
“the funding will allow us to set up our own manufacturing in Bristol and grow our team and own the product range”.
“It will allow us to deliver work we were previously subcontracting”.
“It was great to feel UWE were on our side and part of the team now”.
The UEZ facility provides high quality space for 80+ high tech start-up and scaling businesses, employing in excess of 300 people, with access to a robust and vibrant investment community. It is on target to generate 500 jobs, and more than £50m for the local economy. These businesses are supported through targeted innovation support and growth advice. The Robotics and Automation facility RIF, has generated more than £22m for the regional economy and created more than 75 new jobs, since 2013. Graduate Incubator, Launch Space, has supported 90 entrepreneurial graduates from across the region. With full time incubation support, these developing businesses are linked into the region’s vibrant incubation support network and are showcased and pitch to business leaders and investors regularly.
Through the many generic and targeted KE activities UWE meaningfully develops, supports and invests in the growth of over 250 SME’s annually, with a direct focus on the LEP priorities, particularly high-tech and creative sector organisations.
The clear focus on the region’s growth and regeneration is driven from the top at UWE, with our Vice Chancellor, Prof Steve West, chairing the Local Enterprise Partnership, which plays a critical role in maintaining the region’s status as the most economically productive and successful region outside of London.
For further information, please send queries to Tracey2.john@uwe.ac.uk
The Economic Impact of the West of England, Oxford Economics, 2017↩︎
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
UWE Bristol engages in a wide variety of Public and Community Engagement that directly benefits the West of England’s communities, people, governance structures and businesses.
UWE Bristol has a formidable record of engagement, exchange and partnership that spans the widest range of activities with over 1,000 external collaborators, partners and stakeholders. We work closely with community and third sector organisations professions, business, local government, health and welfare services to ensure our teaching, research and wider engagement have direct relevance to wide-ranging communities.
The principal elements of our public and community engagement are focused around engagement with and through teaching activities; knowledge exchange with the public and local government; public research dissemination and engagement; patients; access to facilities; and social responsibility.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Our Public Engagement and Community Strategy is one of four core values included in UWE Bristol’s Strategy 2020 which seeks to deliver active and connected community and public engagement … with diverse communities of practice, public organisations both in the city region and more broadly across the UK.
Underpinning this, Community and Public Engagement is embedded within our 2020 Research and Enterprise Strategy which includes the following objectives:
To achieve outstanding and far-reaching research impacts on business, government, the NHS and other stakeholders, communities and society.
To drive business and public engagement, innovation and enterprise support, and the role of UWE as an ‘anchor institution’ in the city-region and beyond.
We work in partnership with our regional partners to identify the needs of our communities and prioritise our Public and Community Engagement activity. This includes the Local Enterprise Partnership; the West of England Combined Authority; Bristol Health Partners; The Watershed and Arnolfini (Arts Centres); Metro Mayor’s Office; as well as many smaller but significant community and faith groups. Our activity is focused on a joined-up cross-regional approach, ensuring reach into all communities with an ethos of inclusion and equality.
UWE Bristol facilitates engagement with public and regional community groups through a variety of ways, for example:
employing staff focussed on delivering outreach activity to schools and colleges
providing access to a dedicated volunteering service for all students and staff
allowing staff time for supporting local community groups and Board of Governors work
using HEIF to fund roles which include the support and implementation of the research community in local and regional festivals, e.g. the Festival of Nature in Bristol
ensuring senior staff members are active on Boards of Community
encouraging all staff to engage with our local communities to enhance teaching and the student experience.
UWE Bristol has developed recognised programmes to support this strategic priority ensuring the outputs are relevant and meaningful for the communities the University engages with.
Aspect 2: Support
The principal elements of UWE Bristol’s Public and Community Engagement are focused around engagement with and through teaching activities; knowledge exchange with the public and local government; public research dissemination and engagement; patients; access to facilities; and social responsibility. From the outset, public engagement activity has been supported in two key ways:
Direct support: including student volunteers, student placements/internships, reading-buddies and mentoring in schools, press and communications, funding for activities and academics time, access to free venues, and projects supported as part of the curricular.
Indirect support: where public engagement is relevant in research grant applications, or is promoted when discussing the work of the University with business, for example.
Each year over 1200 students deliver 30,000+ hours of volunteering which they receive regular praise for and also use to support their CV.
students worked collaboratively on projects to address briefs set by local charities Caring in Bristol, 1625 Independent People, and Enactus, supported by staff acting as team coaches
a Library Services Writer in Residence who produced a series of new creative pieces to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness in Bristol
the embedding of learning around homelessness into the curriculum
fundraising initiatives like Charity of the Year, craft and bake sales, donation of food, toiletry and clothing items and a Sleep Out organised by the University’s Students’ Union.
UWE Bristol’s website provides an easy and comprehensive explanation and link to Community Engagement, with regular press releases showcasing and highlighting its support and impact with and for the local community.
Our academics are encouraged and supported to undertake public engagement activities. For example, the Festival of Nature - the UK’s largest annual celebration of the natural world - itself receives funding from UWE Bristol, and provides academic staff and students with the opportunity to develop potential engagement projects based on their research, as well as training in public engagement. With the support of specialist public engagement officers, academics are able to translate their research into a hands-on family friendly public engagement activity. Over 30,000 people visit the Festival of Nature over two days every year.
Aspect 3: Activity
UWE Bristol is proud of the many programmes and engaged activities that have been developed by our staff and students in all areas of our work, within teaching and research, and across all forms of external engagement to ensure we remain true to our core values and behaviours.
More recently an NHS test centre has been opened on the Frenchay Campus at UWE Bristol. This mobile test unit provides drive in Coronavirus test facility to the local community and walk in tests to our Students.
Other examples of our public engagement include:
Future Quest - providing the skills essential to helping 13-18-year olds across Bristol into Higher Education. This has been digitally repurposed in response to the current pandemic.
Our strong focus on recruitment from Low Participation Neighbourhoods, which account for 15% of all recruitment (645 students per year) to UWE Bristol promoting HE access for all
Student pro-bono Business Advice Clinics in Law, Business and Physiotherapy, offering bespoke advice to individuals and organisations
UWE Volunteering in schools – UWE Bristol is situated across four Local Authorities with a broad mix of social, cultural and economic diversity. We are regularly approached for support both with curricular and more broadly, and this is channelled through four schemes: Reading Buddy, Forest School Volunteer, One-to-one Tutor and English as an Additional Language Tutor.
Our academics are drawn on by Bristol City Council, the West of England Combined Authority and a wide range of community organisations to provide input and direction into the region’s policies, product developments, and social innovation.
Through the dissemination of UWE Bristol’s research contribution to policy development in local and national government, public services, social enterprises our academics are given time away from their daily teaching and/or research time to engage with such institutions, as well as funding to do so.
UWE Bristol’s ‘Pee Power’ urinals operated at all the Glastonbury festivals between 2015 and 2019, eventually accommodating up to 5000 users per day in 2019 . The Glastonbury Pee Power urinals, which generate electricity from urine via microbial fuel cells developed by UWE researchers, have been recognized by Glastonbury management as helping them achieve their sustainability goals, and raising awareness of issues surrounding access to electricity and sanitation in the Global South. UWE Bristol has also helped students to participate in the ‘Worthy Warriors’ sustainability initiative run by Glastonbury Festivals.
UWE Bristol researchers contributing to the citizens’ advocacy Clair City Project have supported public engagement on air quality management issues. This included over 8,000 citizens engaged through the Clair City Skylines game.
UWE Bristol research into the benefits of 20mph speed limits supported one of the highest ever levels of response to a public consultation in Bristol in 2018.
Our research into the effects of ionizing radiation has been communicated to the public through events such as the Manchester Science Festival, a BBC Science Focus podcast, and the Bristol Festival of Nature.
UWE Bristol and our staff also offer support to external organisations or individuals where it has the ability or resource to do so by:
Chairing and sponsorship of multi-academy trusts (22 academies and schools with over 10,000 local students).
Providing over 60+ school governors and multiple trustees of local charities.
Offering UWE Bristol’s physical infrastructure as a public resource through access to our campus buildings and infrastructure bringing the public and communities to into the University.
Promoting and enabling community access to University sports facilities including the recently completed Stoke Park facility.
The Bristol Distinguished Address Series (BDAS), which provides a unique opportunity for business and the community to hear about challenges and decisions being made at the highest level of strategic leadership by high-profile executives from across the country.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
The breadth and depth of Community and Public engagement at UWE Bristol pervades throughout all aspects of our university activity. Each activity’s impact and benefit is ultimately accessed through regular interactions with our partners and stakeholders, and through the performance of the University and the region’s economic, cultural and societal success. Future impact is measured against the objectives of the University’s Access and Participation Plan, Widening Participation targets and our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
As externally funded work, much of the SCU’s work is measured through the University’s HEBCIS metrics. These and other methods of evaluation, such as data from the Research Excellence Framework (REF), projects outputs and staff time data, all feed into the University’s overarching metrics. This is measured both through quantitative and qualitative measures,
Examples of research projects that have evaluated public engagement include:
Sustainable Palm Oil exhibit at Eden project - UWE Bristol researchers developed an exhibit on sustainable palm oil at the Eden Project in Cornwall. They used the exhibit to disseminate their research findings directly to the public, and via online resources, magazine articles, press releases, public lectures, and Friends of Eden talks.
Citizen engagement in air pollution and carbon management - UWE Bristol led research across six European cities, providing new communication strategies for enhanced public engagement by linking citizens’ daily behaviors and practices, such as commuting to work, leisure & shopping activities, with air pollution. This research has provided new platforms to engage citizens, such as the Skylines Game which has >8,000 unique participants. It has also crowd-sourced data that clarifies public perception and acceptability of specific policies that encourages greater ambition among policy-makers.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
The development of the UWE 2030 Strategy took a year or more to form, during which multiple engagement and consultation meetings happened with our significant stakeholders. These took the form of senior meetings with city leaders and many consultation forums with community groups, as well as direction, leadership and input from the LEP, mayor, and local council leaders.
For further information, please send queries to Tracey2.john@uwe.ac.uk