Knowledge Exchange Concordat

Summary

The ‘Concordat for the advancement of knowledge exchange in higher education’ (KEC) was published by Universities UK (UUK) in April 2020. It operates alongside the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) to provide a mechanism via which universities, their partners, funders, and the public can understand the KE performance of the sector generally and of individual universities specifically.

The university is a signatory to the concordat and is committed to its eight guiding principles:

• Mission
• Policies and processes
• Engagement
• Working transparently and ethically
• Capacity building
• Recognition and rewards
• Continuous improvement
• Evaluating success

Following a self-evaluation and gap analysis in July 2021, we identified five priority actions, designed to improve the quality of knowledge exchange at the University, these being:

1. Developing a strategy describing the civic/regional leadership role of the institution within its place-based contexts.
2. Creating a clear mechanism for external partners to work with the academic community and access research, knowledge, talent, facilities and professional development.
3. Supporting students, academics at all career stages, and local entrepreneurs with training & development opportunities in innovation and entrepreneurship.
4. Ensuring the value of KE activities is appropriately recognised at all career stages for academic and professional support services staff
5. Providing a framework against which our KE activities can be monitored, measured and evaluated.