What is the Future for Academic consortia ?

The Future for Academic Consortia Dr Sarah Tetley University of Kent Eastern ARC Officer

Eastern ARC now Kent, Essex and UEA (2013) Focus : Research and Research Training Three thematic areas : Digital Humanities; Quantitative Social Sciences; Synthetic Biology Investment in People : 9 x Fellows; 21 PhDs + support staff, £1m per year 9 x Academic Leads 2014 – set up 2015 /16 first full(ish) operational year Just a reminder for people who perhaps don’t know…where we have come from. So…how have we done….to next slides.

Where do we see ourselves going ? Building on the last 12 months Embracing new opportunities – mapping our strengths to funders priorities Developing and reporting upon KPIs Raising our profile – internally and externally e.g. relationship with RCUK Building capacity in research support / leadership Regional development: Thames Estuary Growth Commission Learning from other networks, e.g. GW4, U4, N8….continuing to make the case for academic research consortia We hope to issue a report describing successes and achievements to date as well as capturing the key content from today’s conference by the end of the year. Please use the opportunity of that report to share what we have been doing more widely.

The Future for Academic Consortia Dr Nick Goldspink N8 Research Partnership

About N8 Now… 3 Priorities Promoting collaboration Establishing innovative research capabilities & programmes of national and international prominence Driving economic growth Funded Programmes N8 Agri-Food Resilience Programme N8 Policing Research Partnership N8 Industry Innovation Forum Policy Interests Shared Facilities and Capital Equipment

Where do we see ourselves going? Change of Director – change of priority Research Collaborations ISCF, GCRF Industry Engagement Forum and other activities Internationalisation Policy Northern Powerhouse, Innovation

The Future for Academic Consortia Dr Sarah Perkins GW4

About the GW4 Alliance now… We champion research and innovation for the ‘Great West’ We identify and deliver great research at scale through our 71 collaborative research communities We are building a pipeline of talent for the region through our 39 Doctoral Training Programmes and staff development opportunities We bring world-leading equipment and facilities to our doorstep

Where do we see ourselves going? Launching the new research and innovation strategy for the GW4 Alliance Introducing a suite of strategic initiatives addressing the Industrial Strategy and Global Challenges Research Fund Increasing our public affairs profile (for example, our new GW4 Thought Leadership series) Leading the Great West Taskforce, a consortia that developed the Science and Innovation Audit (GW4, UWE Plymouth Uni., LEPs, Welsh Government and business)

The Future For Academic Consortia Dr Helen Turner

About Midlands Innovation now… A leading university research and innovation partnership, pooling the collective excellence of universities in the Midlands to drive growth across the region. First regional equipment database. £60M Energy Research Accelerator (ERA). HPC Midsplus. Midlands Graduate School (ESRC). Led Midlands Science and Innovation Audit. HE Technicians Summit

Where do we see ourselves going ? Playing a leading role within the Midlands Engine for Growth. Building on the Energy Research Accelerator. Developing new programmes aligned with the Midlands SIA. Building on the success of the HE Technicians Summit. Establishing a number of strategic research communities.

The Future for Academic Consortia Dr Gijs Couke University of Gent WWW.U4NETWORK.EU

About Universities of Ghent, Uppsala, Groningen, Göttingen ‘Strategic Institutional Partnerhip’ Universities of Ghent, Uppsala, Groningen, Göttingen Aim: strengthening the individual position through intensive cooperation in Education, Research and Institutional Management Clustered Cooperation: Humanities, Medicine, Science & Technology, Social Sciences, Economics & Law, Institutional Management Multidimensional WWW.U4NETWORK.EU

Research aims Incentive funding (‘embedment at grassroots level’) PhD education – young researchers Transregional Graduate School + supportive services Multiplicator-effect (Joint PhD framework) Partner pooling (cf. Erasmus Mundus Action 2 consortia a.o.) WWW.U4NETWORK.EU

The Future for Academic Consortia Dr Alice Brewer University of East Anglia Operational Manager, EnvEast DTP

About EnvEast now… 71 academics currently working as primary supervisors. Widening the horizons of PGRs and ECRs through cohort training and diverse opportunities A collaboration between Universities of East Anglia, Kent and Essex, and over 20 non-HEI partners supporting over 100 PhD students in four cohorts, hosted at 7 different sites Funding for research, innovation, development of training, industry/academia sandpits, internships Brokering new collaborations, partnerships, inter-institution research

Where do we see ourselves going ? The next call for DTP funding is later this year Increased collaboration both within and outside of the consortium A Legacy of spin-off multi-disciplinary training courses and events Increased engagement with research-users

So…what is the Future for Academic consortia ?