Raising the profile and policy impact

WE ANALYSED

Newcastle University is one the world’s leading universities, but its geographical distance from Westminster meant that there was limited recognition amongst policymakers of both their world-leading research and their central role as an economic driver for the northeast of England.

The University was also leading the charge on several initiatives central to the government’s policy agenda, including decarbonisation and the future energy mix, innovation in public health, and development of Connected Autonomous Vehicles. Despite this, many academics were not in regular contact with Government, despite their work having direct relevance to Ministerial priorities.

WE ACTED

Working with the University’s leadership, we interviewed key academics and developed politically focused briefings setting out their work and its relevance to government ambitions on touchstone issues. We used this to underpin a targeted engagement programme with ministers, advisers, senior officials and influential MPs to raise the profile of the University.

This allowed us to showcase the Newcastle as a centre of innovation, and critical regional partner.

Through a programme of meetings, research briefings, parliamentary events and policy roundtables, we have built key cross-party links across Westminster and Whitehall. We have also arranged a series of site visits from senior officials and politicians to the University and region, allowing for in-person site tours of the facilities and valuable briefings on the university’s work and role in the northeast of England.

WE ACHIEVED

Since we began working with Newcastle at the start of the pandemic, Newcastle’s profile has been raised significantly in Westminster and Whitehall with key academics seen as sources of expertise.

We have secured direct engagement with officials and minsters in No.10, the Cabinet Office, DfT, DBT, DESNZ, and DCMS. In addition, we have briefed academics ahead of appearances in front of the Transport, Business, Education and Science & Technology parliamentary select committees.

The University’s research has been fed into No.10 and the Joint Biosecurity Centre; has been used extensively by the DfT; has helped shaped skills policy; has fed into the industrial strategy; and informed an important inquiry on the impact of Covid-19.

In addition, our work has helped secure significant research funding. We worked with academics to develop a compelling case for government funding for further research in the energy decarbonisation space, – resulting in a £12.5 million funding grant in 2023, to lead a ground-breaking new Hydrogen Integration for Accelerated Energy Transitions Hub at the University, which the University has credited to the stakeholder engagement work we led.