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Data to make South Yorkshire an even better place

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This article was first published on the University of Sheffield’s website.

University of Sheffield data scientist Dan Olner is part of the pioneering team working with Y-PERN (The Yorkshire & Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network), a partnership that links the worlds of academia and local government.

Making South Yorkshire an even better place to live and work isn’t simply about throwing public money at ‘off-the-peg’ initiatives.

It means developing bespoke policies and plans which reflect the voices of local people and the unique characteristics of the area itself – and that’s where the University of Sheffield comes in.

The University is one of 12 across Yorkshire and Humber that have teamed up to give the region’s local authorities the expert knowledge and data that they need to develop policies and plans tailored to the specific needs of people in their different authority areas – including ‘newly’ formed mayoral areas.

University of Sheffield data scientist Dan Olner is part of the pioneering team working with Y-PERN (The Yorkshire & Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network), the new partnership linking the worlds of academia and local government.

Dan, who is an expert in economic geography, politics and international relations, as well as data science, is based in the University’s Management School but his Y-PERN role means spending lots of time at the offices of South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority (SYMCA) – the authority that he has been paired with.

Dan Olner

Dan said: “Y-PERN is about strengthening the glue between Yorkshire and Humber’s universities and its local and mayoral authorities and I’m one of around a dozen academics embedded in the region’s local government bodies. Over the years, local policy spaces have lost a lot of the expertise that they once had, making it harder to have insight into what’s happening in our own regions. Y-PERN is playing a small part in helping turn that around – not by ‘transmitting expertise’ from universities, but by embedding within policy teams who are also experts in what they do, and collaborating deeply.”

“I’m regularly in SYMCA’s Sheffield office, working with them on specific projects. That experience has been fantastic – the level of daily collaboration is high. As one of the other fellows said: ‘The policy environment changes massively faster than academia,’ making for a very different structure and pace. And SYMCA is full of incredibly smart and dedicated people.”

Y-PERN is all about ‘place-based’ economics and generating data to make sure that Yorkshire’s councils are equipped to understand the current and future needs of the people in their different areas, the historic strengths and weaknesses – and the future opportunities too.

The partnership’s website explains that YPERN itself is ‘changing the way researchers and policy makers work together to develop inclusive, place-based policies across Yorkshire & the Humber.’ 

For Dan, the work means harnessing his research skills to gather evidence and data from around the world that contribute to the authority’s decision-making processes, its strategic objectives to build a stronger, greener, and fairer economy and what SYMCA calls its ‘good growth’ plan.

His projects so far include a report analysing the historic and recent growth of South Yorkshire’s different economic sectors against national trends.

He said: “You can’t know where you are now, without understanding what the past is, and you can’t work out where you’re going next unless you know where you are now. There are things that are quite specific and different about South Yorkshire. One of the things I’ve been helping to do is to develop the economic story of how South Yorkshire got to where it is today.”

Dan says that collaboration lies at the heart of Y-PERN, with academics like him working together with local authorities for a shared goal – the growth of the region – and not just simply filling a data shortage.

He said: “The relationship building is absolutely vital. So, you’re not just coming up with an abstract list of questions. Part of that process is developing the connections between people who are asking them, so that we can collaborate on pushing in the same direction.

“The mayors of authorities are currently going through a process of asking themselves, what questions do we need to answer? And then there’s a whole range of different ways in which they can think about filling those gaps. Building stronger connections with universities is one of the options they now have.”

He added: “None of this is about growth for growth’s sake. It’s about supporting growth that benefits everybody…One of the things that I’m trying to take little baby steps towards is to make sure that communities affected by data and analysis and evidence have a say in that and are never affected by something without having a say in it.”

The University of Sheffield is not just benefitting from it’s Knowledge Exchange work and strengthened relationships with the region’s local authorities. Its relationships with other nearby universities have been re-invigorated too.

Dan said: “Universities are often in competition, so building those collaborations to work on shared problems in the same place is really useful and we still get the outputs, which is what universities also want.”

Y-PERN would like to thank Pip Strafford from University of Sheffield for preparing this article on Dan Olner.

Boosting academic evidence in policymaking 

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A £5.9 million fund has been awarded to universities in Yorkshire and the Humber, which jointly co-lead a national network aimed at enhancing place-based academic policy engagement. 

The £5.9 million award to Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) provides a fantastic opportunity to draw out Y-PERN’s valuable learnings in co-production with UPEN on matters such as the diverse role a policy fellow plays, and the unique contributions of each individual university. 

UPEN provides a platform for decision-makers to access relevant academic research as they seek to improve services for the public. That work can now be scaled up following a £5 million award by Research England to ten UPEN universities across the UK. 

The investment will see UPEN evolve from a voluntary network into a sustainable organisation that connects policymakers with researchers from more than 110 university members. 

The funding is supported by an additional £582,000 from UK Research and Innovation and £300,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). 

Professor Andrew Brown, Y-PERN Academic Director and Professor of Economics and Political Economy at Leeds University Business School, is one of three UPEN co-chairs.  

Professor Brown said: 

“The new UPEN investment will be another vital step in facilitating the use of academic research capacity for policy across the UK. I am particularly pleased that it builds on the network approach pioneered at a regional scale by Y-PERN.” 

Members of the UPEN National Executive Committee also include Kayleigh Renberg-Fawcett, Senior Programme Manager at Y-PERN and Dr Andy Mycock, Y-PERN Chief Policy Fellow. 

With a renewed government focus on an evidence-based approach, UPEN will unite the research and innovation ecosystem 

Professor Nick Plant, University of Leeds 

Over the next four years, UPEN will undertake a programme of work including: 

  • Improving UK universities’ ability to engage with policy organisations and policymakers. 
  • Supporting place-based policymaking by strengthening engagement between universities, regional and local policy organisations. 
  • Embedding citizen engagement and community-driven approaches to policymaking. 
  • Creating more sustainable and resilient engagement models.  

Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Executive Chair of Research England, said: “The need for reliable evidence which can inform public debate, and policy has never been greater.  

“With increasing pressure on public finances, it is also vital that local and central governments can be confident that their policy interventions will be effective and successful – and academic expertise has a crucial role to play in that process.”   

Professor Nick Plant, Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds, said: “This funding will further support our community of researchers to work with policymakers to generate the evidence base required to address the complex challenges facing society today. 

“With a renewed government focus on an evidence-based approach, UPEN will unite the research and innovation ecosystem, offering a wealth of academic insight and experience to inform policy decisions and improve outcomes.” 

The investment sees the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Cambridge, Durham, Huddersfield, UCL, Nottingham Trent, Southampton, Teesside, Insights North-East and the Wales Centre for Public Policy at Cardiff University all working collaboratively to strengthen evidence-informed policymaking. 

UPEN will also work with the Institute for Community Studies, the Institute for Government and Yorkshire Universities. The organisation will bring together our Yorkshire and Humber regional networks, including  Yorkshire Policy and Innovation Partnership (Y-PIP) and The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber. 

We hope that together, we will draw upon our collective experiences to strengthen engagement between academic institutions and policymakers, ensuring that evidence shapes effective public policies. 

UPEN is a UK-wide network of organisations who support evidence use in public policymaking. It provides an interface between universities and local, regional, and national policy organisations. It is hosted by UCL within UCL Public Policy, and co-chaired by Sarah Chaytor, Director of Policy and Strategy at UCL, Andrew Brown, Professor of Economics and Political Economy at the University of Leeds and Chris Hewson, Head of Policy Engagement at the University of Huddersfield.  

For UPEN enquiries, contact hello@upen.ac.uk 

Hull and East Yorkshire Regional Report

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The election of a new mayor for Hull and East Yorkshire, Luke Campbell, is an important moment for the region. Y-PERN and the University of Hull have a strong track record of working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hull City Council, and the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority. Both the University of Hull and Yorkshire Universities have underlined their commitment to working with Mayor Campbell and the region’s local and combined authorities to enhance regional growth and prosperity for Hull and East Yorkshire. 

The recently published Hull and East Yorkshire Regional Report encapsulates some of this work, highlighting key initiatives driven by the Y-PERN partnership with the University of Hull. These include significant collaborations with the Hull Poverty Truth Commission (HPTC), Town Anywhere, and the Water and Coasts Community Futures Network. The report emphasises the importance of building strong partnerships between academics and local communities, involving community members in meaningful ways, ensuring that their voices are heard and valued. In the report, the University of Hull highlights its role as a pivotal partner in fostering community engagement and innovative policymaking. 

Y-PERN, Yorkshire Universities and the University of Hull look forwards to actively supporting collaboration with public, private and third sector stakeholders to strengthen regional engagement with new Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority and its new mayoral team.

Funded by Research England, Y-PERN is a network-based approach to academic policy engagement in the Yorkshire and Humber region that aims to strengthen collaborations between Yorkshire Universities (YU) and Yorkshire and Humber Councils (YHC)

Y-PERN 2025 Conference: Bridging Academia and Policymaking

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Register now for your ticket for the Y-PERN 2025 Conference on June 27th at the Oastler Building in Huddersfield!

We invite scholars, policymakers, and community leaders to engage in vital discussions surrounding academic-policy collaboration aimed at regional development.

The conference will bring together leading academics, policymakers, and practitioners to explore innovative approaches to incorporating academic academic research into impactful policies. With confirmed speakers including Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, and Robin Tuddenham, Chief Executive of Calderdale Council and President of Solace, the day will include stimulating panel discussions, insightful case studies, and interactive sessions aimed at fostering meaningful dialogue and collaboration. These activities will help us explore ways to achieve multi-level growth, promoting fairer, greener, and more inclusive futures.

The conference will begin at 9 AM with a welcome session led by Professor Tim Thornton, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. Our guest speakers will include Kersten England, Chief Executive Officer of the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council; Harpreet Uppal, Member of Parliament for Huddersfield; and Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire.

The agenda includes engaging discussions on the evolving relationship between universities and policymakers, showcasing the impact of the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN). Participants will explore Y-PERN network’s collaborative approach, engage in interactive breakout sessions which tackle key regional policy challenges, and will be invited to share ideas for future growth strategies. Themes will include early years education, community inclusion, business support, and housing solutions.

A pivotal focus will be placed on the evolving dynamics of university-policy engagement within the context of a rapidly changing policy landscape. Participants will examine how such collaborations can effectively respond to emerging opportunities and challenges.

The 2025 conference will serve as an important platform for networking among influential speakers, researchers, and organisations committed to fostering effective policymaking. The discussions at the conference are expected to yield insights into practical, evidence-based policy frameworks that can facilitate multi-level growth. By harnessing collaborative efforts, the aim is to create more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient communities across Yorkshire and the Humber.

To view the full agenda and to register for your free ticket, please visit our Eventbrite page.

The event is being delivered by Y-PERN with support from the team at Social. If you have any questions or require further information, please email them on ypern@social.co.uk.

South Yorkshire Sub-Regional Report 2025

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We proudly present our South-Yorkshire Sub-regional Report, a collaborative effort between Y-PERN, Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) and the University of Sheffield (UoS).

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) and the University of Sheffield (UoS) jointly host the South Yorkshire Y-PERN team. The SHU team operates from the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) and includes two policy fellows, Elizabeth Sanderson and Dr. Jamie Redman, along with Professor Peter Wells, who is a member of the Y-PERN Academic Steering Committee, and Dr. Rich Crisp, who is also a Co-Investigator for the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP).

At the University of Sheffield, Y-PERN is represented by policy fellow Dr. Dan Olner and Professor Vania Sena, who is the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise within the university’s Management School. Dr. Olner is embedded within the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), while Professor Sena serves on the Y-PERN Academic Steering Group and is also a Co-Investigator for YPIP.

The report, authored by Rich Crisp, Dan Olner, Jamie Redman, Elizabeth Sanderson, Vania Sena, and Peter Wells, provides a detailed overview of the collaborative initiatives undertaken by the South Yorkshire team in partnership with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).

It highlights the ongoing collaboration with SYMCA, focusing on enhancing regional economic development and addressing skills shortages. A key aspect of this partnership is the transition from reactive contract research to a strategic partnership model, which promotes long-term collaborations between Y-PERN, Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), the University of Sheffield (UoS), and SYMCA.

These joint efforts aim to improve job quality and support the development of SYMCA’s Skills Strategy. Various initiatives, including evidence briefings, workshops, and data analysis, have been implemented to inform policy decisions.

The report underscores the importance of close collaboration and knowledge exchange, illustrating the benefits of integrating academic resources within local government to establish a stronger foundation for economic growth in the South Yorkshire region.

Making sense of the busyness: Yorkshire & Humber networks for research-policy engagement

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Following a Yorkshire & Humber Networks event in February at Doncaster Council, we are delighted to be able to share with you an interactive visual tool that helps articulate some of the region’s networks that are supporting research-policy engagement.

The networks covered include:

  • Yorkshire Universities
  • Yorkshire & Humber Councils Policy Forum
  • Y-PERN
  • YPIP
  • YPC
  • Yorkshire & Humber Applied Research Collaboration
  • Health Determinants Research Collaborations
  • Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission

To view this tool in a larger format click here

You can also find an overview of our discussions visually presented below – and read up about our key takeaways in this Y-PERN blog.

live scribesDownload

For further information, please contact Kayleigh Renberg-Fawcett (Senior Programme Manager) on contact@y-pern.org.uk

Early Years Education and Childcare System in West Yorkshire Report

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Y-PERN and West Yorkshire Combined Authority present a report on the early years and childcare system in West Yorkshire. Written by Y-PERN Policy Fellow Dr Tom Haines-Doran and a research team comprising of Karen Arzate Quintanilla, Dr Lilith Brouwers, Dr Jo Burgess, Dr Aimee Code, Dr Amy Creaser, Dr Erin Dysart, Dr Jack Simpson and Dr Claire Smithson.

The West Yorkshire Local Growth Plan, has identified early years education and high-quality childcare provision as key enabling policy areas for an inclusive economy, performing a dual role for families:

1. High-quality early years education can transform the life chances of children, reducing entrenched inequalities at the earliest opportunity.

2. Affordable and available childcare enables greater parental and carer participation in the labour market, especially for women.

The Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN) has led new research, bringing together national and regional evidence and taking a systems mapping approach for the West Yorkshire Early Years Education and Childcare sector.

The research found that the Early Years Education and Childcare sector in West Yorkshire is led by providers, their workforce and Local Authorities that are exceptionally dedicated to the education and care of children and their families.

However, the research also found that providers and key stakeholders face considerable challenges in a very complex system.

Affordability for parents remains an issue despite increasing funding entitlements, as does navigating the entitlements, financial support and local availability of places.  

Current funding entitlement for childcare disproportionately benefits higher earning families. Families on the lowest incomes are seeing virtually no direct benefit from increased entitlements because entitlements focus on families with working parents and some providers target wealthier areas for expansion

Workforce challenges reflect national trends and include:  

  • Low recruitment and retention
  • Poor pay
  • Lack of progression opportunities
  • Lack of training and development opportunities (e.g. around special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and caring for very young children)  
  • A highly gendered workforce and a lack of diversity  

The government is seeking to ‘break down barriers to opportunity’ with a focus on the Early Years Education and Childcare sector and the continued roll out of childcare entitlements for working parents on a national level.

The Y-PERN research report offers new insights into how West Yorkshire Combined Authority can best support the revitalisation of the Early Years Education and Childcare sector, alongside Local Authorities and providers.

Through a ‘systems mapping’ exercise, undertaken in conjunction with Early Years Education and Childcare academic experts, providers and West Yorkshire local authorities, Y-PERN researchers identify three regional ‘policy levers’ that the Combined Authority could engage to improve Early Years Education and Childcare quality and accessibility:

  1. Political leadership and advocacy. Many of the challenges facing the Early Years Education and Childcare sector result from under-funding, despite recent increases in ‘entitlements’. The Combined Authority could champion the sector on a national level, while convening providers and local authorities on a regional scale to help overcome fragmentation and unevenness in the system. It could also consider whether targets based on outcomes may be appropriate, to help direct policy.
  2. Information sharing and systemic analysis. Making good policy and making choices as parents relies on good data, but this is unavailable in many key areas, especially at a West Yorkshire scale. The Combined Authority could work with the sector, local authorities and academics to identify where greater data availability could add value to policy, practice and parental choice.
  3. Creation of a West Yorkshire Early Years Education and Childcare workforce strategy. The sector relies on a dedicated workforce, which is too often under-paid, under-prepared and under-appreciated, resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis. The Combined Authority could help to remedy this through a regional workforce strategy that improves both recruitment levels and training provision. Among other priorities, recruitment should aim to increase male representation from low levels. Training should target key challenges, for example around SEND provision and caring for very young children, to improve outcomes and help retain staff.

As an immediate and direct response to the third identified regional lever, the Combined Authority has commissioned Bradford Birth to 19 Institute for the Early Years, to develop an evidence-based, practical workforce plan rooted in the region. The plan will identify practical, implementable steps to address key challenges around recruitment and retention, training, development and progression as well as diversity of the workforce.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said:

“I welcome this first of its kind report from the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network, and we are already taking action to respond to the recommendations.

“The evidence is clear – our early years sector in West Yorkshire and across the country is facing significant challenges, and we must take action now to address the concerns of a workforce that is undervalued and underpaid, and of families who deserve consistent and high quality childcare services.

“Faced with unprecedented funding pressures, our councils cannot be asked to meet this challenge alone. Devolution is the green shoot of hope that can empower our region to invest in the early years workforce we need, to set our children on a path to success and sow the seeds of a stronger, brighter West Yorkshire.

“We have commissioned a regional workforce plan for early years education that will enable us to tackle the urgent challenges around recruitment and retention head-on, and we are flexing our adult skills funding to deliver training, development and progression opportunities within the sector.

“But we have so much further to go, and we will continue to work alongside the sector, our councils and the government to make sure that our great region has the powers and funding it needs to build an Early Years Education and Childcare system that works for both parents and practitioners.”

Christian Bunting, Executive Director at Bradford Birth to 19, said:

“We are really excited to be doing this work with the Combined Authority. As a team of Early Years professionals, who are passionate about improving the workforce and in turn improving outcomes for children, we have genuine interest in this work and the drive to ensure that the positive impacts of this project are maximised.”Birth to 19 Institute for the Early Years is the training, sector improvement, research and policy arm of St Edmund’s Nursery School, a maintained Nursery School in Bradford judged Outstanding by Ofsted. The nationally recognised organisation improves outcomes and increases social mobility for children through school and setting improvement, training and qualifications, guidance, and cutting-edge educational initiatives.

The Y-PERN report has also already informed strategic commissioning decisions of the Combined Authority around Skills Bootcamps. Over 200 places to train Early Years Educators are being commissioned, and the training includes a focus on equipping practitioners with knowledge of SEND, speech and language and how to work with the youngest children, following the findings in the report. Three organisations have commenced delivery, including Kirklees Council which has already seen 80% of participants secure interviews in the sector.

You can read the report here: The Early Years Education and Childcare system in West Yorkshire

South Yorkshire Seminars Series: The region’s political and economic history

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South Yorkshire’s past, present and future: what does the data say?

Written by Dan Olner

Dan Olner is a Policy Fellow for Y-PERN, South Yorkshire Mayoral Authority and Sheffield University Management School. Dan is an expert on economic and quantitative geography, data science, politics and international relations.

The Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) at Sheffield University have organised a set of seminars digging into the political economy of South Yorkshire, bringing together researchers and policymakers to better understand where the region has come from, where it is now and what the future holds.

In the first session, which took place on 5th March 2025, James Evans talked through some of the region’s historical data. James spoke about 1921, when Sheffield was the most heavily industrialised city in the UK. During this period up to the 1960’s employment in coal mining shrank while metalwork jobs carried on rising. In this time, most of the jobs growth happened away from cities, in surrounding towns – often making those towns reliant on a few large employers. This meant that from the 1970s onwards when employment began to retreat across the entire of the UK, some places were more vulnerable than others.

During the seminar, James discussed a typology of surviving versus declining places. Surviving places, more resilient because they were more economically diverse, could adapt. Those in the declining category, including places that had become more economic monocultures, were vulnerable. Impacts on these areas are still visible today in the deprivation data.

I (Dan Olner) then discussed 1970s and beyond, using Census data to dig further into just how profound the employment impacts were during that decade, and how certain parts of the country – including South Yorkshire – missed out on much of the bounce back that took place in the 80s.

1971-1981 employment in England / Scotland. The dark red indicates were employment fell, and the dark blue zones are where employment rose.

From the late 90s onwards, detailed regional productivity data paints a picture of continued structural change in the UK. While manufacturing shrunk and services grew in this period across the entire of the UK – continuing the same decades-long process of deindustrialisation – it was sectors concentrated in the North (like manufacturing) that declined most as a proportion of the UK economy. And whilst more recently there have been positive signs of jobs and output growth in Yorkshire, the region’s difficult economic history is still visible in its struggling productivity levels and low skills equilibrium.

This very broad-brush picture doesn’t tell the full story, however. Economic Innovations are taking place that cross sectoral boundaries; for example, those being celebrated at the Digital Forge, are blurring the difference between technology and manufacturing. The region’s devolved organisations are building plans that aim to benefit everyone – SYMCA’s plan for good growth aims to invest in both economic infrastructure and communities; South Yorkshire’s Integrated Care Strategy builds on deep data analysis to identify vital links between the wider determinants of health and economic outcomes.

The seminars into South Yorkshire’s political economical history will hopefully be the foundation to develop practical, policy relevant research that can contribute to helping the region navigate 21st century challenges.

The upcoming sessions will explore inequality, social change and devolution and will take place in person at the University of Sheffield. Contact d.olner@sheffield.ac.uk for further information.

You can view the slides from the first seminar here >

Putting health at the heart of your local economy

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This article was first published on the Yorkshire Universities website.

The NHS Confederation recently hosted a webinar focused on the local growth agenda, the role of acute trusts, and how they can influence local leaders. Y-PERM Policy Director and Yorkshire Universities (YU) Executive Director, Dr Peter O’Brien, was invited to speak at the event to provide broad insights from the higher education sector and regional perspectives from higher education institutes within Yorkshire and the Humber.

The session was chaired by Michael Wood, Head of Health Economic Partnerships at the NHS Confederation, who led the discussion. Christopher George, Health Economic Policy Advisor, also gave a presentation on ‘The NHS as an Economic Actor: The role of the NHS in the Economy’. Accompanying panel members included Mark Rogers, Chief Executive at the Leadership Centre, and Kathryn Lavery, Chair of Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust. Alongside panel members, Peter addressed multiple questions covering collaboration and partnerships, civic goals and local communities, devolution and stability, regional powers and local authorities, financial challenges, and the importance of networks in combating health inequalities.

This webinar supports YU’s work in health & wellbeing, bringing together knowledge to inform our current and future projects. Previous work between YU, the NHS Confederation, and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber,  includes the development of the YHealth4Growth white paper. The paper was presented in Parliament, in October 2024, to show how Yorkshire can provide a “blueprint” for the new Labour government, regional mayors, and businesses to address health and economic equalities that cost UK plc at least £180billion a year.

You can download the webinar presentation slides here, which provide details on the NHS as an economic actor and presents a new framework centered around economic growth – in line with the Government’s central mission.

Smaller and Specialist Universities Workshop

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On Tuesday 18th February, leaders and representatives from Y-PERNs smaller and specialist universities met at Leeds Conservatoire to explore the specific challenges and opportunities they faced in undertaking academic policy engagement. Participants from Leeds Arts University, Leeds Conservatoire, Leeds Trinity University, and York St John University discussed how Y-PERN can best build capacity, resources, and activities that provide value to them and the wider Y-PERN network while enhancing their unique role and contribution.

It was noted that there was widespread appreciation amongst smaller and specialist universities for their shared association of Y-PERN and feeling part of a network that larger universities sit within. There was though a divide between larger Y-PERN institutions that measure impact of policy and our specialist and smaller universities who focused predominantly on developing graduate skills, retention and employability and also professional practitioner expertise through teaching and research.

Participants highlighted that the extensive expertise of smaller and specialist universities is not always research focused, so can sometimes be more difficult to identify and value in more typical forms of academic policy engagement. This expertise is however deeply valued by policy partners and can inform evidence-based policymaking as impactfully as more traditional research policy collaboration and knowledge mobilisation.

For example, Leeds Conservatoire have invested considerable time in curating and maintaining practitioner-based networks such as the West Yorkshire Music Network which evidence the impact of expertise-led policy engagement working with broad range of policy, public sector, business, voluntary organisations, charities, and community groups associated with arts, heritage, and culture. However, there was a need to enhance the resonance of creative and cultural economy and better integrate with other areas of social and economic policy such as health, transport, crime, and local growth.

The workshop also explored issues of resource and capacities associated with smaller and specialist universities. It was noted that there are many factors to consider, such as staff time, budgets, and the organisational structuring (with some of our universities not having specific research or knowledge exchange capacity). It was noted that what resources are available must be focused on areas of activity that promote student recruitment and the distinctive areas of research which connect to teaching and practice-based professional development. There was as such a need to adopt a more agile and adaptable approach to support smaller and specialist universities that appreciates such challenges and reflected their diversity of key interests.

One key area identified which was seen as delivering value and impact to Y-PERN’s smaller and specialist universities is the training of academic and professional staff to better engage in its work. Y-PERN and its partner universities have hosted a range of training activities and events. It was acknowledged however that there was a need to scale up training activities to develop expertise as this would allow for more opportunities to undertake policy engagement to be realised.

Colleagues from York St John University noted that the York Policy Engine had provided several opportunities including two members of staff participating in York Policy Academy programme at the University of York and other training initiatives. Participants encouraged other larger Y-PERN universities to support smaller and specialist universities in similar ways to support extended peer-to-peer learning across the network, with larger universities representing the interests of smaller and specialist universities in conversations they are not present at.

The workshop participants also discussed how to work more closely with Y-PERN’s Policy Fellows to enhance the resonance and impact of expertise and network building provided by smaller and specialist universities. It was noted that they could play a key role in the developing of Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) and multi-partner communities of practice at a local and regional level, both in shaping existing policy areas and in developing creative and cultural ARIs. They also considered how they might develop staff exchanges and secondments to policy units within the larger universities and with local and combined authorities.

The workshop concluded by identifying several proposals to draw on and address some of the key issues discussed. A short report for publication will be produced from the workshop and Y-PERN will report findings back to relevant stakeholders with recommendations for future policy engagement collaborations with our smaller and specialist universities.

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