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“My knowledge of regional policy is night and day different now” – an academic embedded in South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA)

Y-PERN Policy Fellow Dan Olner discusses his dual role as both university researcher and embedded policy analyst, explaining how he helps answer critical questions about South Yorkshire’s economy, growth sectors, and regional strengths. Rather than operating as a traditional academic expert transmitting knowledge from on high, he describes a collaborative model where experts from different backgrounds work together on equal footing.

Dan contrasts his ongoing, open approach with traditional consultant models, emphasising the value of sustained relationships and accessible data. The conversation also examines the sustainability of such embedded roles, the benefits to both academics and policymakers, and the need for collaborative funding from national bodies, regional authorities, and universities to mainstream this type of engagement. Ultimately, Dan makes a compelling case for why these bridging roles matter for evidence-based policymaking and regional development.

About the Speakers

Paul Hayes is Senior Policy Engagement Fellow at Leeds University Business School, supporting academic colleagues in developing impacts from their work and in engaging with the policy community and public bodies. He was formerly corporate policy manager at Wakefield Council and policy lead for the Key Cities Group, an association of 27 mid-size UK cities. This role encompassed policy advisory work to local, regional and national politicians; development and authorship of local and regional strategies and plans; engagement with and representation on working groups of UK government and national bodies; and responses to consultations. The role also included scoping, commissioning, and joint development of academic and think tank research and engagement with business and voluntary and community sectors.

Dr Dan Olner is a data analyst and geographer based in the School of Management at Sheffield University and, through the Yorkshire & Humber Policy Engagement Research Network, is working with South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority on all things economic and regional and data. Dan hasn’t strayed far from Yorkshire, studying politics at Sheffield University and a PhD at Leeds University. Find out about Dan’s work at danolner.net

About the Podcast 

“Gerrin’ on wi’ it” is a podcast series brought to you by YPIP, Y-PERN and the Leeds University Business school’s Research and Innovation podcast about collaboration in Yorkshire and the Humber which showcases the people, partnerships, and ideas driving collaborative change across the region. The title – a Yorkshire phrase meaning “getting on with it” – captures the spirit of practical, no-nonsense collaboration that characterises the region’s approach to tackling complex challenges. 

Hosted by Dr Andy Mycock and Paul Hayes, the series explores how universities, local authorities, combined authorities, and communities work together to address shared priorities – from economic growth and early years education to community wellbeing and regional development. At its heart, the podcast tells the story of Yorkshire and the Humber as England’s trailblazer for academic-policy engagement. 

Find out more about the series here

Get Involved 

Listen to “Gerrin’ on wi’ it” on Soundcloud below or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcripts of all episodes are available. Download the transcript for this episode here

Written by Kersten England CBE DL

Throughout my career in local government – 14 years as a Chief Executive – I’ve been asked to tackle issues that have no simple answer, issues that no single organisation could possibly solve alone. Whether responding to community tensions, rebuilding trust after public disorder, or navigating a pandemic, the formula for success has always been the same: bringing together coalitions of the willing who work across boundaries, hierarchies, and labels to craft solutions alongside communities.

The challenge, of course, is: can you do that in peacetime? Can you build the habits, the governance, the networks that make collaboration the day job rather than the emergency response? That’s fundamentally what Y-PERN is about.

The creation of the Yorkshire and Humber Policy and Engagement Research Network (Y-PERN) was founded on a simple but powerful premise: the complex challenges facing Yorkshire and the Humber are better met when academic expertise works hand-in-hand with the deep knowledge held within our local and combined authorities. The signing of a memorandum of understanding between Yorkshire’s universities and councils across Yorkshire and the Humber wasn’t just a formal agreement – it was a commitment to make collaboration the norm, not the exception.

Why This Evaluation Matters

During the Spring of 2025, Sealey Associates undertook a rigorous evaluation of Y-PERN. This wasn’t a box-ticking exercise. The evaluation team conducted 53 interviews, held multiple workshops, and examined Y-PERN against seven distinct outcomes. We needed to understand what was genuinely working, what wasn’t, and why – because there’s no substitute for honesty about impact.

This level of scrutiny matters because Y-PERN is doing something different – bringing together 12 universities, 15 local authorities, and 4 combined authorities in a genuine ‘network of networks’. We’re talking about a region the size of Scotland, over 5.6 million people, with considerable knowledge and capacity across our institutions. The question has always been: can we actually work together to deploy those assets where they’re needed most?

What We’ve Learned: Key Strengths

The evaluation reveals encouraging findings. Decision-making has become more resilient through cross-sector collaboration. Policy Fellows – particularly when embedded or bringing deep expertise – have proven effective at bridging different worlds, helping authorities articulate research needs, contributing to growth strategies, and operating as ‘honest brokers’ building consensus on evidence.

Y-PERN has generated projects and outputs that would not have otherwise happened – not necessarily because the work wouldn’t have been done, but because Y-PERN made a decisive difference to the breadth and rigour of insight. We’re building trust and shared purpose: the intangible foundations without which formal structures achieve little.

The evaluation also identified challenges. Awareness at senior levels remains patchy. Some policy stakeholders felt uncertain about their role in steering projects. The ‘network of networks’ concept, while useful internally, can obscure what matters to partners: the offer itself.

Moving Forward

The evaluation’s recommendations are clear: greater co-ownership with policy partners, continuity of resources and relationships, flexible programme management that adapts to political change, and clearer definition of what we offer and where we add most value. We need investment in central knowledge brokerage – the capacity that makes connections across the region and helps partners navigate available support.

Y-PERN has already contributed to leveraging nearly £10 million for knowledge mobilisation across Yorkshire and the Humber. But sustainability isn’t just about funding streams. It’s about whether we’ve built something that genuinely improves how decisions are made, and ultimately the lives of people and communities here.

Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Dr Bridget Sealey, Stephen Meek, and Professor Kathryn Oliver for their rigorous evaluation work, to our policy fellows, and to all the Y-PERN team and partners. What unites us is commitment to work not simply as organisations pursuing our own objectives, but as partners dedicated to improving lives across Yorkshire and the Humber. This evaluation helps us understand how well we’re doing that, and what we need to do better. That shared purpose – and that shared honesty – is both our foundation and our future.

Read our full phase one Evaluation report here >

“Collaboration is essential for research to be useful and responsive” – Yorkshire academics embracing cross-sector working 

In this episode of “Gerrin’ on wi’ it,” host Dr Andy Mycock speaks with Professor Joe Cook from the University of Hull about what makes collaboration work in research and community engagement. 

Joe leads the Communities in their Places cross-cutting theme for the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP), working with local authorities, voluntary organisations, and residents across Yorkshire and the Humber. She discusses Hull’s “flipped university” model that prioritises community needs, the art of listening over ivory tower thinking, and building trust by not overpromising. 

Drawing on projects from Local Area Coordination to cost of living crisis research, Joe illustrates how participatory action research bridges gaps between stakeholders with competing pressures – and why the most powerful research reflects lived experiences and delivers tangible outcomes for real people, not just academic publications. 

About the Podcast 

“Gerrin’ on wi’ it” is a podcast series brought to you by YPIP, Y-PERN and the Leeds University Business school’s Research and Innovation podcast about collaboration in Yorkshire and the Humber which showcases the people, partnerships, and ideas driving collaborative change across the region. The title – a Yorkshire phrase meaning “getting on with it” – captures the spirit of practical, no-nonsense collaboration that characterises the region’s approach to tackling complex challenges. 

Hosted by Dr Andy Mycock and Paul Hayes, the series explores how universities, local authorities, combined authorities, and communities work together to address shared priorities – from economic growth and early years education to community wellbeing and regional development. At its heart, the podcast tells the story of Yorkshire and the Humber as England’s trailblazer for academic-policy engagement. 

Find out more about the series here

Get Involved 

Listen to “Gerrin’ on wi’ it” on Soundcloud below or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcripts of all episodes are available. Download the transcript for this episode here

Areas of Research Interest for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority are being developed to better connect regional data, evidence and policy.

Work is underway to develop Areas of Research Interest (ARI) for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority that will enable the Combined Authority to draw upon the wide range of expertise within the region’s higher education institutions to inform regional policies and programmes that deliver real benefits for West Yorkshire.

Delivering for the region

The project will contribute directly to the delivery of the West Yorkshire Higher Education Compact agreed by universities in York and West Yorkshire, Yorkshire Universities (YU) and the Combined Authority, which was signed in October 2025. This partnership has committed to work together to stimulate inclusive economic growth, drive innovation and enhance social and environmental well-being. Part of this will be to address the complex challenges the region faces by supporting impactful place-based policy development informed by robust evidence and research.

Collectively, the region’s higher education institutions have a wealth of research expertise and excellence which could give insights into current challenges, inform responses and contribute to evaluating what is working for the region and what is not.

West Yorkshire Areas of Research Interest

ARIs are mechanisms through which public policy makers can share their knowledge needs and invite the research community to contribute. They were first introduced by UK Government Departments in response to the 2015 Nurse Review recommendations, that identified that there was a need to better connect policy makers to publicly funded research. They have since been adopted by UK and devolved Parliaments, devolved government, public bodies and regional and local government.

West Yorkshire is already leading the way with Leeds City Council being the first Local Authority to develop ARI in 2022. Since then, both Bradford City and Kirklees Council have also set out their ARI, meaning West Yorkshire now has  the highest number of local authority ARI in the country.

The ARI for West Yorkshire Combined Authority will seek to build on and complement this local learning, and will focus at the sub-regional level to support the Combined Authority to access the evidence and expertise needed to deliver the missions set out in the West Yorkshire Plan.

Welcoming the news of the ARI project, Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director of Yorkshire Universities, said:

“This initiative is a further example of the strengthening partnership between the region’s universities and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, under the terms of the new HE Compact. By convening and deploying the distinct and complementary research and knowledge expertise within the HE sector, and connecting this to policymakers in the Combined Authority, there is a real opportunity to produce more effective policies and strategies that are designed to help create a more productive, prosperous and healthier West Yorkshire.” 

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said:

“Following our first-of-its kind partnership with West Yorkshire’s universities, this evidence-led approach will be vital in helping us build the transport, skills and business ecosystem we need to create jobs, boost growth, and put more money in people’s pockets.”

Meet the project team

The establishment of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority ARI is a collaborative effort between the Combined Authority and YU, with the support of partners. The work is being supported by three team members: Siân Reynolds and Amy Kinghorn from the Combined Authority, and Juliet Jopson, who has been seconded into YU from the University of Leeds. Siân and Amy will provide a connection to key teams within the Combined Authority and draw on their own delivery experience to ensure the ARI and processes supporting them are grounded in operational reality. Juliet will bring understanding of the academic research system and experience of working with Leeds City Council on their ARI.

Peter O’Brien from Yorkshire Universities and Jo Barham from West Yorkshire Combined Authority will provide oversight of the project. A project Steering Group will also be established. The Yorkshire Universities West Yorkshire Economic Development Board will provide a wider reference group for the work.

The project is being supported by the Research England policy support fund through the University of Leeds.

In episode 2 of Gerrin’ On Wi’ It, Andy Mycock talks with Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director of Yorkshire Universities, about how collaboration is shaping the future of Yorkshire and the Humber.

Peter reflects on the unique partnership between the region’s 12 universities, their work with local and combined authorities, and the remarkable journey since signing the 2021 Memorandum of Understanding which laid the groundwork for major initiatives like the Yorkshire and Humber Policy and Engagement Network (Y-PERN) and the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP). Peter identifies that the diverse landscape of Yorkshire is bound together by a strong sense of identity which creates a basis for shared purpose and shared agendas.

Together they discuss what effective collaboration looks like, why trust and communication matter, and how shared regional identity helps Yorkshire speak with one voice.

Peter also looks ahead to the challenges and opportunities for the sector, including sustaining this work, strengthening connections with communities and policymakers, and ensuring universities continue to play a meaningful civic role in the region.

“Gerrin’ on wi’ it” is a podcast series brought to you by YPIP, Y-PERN and the Leeds University Business school’s Research and Innovation podcast about collaboration in Yorkshire and the Humber which showcases the people, partnerships, and ideas driving collaborative change across the region. The title – a Yorkshire phrase meaning “getting on with it” – captures the spirit of practical, no-nonsense collaboration that characterises the region’s approach to tackling complex challenges. 

Hosted by Dr Andy Mycock and Paul Hayes, the series explores how universities, local authorities, combined authorities, and communities work together to address shared priorities – from economic growth and early years education to community wellbeing and regional development. At its heart, the podcast tells the story of Yorkshire and the Humber as England’s trailblazer for academic-policy engagement. 

Find out more about the series here

Get Involved 

Listen to “Gerrin’ on wi’ it” on Soundcloud below or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcripts of all episodes are available. Download the transcript for this episode here

If you would like to discuss an appearance on our podcast, please get in touch.

“Gerrin’ on wi’ it” is a podcast series brought to you by YPIP, Y-PERN and the Leeds University Business school’s Research and Innovation podcast about collaboration in Yorkshire and the Humber which showcases the people, partnerships, and ideas driving collaborative change across the region. The title – a Yorkshire phrase meaning “getting on with it” – captures the spirit of practical, no-nonsense collaboration that characterises the region’s approach to tackling complex challenges. 

Hosted by Dr Andy Mycock and Paul Hayes, the series explores how universities, local authorities, combined authorities, and communities work together to address shared priorities – from economic growth and early years education to community wellbeing and regional development. At its heart, the podcast tells the story of Yorkshire and the Humber as England’s trailblazer for academic-policy engagement. 

The Series 

Through conversations with researchers, policymakers, local government leaders, and community advocates, “Gerrin’ on wi’ it” unpacks the reality of collaborative working. Guests share candid reflections on what works, what doesn’t, and what they’d do differently – offering practical insights for building effective partnerships. 

The series features voices behind major regional initiatives including the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN) and the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP), born from a 2021 memorandum of understanding between Yorkshire Universities and Yorkshire & Humber Councils. 

Guests include Professor Joe Cook discussing Hull’s community-first research model, Dr Dan Olner on his embedded role within South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Kate Macdonald on enabling community voice, Kersten England CBE reflecting on decades of local government leadership, and Dr Peter O’Brien exploring how Yorkshire’s 12 universities collaborate with a shared regional mission. Throughout, the focus remains on real examples, lived experiences, and the practical challenges of bringing together stakeholders with different cultures, incentives, and pressures. 

About the Hosts 

Dr Andy Mycock is Chief Policy Fellow for Y-PERN, Cross-Programme Lead for the University Policy Engagement Network, and an elected trustee of the Political Studies Association, with extensive experience collaborating with stakeholders across the region, UK and internationally. 

Paul Hayes is Senior Policy Engagement Fellow at Leeds University Business School and was formerly corporate policy manager at Wakefield Council and policy lead for the Key Cities Group. 

Get Involved 

Listen to “Gerrin’ on wi’ it” on Soundcloud below or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcripts of all episodes are available. Download the transcript for this episode here

If you would like to discuss an appearance on our podcast, please get in touch.

On November 27th, Y-PERN Policy Fellow Dan Olner delivered an engaging webinar for ONS Local, attracting 120 participants interested in learning how to build efficient data pipelines using R.

What Was Covered

The session provided a comprehensive walkthrough of creating an end-to-end data pipeline in R, demonstrating how to:

• Get set up with R and RStudio online
• Use R to extract data directly from web sources
• Create pipelines through to final outputs
• Access and integrate multiple web-based data sources, including online Excel documents, the NOMIS API, and zipped file archives
• Wrangle and transform data for analysis
• Deal with inevitable format changes

Webinar participants learned how to create a report analysing productivity, jobs, and occupations across the UK’s core cities- showcasing R’s capabilities for producing professional content and insights.

Resources Available

The complete step-by-step slides are now available online.

For those seeking a more comprehensive introduction to R, materials the slides and recording from Dan’s last session provide an excellent foundation.

Dan Olner is a Y-PERN Policy Fellow from the University of Sheffield who has been seconded into South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to work alongside their officers.

We asked Dan to provide details of his work over the past few years during Y-PERN and SYMCA’s collaboration for a case study and to reflect on working within the Combined Authority and the success of an “embedded Policy Fellow model”.

DO “Being physically embedded in SYMCA’s Sheffield office has enabled a high level of day-to-day collaboration with policy teams. This has enabled a shift from thinking (somewhat patronisingly) about universities “transmitting expertise” into policy spaces to working alongside officers (who are themselves experts in their domains) to co-produce analysis and questions that support decision-making.

Physical presence and regular contact within SYMCA have been crucial. This has meant analysis can be shaped iteratively through conversations with officers, rather than being commissioned at a distance and delivered months later. As one fellow put it, “the policy environment changes massively faster than academia”. Being embedded allows us to work at that pace and adjust as priorities shift.

The following point is both a reason the embedded model is effective and also a challenge for it. The number of stakeholders is very large: SYMCA, four local authorities, two universities, consultants and other external organisations all bring different ideas, agendas and timelines. Y-PERN may have initially tried to position its fellows as brokers in this system, but the role is messier than that. It might be that Y-PERN Policy Fellows can act as bridges across academia and policy, but it is more likely that we are playing one small part in a larger process of dissolving the barriers between institutions in devolving regions, enabling more iterative and rapid “test and learn” collaboration.

This can make it difficult to clearly see what impact that role is having. For example, we organised some ‘policy forums’ with SYMCA and Sheffield’s universities. The first, in February 2024, focused on alternative approaches to urban economic development “Beyond GDP”, and how they are being interpreted and implemented in different city contexts. The session, led by Sheffield Hallam University colleague Richard Crisp, sparked a rich discussion about which concepts might actually work at a South Yorkshire scale. I summarised these themes in a blog post, linking national and international debates directly to local concerns. Those were an easy to measure outcome – but actually, I don’t think an especially a good example of Y-PERN doing what it does best.

Instead, consider these two examples from the last two weeks. A colleague from Sheffield University got in touch asking if anyone from SYMCA could guest lecture to their economics students. Not one but two senior SYCMA colleagues came. I also had a conversation with the deputy director of What Works Local Growth, who has a draft plan to deepen the links between data and evaluation. I collected them with various people, including the Yorkshire Engagement Portal run through YPIP.

Those kind of constant day-to-day interactions and linkages have a large impact but are rather under the radar. They also lead directly to more data and model outcomes – for example, a recent conversation with SYMCA’s GIS team should lead to Y-PERN-developed open economic data outputs being integrated into SYMCA’s own internal intelligence systems, in a way that will support Y-PERN in making it outputs as useful as possible to others.”

Read more about Dan’s embedded Policy Fellow role in our case study

A recent webinar hosted by Carole Pugh from York St John University and Charlee Bewsher from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Youth Work Unit has explored the critical role of youth work in preparing young people for political citizenship as the roll out of Votes at 16 is developed.

This one-off event was specifically designed to influence policy makers during this crucial period of democratic reform.

Key Focus Areas

The webinar highlighted important research findings about youth work’s unique contribution to democratic education. With approximately 4.4 million young people engaging in youth work activities each year, many from under-resourced areas who are less likely to vote or participate in formal citizenship lessons, the session made a compelling case for integrating youth work into Votes at 16 implementation strategies.

The presentation demonstrated how youth work equips young people for political citizenship and emphasised the need for an integrated approach that values youth work’s distinctive ability to support political socialisation alongside formal citizenship education.

Barriers and Recommendations

The webinar also examined current barriers that limit youth work’s capacity in this area and outlined practical recommendations to advance the democratic potential of youth work practice.

Following the main presentation, former Y-PERN Chief Policy Fellow and now Cross-Programme Lead for Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) Dr Andrew Mycock and Charlee Bewsher provided responses to the research findings.

Access the Resources

View the notes by Studio Noodle here | Watch the webinar

A collaborative team at the University of Sheffield and University of York and completed an evaluation of City of York Council’s (CYC) Universal Free School Meal (UFSM) pilot.

This policy brief is co written by Y-PERN Policy Fellow Rebecca Kerr and Aniela Wenham, Katherine Smith, John Hudson,
Eloise Tann, Louise Dye & Neil Boyle.

Qualitative and quantitative data indicates a number of positive outcomes associated with the provision of UFSMs at both schools, including enhanced readiness to learn, improved pupil wellbeing, and most notably improved attendance and reduced lateness over the course of the pilot. The importance of universality to the success of the policy is emphasised by both qualitative and quantitative elements of the research. 

Read more about the Universal Free School Meal pilot in Rebecca Kerr’s blog Evaluating City of York Council’s Universal Free School Meals