Uncategorized – Y-PERN

Y-PERN 2025 Conference Highlights: Bridging Academia and Policymaking

July 4, 2025July 3, 2025 by ypern

The Yorkshire & Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network brought together 200 delegates at the University of Huddersfield for our most ambitious conference yet, showcasing how devolution is creating unprecedented opportunities for academic-policy collaboration across our region.

Devolution: A Game-Changer for Yorkshire

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin opened the conference with a powerful message about the region’s potential: “Our 12 fantastic higher education institutions are working hand-in-glove with our innovative businesses to forge our own future.” Her words set the tone for a day focused on how devolved powers are transforming the relationship between universities, local government, and business.

The morning’s first roundtable brought together heavyweight voices including Dave Petley (University of Hull VC and Chair of Yorkshire Universities), Stian Westlake (Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council), Kate Josephs (CEO of Sheffield City Council), and Mark Casci (Head of Policy and Representation at West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce).

Kate Josephs captured the moment perfectly: “What devolution offers is a new opportunity for universities partnering with local governments, with regional governments, with businesses, with other educational institutions to really start to weave together a programme of research that can be practical, that can change things and that have even greater impact.”

Real-World Collaboration in Action

The second session, chaired by Natalie Allen from Leeds Beckett University, demonstrated how our network is already turning theory into practice. With speakers including Peter O’Brien from Yorkshire Universities, Kate Mieske from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Dr. Jatinder Singh Mehmi from the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, and Robin Tuddenham from Calderdale Council, the session highlighted the significance of place-based partnerships in driving meaningful policy change.

Tackling Regional Challenges Together

Our interactive workshops proved to be the conference’s most dynamic element, with stakeholders collaborating on pressing issues including:

Early years and childcare provision
Community engagement strategies
Business support frameworks
Housing security challenges

These sessions demonstrated Y-PERN’s core strength: bringing together the right people to tackle complex regional challenges with evidence-based solutions.

Looking to the Future

The closing panel, “Where Next? The Future of Regional Policy Engagement,” brought together Kersten England CBE (our Engagement Director), Sarah Chaytor (Co-Founder of UPEN), Prof. Rebecca Riley (Co-Director of City-REDI), Jon Gleek from Doncaster Council, and our own Programme Manager Kayleigh Renberg-Fawcett.

The panel emphasized how Y-PERN harnesses the expertise of Yorkshire’s 15,000 academics to tackle local challenges while exploring how our regional model could inform engagement strategies both regionally and nationally.

Celebrating Our Impact

The conference showcased Y-PERN’s proven track record, highlighting successful initiatives including the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP) and Yorkshire & Humber Office for Data Analytics (YHODA). These examples demonstrate our network’s ability to create lasting institutional innovations that deliver real benefits for our region.

We’re proud to share that our recently published Impact Report showcases three years of collaboration between Yorkshire and the Humber’s universities and policymakers that has transformed evidence-based decision-making across our region.

Building Yorkshire’s Future Together

The success of our 2025 conference reinforces Y-PERN’s vital role in advancing research-informed policy development throughout Yorkshire and the Humber. As we continue to fulfil our commitments outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding between Yorkshire Universities and Yorkshire and Humber Councils, we’re building a stronger, more collaborative future for our region.

We would like to extend a huge thank you for all the speakers and delegates for joining us at Y-PERN 2025.

Devolution in Yorkshire and the Humber

July 1, 2025 by ypern

Discover how regional governance is transforming through collaborative leadership and devolved powers.

We are proud to present our explainer animated video on “the story of devolution”, a film about how devolution is transforming governance across Yorkshire and the Humber region.

Animated by Leeds Arts University graduate, Kieran Leppington, the video perfectly illustrates how Yorkshire and the Humber’s Mayoral Combined Authorities are pooling resources and leveraging devolved powers to drive regional growth and address unique local challenges – from coastal erosion in Hull to integrated transport across West Yorkshire.

Understanding Regional Devolution

This comprehensive introduction explores how devolution has reshaped governance across Yorkshire and the Humber since 2014. Learn about the four Combined Authorities, their elected mayors, and the collaborative approach driving regional development through the ground-breaking White Rose Agreement.

Devolution Powers & Responsibilities

Economic development and regeneration initiatives
Strategic transport planning and investment
Housing development and affordable housing delivery
Adult skills and education coordination
Policing oversight (Police and Crime Commissioner duties)
Ten-year Local Growth Plan development
Collaborative regional policymaking

Key Statistics

4 Combined Authorities
5.18M Total Population
£99.34M Annual Investment
30 Years Funding Commitment

Latest Development

The March 2025 White Rose Agreement marks a historic collaboration between regional mayors, strengthening partnerships on economic, social, transport, and environmental priorities.

Y-PERN would like to give a special thanks to voiceover artist Andy Mycock, script writers Neil Barnett and Andy Mycock and to the team at The Knowledge Exchange at Leeds Beckett University in the production of this video.

Y-PERN’s 2025 Impact Report

July 5, 2025June 27, 2025 by ypern

Three-year report reveals ground-breaking collaboration between universities and policymakers drives regional development

Y-PERN’s 2025 Impact Report showcases three years of close collaboration between the region’s universities and policymakers that has transformed evidence-based decision-making across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Since its inception in 2022, Y-PERN has established itself as a critical bridge between the region’s universities and policymakers, fostering collaboration that harnesses Yorkshire and the Humber’s remarkable multidisciplinary academic expertise to address key policy challenges.

Together with our partners across our twelve universities, and wider network, we’re working on a shared endeavour towards regional supported through Y-PERN but recognising the region’s wider strength

Y-PERN has been fundamental to the Combined Authority, particularly in helping us to develop our Local Growth Plan. As a newly formed CA, we don’t have a large or established data resource in place and Y-PERN has helped to fill that gap and ensure our emerging strategies are evidence-led.

— Kate McHugh, Research and Evaluation Officer, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority

Breaking Down Silos, Driving Action

Y-PERN’s innovative networked approach is successfully transforming academic engagement with policy, creating a “live laboratory” for regional development. The initiative has leveraged over £6 million in Research England funding to support evidence-led policymaking across diverse areas including skills development, childcare, female entrepreneurship, homelessness, and flood risk management.

A Model for the Future

As Yorkshire and the Humber continues to evolve with devolution – now with all regions covered by Mayoral Combined Authorities – Y-PERN’s collaborative model demonstrates the significant benefits that can be achieved when academia, policymakers, and communities unite under a common purpose for regional development.

“The Devolution Project has been a successful collaboration between Yorkshire and Humber Councils and Y-PERN, showcasing the region’s commitment to enhance local governance, drive innovation and support collaboration via devolution. At a time where devolution continues to build momentum, with all areas of the Yorkshire and Humber region now covered by an MCA or Strategic Authority, this project has been helpful in demonstrating the region’s strong support for collaboration and the potential for devolution to bring significant benefits to local communities.“

Florence Drew, Head of Chief Executive’s Office, Office of the Chief Executive Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

As phase one of Y-PERN’s programme draws to its end and enters its transition year in 2025-2026, the report looks to the future and evaluates the impact that Y-PERN has had. It highlights Y-PERN’s unique Policy Fellow model, which embeds academic researchers directly within policy organizations, creating trusted partnerships that enhance both research quality and policy impact. This approach has proven particularly effective in providing specialised expertise where capacity is limited.

“Our findings indicate that the policy fellow role is crucial, as is a knowledge brokerage approach and Yorkshire Universities’ contribution. We found early signs of impact on policy development, with higher education also emerging as an effective alternative to consultants in certain contexts.“

– Dr Bridget Sealey, Stephen Meek and Claire Packman (with advisory support from Prof Kathryn Oliver), Sealey Associates (Y-PERN Evaluation team)

For more information about Y-PERN’s impact and future initiatives, visit our Impact report: Bridging academia and policy across Yorkshire & the Humber.

Boosting academic evidence in policymaking

June 6, 2025 by ypern

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

Y-PERN 2025 Conference: Bridging Academia and Policymaking

April 24, 2025April 24, 2025 by ypern

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.

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

April 23, 2025 by ypern

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 scribes Download

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

April 8, 2025April 2, 2025 by ypern

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:

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.
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.
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

Putting health at the heart of your local economy

March 24, 2025March 10, 2025 by ypern

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

March 24, 2025March 10, 2025 by ypern

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.