Joining UPEN means being part of a community with over two-thirds of UK Universities. We believe academic-policy engagement is strengthened through collaboration.
Membership for your institution, access for everyone
By joining the Network, all staff at your institution have access to our membership benefits.
Powered by our Members
We are a member-informed network. Our activities are steered by the membership and expertise across our network.
Made possible by donations
Membership activities are currently part-funded by the generosity of our members, through annual voluntary donations. Our Programmes work is funded separately, by a ring-fenced investment from Research England. Part of this investment is allocated to exploring what a sustainable income model looks like for UPEN and how our Members can co-create this with us.
Our Membership offer
The latest opportunities
Our newsletter collates opportunities for academic-policy engagement straight to your inbox, including opportunities from policy organisations you won’t find anywhere else.
Get news about events & training to build your practice, calls for evidence, and also news about UPEN Programmes and funding opportunities.
We offer ad hoc and bespoke training to Institutions looking to build capability in their knowledge brokerage function. This could include training for your academics, or supporting your own team to strategically consider your knowledge mobilisation practice.
This service is delivered by a network of experts across UPEN.
The UPEN Commissioning Funds are open exclusively to staff at UPEN Member institutions. You can apply for funding from between £5,000 to £50,000 to support activities that directly link to UPEN Programmes work.
Both academics and professional services staff are eligible to apply.
If you are an Independent Research Organisation or you’re outside of the UK, please get in touch.
You can join UPEN by getting in touch with us directly to speak to our Head of Membership and Network Development. Remember that UPEN Membership is institutional so you might already be a member. Consult our Membership directory.
UPEN Membership activity currently is part-funded by donations from our members. Donations currently support staff time, as well as our events programme and professional costs.
If you can donate, your contribution will help us continue providing these resources to the community.
Donations are voluntary and we operate a pay what you can model.
UPEN Programmes is funded by a ring-fenced Research England investment. Part of this work will develop independent income generating activities. These will be tested and developed to add to member contributions and other funding sources. Currently, Member contributions are the main form of independent income.
In 2026, we are still reliant on donations to continue operating. We are currently reviewing our Membership income model.
We are grateful to all donations received and we thank our Members for their ongoing support.
As a member, you can be involved as much as you like. Attend events, apply for funding, get involved in our sub-committees. Or simply read our newsletter.
We encourage all Institutional Leads at Member institutions to:
Promote funding opportunities like the UPEN Commissioning Funds
Share a Membership spotlight to feature your institution on our website
We’ve got this ready to go for you. Access our digital membership pack which includes everything you need.
In 2026, all UPEN Member institutions who have donated in the past three academic years (2023/4, 2024/25, 2025/26) are allocated three tickets. These can be used to invite colleagues and partners to the UPEN Conference. You can use your ticket allocation to bring an external partner.
UPEN Member institutions who have not donated in the past three years are allocated one ticket. To upgrade to three tickets, we require a minimum donation of £500.
UPEN’s role as a matchmaker between policy engagement opportunities and institutional expertise makes this network valuable. UPEN has functioned as our policy engagement mentor and offered everything we needed, from expert-led training at our policy engagement symposium to opportunities to attend important events that helped strengthen our capacity.
Dr Ahmad Al-HiariFounder of De Montfort University (DMU) Policy Unit
