A Community of Practice is a space in which to convene practitioners who share a common area of expertise, interest, or experience to learn from each other and collectively advance their own knowledge. The idea behind them is that learning is fundamentally social and relational, and structured communities can act as a way to connect and learn outside of formal training.
“For members of a community of practice learning from and with each other, challenges of practice drive learning, and learning is only relevant in so far as it changes what happens in practice.” Wenger-Trayner et al (2023) Communities of Practice: a guidebook
Communities of Practice have been used in various ways across contexts and sectors. UPEN would like to use Communities of Practice not only as a space of shared learning, but as an active, member-led space for action and activity across academic-policy engagement. They are intended to be a space for:
- Supporting networking between members
- Facilitating peer learning and knowledge exchange across institutions.
- Building capability and capacity across the membership
- Identifying shared challenges and co‑developing solutions
- Producing resources, guidance, or outputs that support the wider network.
- Strengthening relationships between universities, and with policy stakeholders.
UPEN’s strength comes from its members and the network and community we build together.
As part of our wider governance and Membership review, in April 2026 we agreed to turn our Sub-Committees into Communities of Practice, to reflect the nature of the activities carried out and provide further foundation for Members to engage in self-sustained, collective activity around sector issues or topics.
