We are excited to announce that Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) has been awarded £5 million by Research England, with additional funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and UKRI, to develop and scale the network from 2025 – 2028. Over the next four years, we’re embarking on new programmes of work to;
- Improve UK universities’ ability to engage with policy organisations and policymakers
- Support place-based policymaking by strengthening engagement between universities, regional, and local policy organisations
- Embed citizen engagement and community-driven approaches to policymaking
- Create more sustainable and resilient engagement models
The funding will support UPEN’s evolution from a voluntary network into a sustainable organisation, shoring up the future of academic-policy engagement in the UK.
On the award, 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.
As the current host of UPEN, UCL leads a collaborative partnership with teams from the Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Durham, Huddersfield, Leeds, Nottingham Trent, Southampton, Teesside, Insights North East and the Wales Centre for Public Policy at Cardiff University. Alongside university partners, UPEN will work with the Institute for Community Studies, the Institute for Government, and Yorkshire Universities signalling the importance of collective activity for effective policy engagement.
As we roll out our new programmes, there will be opportunities for our members to be involved, both to participate in activities and to deliver innovative engagement projects, supported by over £1 million of commissioning funds.
Sarah Chaytor, Professor Andy Brown and Dr Chris Hewson, Co-Chairs of UPEN, said:
This is a significant milestone in UPEN’s development, providing us with resource and capacity to strengthen our knowledge brokerage functions and increase our support for member institutions. The funding will enable us to develop sustainable approaches to connect academic research to policymaking, which can generate insights to improve outcomes for people across the UK.
The ESRC have provided their support with £300,000 to support participation of universities across the UK in UPEN Programmes. A further £582,000 has been awarded through UKRI’s strategic theme, ‘Creating Opportunities, Improving Outcomes’ to develop work on regional evidence needs.
You’ll also see some familiar and new faces working on UPEN Programmes – stay tuned for introductions to our team members and more details about the work over the coming months.
Want to get in touch? Email us hello@upen.ac.uk
Related resources
Knowledge into action: achieving collaboration between communities, academia, and local government
Impact of Policy Schools as an Academic-Policy Engagement Mechanism: Lessons from a pilot year
