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Research Communication in Curriculums

We have partnered with the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) to set up a new Community of Practice on Research Communication in Curriculums. This CoP aims to enhance student capability, create opportunities for professional development, and embed policy engagement skills in higher education.

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If you are an academic or student interested in how policy engagement can be built into higher education curriculums, this CoP is for you. Join this CoP if you have an interest in policy engagement as a form of problem-based learning, to share examples of innovative and creative teaching practices, and to explore interesting questions that come up through these activites.

Peer-learning

Create a peer-supported space for academics to engage with evidence-informed policy practices, networks, and professional development opportunities through their research and teaching responsibilities.

Enhance student capability

Enhance student capability for policy literary and engagement, and thus, graduate outcomes, through the use of research communication practices in the classroom.

Innovation and creative practice

Sharing examples of innovative and creative teaching practices across institutions for collaboration and professional development.

Key Information

  • 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.  

  • Anybody can join a UPEN Community of Practice. This Community of Practice is looking for anybody (academic, professional, student, policy actor) with a professional or academic interest in research communication practice and integration in higher education curriculum.

  • This CoP will meet four times over the next 12 months, for up to 1.5 hours. There may be further opportunities to engage through events, workshops, and others.

    There is no firm time commitment beyond a minimum expectation of engagement, for example, attending meetings, responding to emails and requests for feedback, and contributing to the wider group.

  • CoP members are expected to: 

    • Participate actively in meetings and discussions 
    • Share relevant expertise, resources, and experience for the benefit of the community  
    • Contribute to outputs  
    • Respect confidentiality  
    • Support a collaborative, inclusive, and constructive environment aligned to UPEN’s values. 

Co-Chaired by…

Headshot of Nicola Fisher

Nicola Fisher

Nottingham University Business School
Headshot of Nicola Fisher

Nicola Fisher

Nottingham University Business School

I am an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Health Innovation, Leadership and Learning at Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham. I am also the Departmental External Engagement Director and the institutional link for the Universitas 21 Health Research Exchange. I am a Registered Nurse and hold an Honorary Senior Research Fellow position with the Academic Department of Military Nursing in Defence Medical Command. As an early-career researcher, my research interests span the healthcare workforce, governance and policy, public health and implementation science, alongside teaching interests in responsible business practice, public management and policy.

As Co-Chair, I am excited to bring together the wealth of experience and ideas across its membership to develop innovative, applied and authentic pedagogy that prepares students to engage with policy confidently and meaningfully.

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Headshot of Melissa Hawkins

Melissa Hawkins

Nottingham University Business School
Headshot of Melissa Hawkins

Melissa Hawkins

Nottingham University Business School

I’m an assistant professor at Northumbria University’s Business School. My current responsibilities include Apprenticeship co-lead for the Business School and co-lead of the Public Policy and Management Research Group.

My research interests have been shaped by over twenty years of experience in education, including my time spent as a teacher practitioner in schools, where I often experienced the impact of policy first-hand! As a response to these experiences, my work centres on using action-oriented and participatory approaches to developing policy and practice which acknowledges the complex reality of the social world.  

As co-chair I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to support learning and developmental opportunities in how we can link work on academic-policy engagement with educational offerings.

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Mohammad Saki

Mohammad Saki

University of West London
Mohammad Saki

Mohammad Saki

University of West London

I’m a Senior Lecturer in Sustainability and Green Technologies at the University of West London, with a PhD in Built Environment and Senior Fellow status with the Higher Education Academy.

My research has always been about closing the gap between evidence and the people who have to live with its consequences. I run flood literacy workshops with schools across the UK, train engineers developing flood interventions themselves and led a consortium bringing sustainable drainage and rain gardens to social housing estates. I’ve led British Council-funded projects on curriculum development for a joint Sustainable Engineering Management certificate in Mexico. I am now working on the Decolonisation in Transnational Education project funded by SEDA, as well as exploring how storytelling can strengthen the emotional and public reach of sustainability work.

I’m excited about the opportunity to create this CoP from the ground up. I’m continually reflecting on the idea that knowing something isn’t the same as being able to use it.

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