Social Mobility Innovation Partnership
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Research Business and Innovation
Abstract
The Social Mobility Innovation Partnership (SMIP): city regions will bring together community partners, policy makers, city leaders, local industry and researchers to analyse barriers to social mobility, establish which can be most effectively tackled in a local context, and then co-create effective interventions that seek to make a real impact on those barriers.
The SMIP will be established within the Greater Bristol city region, reaching out through its national partners and the LPIP Strategic Coordination Hub, to Core Cities across the UK.
Our ambition is for the SMIP to deliver a programme of activity to promote social mobility and enable neighbourhoods and communities to develop and thrive, in turn supporting inclusive and sustainable growth in city regions. It will operate via three thematic lenses:
1. Access to education, skills and meaningful employment opportunities
2. Sustainable living and places
3. Culture and identity
The project will adopt a participatory iterative research design. In Phase 1, the Partnership will explore the needs and opportunities for collaboration across all three themes through data gathering, landscape and evidence analysis and a series of workshops, chaired by co-investigators from key community groups. It will take a deep dive into the theme of 'Access to skills and employment in the green economy', applying learning and a 'what works' approach to the establishment of an appropriate model for Phase 2, as well as drawing on Bristol's extensive track-record in Connected Community approaches.
The proposal has significant local and national support from senior political, academic, professional, and community leaders. It has the potential to transform the futures of disadvantaged and minority communities in the Bristol city region, influencing social mobility and inclusive growth in city regions across the UK.
The SMIP will be established within the Greater Bristol city region, reaching out through its national partners and the LPIP Strategic Coordination Hub, to Core Cities across the UK.
Our ambition is for the SMIP to deliver a programme of activity to promote social mobility and enable neighbourhoods and communities to develop and thrive, in turn supporting inclusive and sustainable growth in city regions. It will operate via three thematic lenses:
1. Access to education, skills and meaningful employment opportunities
2. Sustainable living and places
3. Culture and identity
The project will adopt a participatory iterative research design. In Phase 1, the Partnership will explore the needs and opportunities for collaboration across all three themes through data gathering, landscape and evidence analysis and a series of workshops, chaired by co-investigators from key community groups. It will take a deep dive into the theme of 'Access to skills and employment in the green economy', applying learning and a 'what works' approach to the establishment of an appropriate model for Phase 2, as well as drawing on Bristol's extensive track-record in Connected Community approaches.
The proposal has significant local and national support from senior political, academic, professional, and community leaders. It has the potential to transform the futures of disadvantaged and minority communities in the Bristol city region, influencing social mobility and inclusive growth in city regions across the UK.
Organisations
- University of the West of England (Lead Research Organisation)
- St Werburghs City Farm (Project Partner)
- GKN (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Soil Association (Project Partner)
- Bristol City Council (Project Partner)
- Universities UK (Project Partner)
- Arnolfini (Project Partner)
- Gritty Talent (Project Partner)
- Bristol Energy Network (Project Partner)
- NatWest Group (Project Partner)
- Burges Salmon LLP (Project Partner)
- West of England Combined Authority (Project Partner)
- University Alliance (Project Partner)
- Watershed (Project Partner)
- ACH (Ashley Community Housing Ltd) (Project Partner)
- Arup Group (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- This is Purpose (Project Partner)
| Description | Our Phase 1 work led to the development of a new SMIP Policy Challenge Cycle - which could provide the framework and robust delivery model for Phase 2. The Cycle recognises the importance of collaborative knowledge production and solutions innovation across academia, community organisations, government and business, such as public participatory science. It prioritises constant, iterative learning and evaluation and is focused on producing practical, positive outcomes for social mobility. Through the Listening Partnerships and Phase 1 co-production, we were able to identify 3 initial priority policy challenges (aligned to our original 3 thematic lenses) that are significant to the Bristol city region for social mobility - as well as one cross-cutting challenge: i. Low Black and minority ethnic representation in the teaching profession, and access to skills training for Black and minoritised young people ii. Scaling and accelerating opportunities for community place-based climate resilience iii. Transforming Bristol's culture and communities' policies to accelerate city and community connectedness iv. Lack of integration across social mobility policies leading to unintended negative consequences with respect to social mobility |
| Exploitation Route | Further social mobility policy challenges could be identified and considered using the SMIP Policy Challenge Cycle methodologies. A key message from the Listening Partnerships was that traditional local funding mechanisms prevent support reaching areas of need equitably. The more equitable model of participatory grant-making was highlighted as a successful delivery model in this area and something that Bristol has success in delivering as a city. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Education Environment Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Transport |
| URL | https://smip.org.uk/ |
| Description | Our Listening Partnerships were a collaborative and equitable approach to policy engagement and galvanised significant city-region interest and high-quality engagement across multiple sessions exploring Social Mobility. Further engagement took place with leading national organisations including the Inclusive Growth Network, Core Cities, Thriving Places, Social Mobility Commission and Office for National Statistics (ONS). Steering Group meetings were attended by 12 academic researchers from both universities and an inaugural Advisory Group - co-chaired by the universities' Deputy Vice-Chancellors - was attended by senior and high-profile figures from Government, policy think tanks, academia and industry. During this time, a bi-weekly newsletter - providing updates on activity was published on the SMIP website - gained 150+ subscribers. In June 2023 a Civic University Agreement was signed between UWE, UoB, BCC and the City of Bristol College. A further sign of deepening partnership work in the city, the agreement committed to harnessing combined resources and networks and to build on existing programmes such as the Social Justice Network and One City Approach. Developing the SMIP was highlighted within the CUA as a flagship example of the collaboration needed to address inequalities that the partners could lead. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Academic Steering Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Further engagement took place with Steering Group meetings attended by 12 academic researchers from both universities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Advisory Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An inaugural Advisory Group - co-chaired by the universities' Deputy Vice-Chancellors - was attended by senior and high-profile figures from Government, policy think tanks, academia and industry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Engagement meetings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Further engagement took place with leading national organisations including the Inclusive Growth Network, Core Cities, Thriving Places, Social Mobility Commission and Office for National Statistics (ONS). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Listening Partnerships |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Three linked sets of workshops co-led and facilitated by the community Co-Is, the PI, academics and policy staff from the universities - took place, attended by 90+ people. This included 29 community anchor and VCSE organisations from a diverse range of groups under-represented in policymaking including disabled people, Black and minority ethnic communities and disadvantaged neighbourhoods and demographics, as well as policy professionals from the West of England Combined Authority, Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council and industry experts. Listening Partnerships (LP) ensured that representative, informed and in-depth exploratory conversations took place. Each LP comprised two workshops and looked at social mobility through three thematic lenses: • Access to education, skills and meaningful employment opportunities (aligned to the economy theme) • Sustainable living and places (aligned to the environment theme) • Culture and identity (aligned to the community theme) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://smip.org.uk/ |