Innovation & Research Caucus
Lead Research Organisation:
Oxford Brookes University
Department Name: Oxford Brookes Business School
Abstract
The ambition of the Innovation and Research Caucus (I&RC) is to establish itself as the go to intermediary for actionable innovation and research funding policy insights. Building on the legacy of the current Innovation Caucus, a key focus of the I&RC will be to both champion and leverage social science research on the innovation and research system in the UK, and provide powerful actionable insights as to what works, where and why.
The I&RC model will provide a robust and actionable evidence base for the funders to identify the most effective funding and support interventions to strengthen the research and innovation landscape in the UK. With a focus on generating and curating high-quality evidence and insights to inform future strategy and delivery plans of UKRI, ESRC and Innovate UK, the I&RC will work collaboratively with the funders to identify and deliver against agreed priorities.
Our proposed approach will see Phase 1 work with the funders and key stakeholders to develop the work programme of the I&RC. Using a design thinking inspired approach the Co-Directors, Professors Vorley and Roper, will engage in consultation to ensure that the I&RC meets the needs of the funders, before developing and gaining feedback on the proposed model. The work programme will be subject to review across the duration of the I&RC, although retain sufficient agility to respond to funder requests within each period of the work programme.
To meet the requirements of the funders, Phase 2 of the I&RC model will be structured around a series of strategic and responsive projects to address short and medium-term priorities. All projects will be agreed in conjunction with the Operations and Investment Management Group, and have a light touch project initiation document specifying the project aim, deliverables and intended outcomes. This model has proved highly effective in the current Innovation Caucus - providing a means to manage the expectation of the funder and capacity of the core team to deliver high quality projects.
While projects will provide the organisational basis of the I&RC the model is structured around a series of core capabilities, designed to meet the current and future needs of the funders.
The I&RC model will provide a robust and actionable evidence base for the funders to identify the most effective funding and support interventions to strengthen the research and innovation landscape in the UK. With a focus on generating and curating high-quality evidence and insights to inform future strategy and delivery plans of UKRI, ESRC and Innovate UK, the I&RC will work collaboratively with the funders to identify and deliver against agreed priorities.
Our proposed approach will see Phase 1 work with the funders and key stakeholders to develop the work programme of the I&RC. Using a design thinking inspired approach the Co-Directors, Professors Vorley and Roper, will engage in consultation to ensure that the I&RC meets the needs of the funders, before developing and gaining feedback on the proposed model. The work programme will be subject to review across the duration of the I&RC, although retain sufficient agility to respond to funder requests within each period of the work programme.
To meet the requirements of the funders, Phase 2 of the I&RC model will be structured around a series of strategic and responsive projects to address short and medium-term priorities. All projects will be agreed in conjunction with the Operations and Investment Management Group, and have a light touch project initiation document specifying the project aim, deliverables and intended outcomes. This model has proved highly effective in the current Innovation Caucus - providing a means to manage the expectation of the funder and capacity of the core team to deliver high quality projects.
While projects will provide the organisational basis of the I&RC the model is structured around a series of core capabilities, designed to meet the current and future needs of the funders.
Organisations
Publications
Abdul Rahman S
(2024)
Uncovering the latent potential for Arts, Humanities and Social Science Venture Building
Abdul Rahman S
(2023)
Post-Mission-Led Commercialisation Catalyst Roundtable Brief
Coates Ulrichsen T
(2023)
Universities at the Heart of an Innovation-Led Recovery
De Silva M
(2025)
Champions: Transforming projects to work programmes and missions
Ghorbank M
(2024)
Role of Champions: Insights from the Literature
| Description | The IRC brings researchers, funders, and policymakers together to improve the UK's research and innovation system. By funding projects, running workshops, and fostering collaboration, it helps generate valuable insights that guide decision-making. One of IRC's key achievements is developing a diverse portfolio of projects in areas such as skills development, place-based innovation, and adoption and diffusion. These projects are co-designed with funders and stakeholders, ensuring they address relevant and practical questions. As a result, IRC's work provides insights that directly shape R&I policies and funding strategies. For example, the project examining economic impact of international research and innovation collaboration has provided a strong baseline of existing evidence on international collaboration, relevant across Innovate UK, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Over time, the IRC has expanded its network. While the primary IRC stakeholders are Innovate UK, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the UKRI Strategic Team, it now collaborates with additional partners such as the Science and technology Facilities Council, Research England and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). This growing engagement demonstrates the value of IRC's collaborative approach in generating research that is directly applicable to policymakers and practitioners. The IRC also supports external researchers by funding over 25 academic projects, covering a range of areas, including firm productivity, innovation in rural areas, the impact of government research and development (R&D) support, and technology adoption in businesses. These projects help funders like UKRI gain valuable evidence to shape future policies while also giving academics insight into how academic insight is used in strategic decision making. More details on these projects can be found at www.ircaucus.ac.uk. Beyond research, the IRC hosts events and workshops, that bring together academics, funders, and industry professionals. These events help to build connections, develop skills, and share knowledge. For example, the Early Career Researcher (ECR) Conferences connect early-stage researchers with senior academics, journal editors and UKRI representatives to discuss how research can have a real-world impact. The Building Inclusive Innovation Systems workshop, in partnership with the Enterprise Research Centre and the Centre for Innovation Management Research, explored how to make UK's innovation ecosystem more inclusive for underrepresented communities. These activities ensure that a range of actors and stakeholders contribute to shaping the research and innovation landscape. Rather than focusing on a single major impact and individual findings, IRC's works leads to a series of smaller, meaningful contributions that collectively strengthen the R&I system. By fostering collaboration, funding research, and hosting events, the IRC provides valuable thought leadership and practical insights that help shape the future of research funding and innovation policy in the UK. |
| Exploitation Route | The insights from our activities are designed to benefit a wide range stakeholders, including: - Funders: informing research and innovation funding strategies. - Government departments and policymakers: providing evidence to shape policies and decision-making. - Business and industry: providing resources to enhance productivity - Academics: enhancing understanding of the research and innovation system To ensure our findings are effectively shared and put to use, the IRC uses several dissemination routes, including: - Non-technical reports and briefings: summarizing key insights in an accessible way. - Webinars: presenting findings to a broad audience and facilitating discussions. - Social media and website updates: keeping stakeholders informed and engaged. - Participation in external roundtables and events : sharing insights directly with the wider community These activities are designed with the stakeholders in mind to maximize impact. Whenever possible, we co-create outputs. This collaborative approach increases the likelihood that our insights will be adopted and applied. Additionally, our work includes practical recommendations to support real-world implementation. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Environment Government Democracy and Justice Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Other |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/ |
| Description | The Innovation and Research Caucus (IRC) has been making a substantial contribution to working to build a thriving, inclusive research and innovation system through academic expertise insights. A few examples demonstrating this are provided below. We currently have over 40 projects at various stages of delivery, that have been co-developed and sponsored by Innovate UK, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Our projects are making contributions to decision making and investment design for a range of stakeholders, such as UKRI, the Higher Education Sector and broader policy makers. For example, within UKRI the project 'The Contribution of Innovate UK to UK Firm Growth and Performance' carried out by Marc Cowling and Nick Wilson (2024-25) provided an econometric analyses of Innovate UK grants between 2005 and 2023, focusing on the impact of supported companies. The paper was used by Innovate UK and UKRI teams in the preparation of the Innovation Business Case as part of the 2025 Spending Review process. Findings from the study provided robust and timely insights that were useful in evidencing the impact of public support on innovation. The IRC report 'Insight from Innovation State of the Nation Survey 2023 and 2024' was used to inform the Innovate UK 'State of Innovation 2024' report. Feedback from stakeholders of the project (and subsequent papers) has been positive and findings from the project have been shared with government departments, other public bodies, ecosystem partners and other key stakeholders. Findings have been presented to relevant analytical and policy staff, and results have been used as evidence in the 2025 Spending Review, for answering parliamentary questions and as part of the OECD review of UK innovation (being delivered by IRC). In addition to directly informing UKRI strategies and decision making, the work by the IRC is providing evidence to the Science and Technology Committee. For example, UKRI's response to an inquiry by the Science and Technology Committee (IGR0033) stated IRC's 'place' theme research reports contributed to the development of UKRI's Strategy 2022-27. (committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/134430/pdf/). Furthermore, the Science and Technology Committee conducted an inquiry on innovation, growth, and the regions. Through providing written responses, the following IRC projects helped the Committee in the assessment of the role of the UK's innovation ecosystem in achieving the Government's mission to kickstart economic growth across the country. These include: 1) The IRC's report, 'Addressing Spatial Inequalities through Innovation,' authored by Professor Neil Lee, contributed to the written evidence submitted to the Committee. committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/133864/html/). IGR0010 ( UK Parliament Select Committee Publications on 7 February 2025) 2) Several of IRC's research outputs themed on 'place' (Publications - Innovation Research Caucus) have been cited in UKRI's response to this committee (Written evidence by UKRI (IGR0033)). committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/134430/pdf/ UK Parliament Select Committee Publications on 7 February 2025) 3) IRC research has been used in most recommendations given in a written evidence submission by the NCC committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/135372/html/ . IGR0056 (24 January 2025) These examples demonstrate that IRC projects are helping to create the best conditions for research and innovation by providing evidence to the wider research and innovation system. The work of the IRC is also being used in the Higher Education sector. For example, the Innovation Skills Framework Summary published under the IRC predecessor the Innovation Caucus is being further developed into an Innovation, Commercialisation and Entrepreneur Framework (ICE). This ICE Framework has been shared and adopted by many further education colleges in various ways. East Kent College has used this framework for curriculum evaluation and development for health and social care and digital health programmes; Oldham College (Manchester) is using this framework as a part of its FEIF programme. The IRC is also providing research insights on the theory, policy and practice of research and innovation support. The Government Independent Review of Research Bureaucracy (see page 36) - Government response to the Independent Review of Research Bureaucracy (publishing.service.gov.uk) quotes the IRC as an expert in research on research. This shows how we are moving towards achieving our objective of being a word leading centre of excellence in supporting strategies and interventions. The IRC also hosts workshops, roundtables and seminars organised jointly with funding councils to help with the diffusion of actionable insights from IRC's research. Examples include an ESRC, BBSRC and AHRC and IRC co developed workshop on multidisciplinary, mission-led, commercialisation catalysts; participation in a joint UKRI in person townhall event to discuss and road-test UKRI's strategy in AI and becoming a partner of Innovate UK's new Talent and Skills platform. IRC staff have given presentations to numerous influential and decision-making bodies. This body of evidence supports how we are working with UKRI to increase the use and influence of robust evidence, insights and thought leadership in the development of R&I funding and support interventions and strategies, building a community of proactively engaged experts and developing the IRC has a word leading centre of excellence. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Title | Data from the Innovation State of the Nation Survey (ISNS): 2023 & 2024 |
| Description | The ISNS is an annual survey covering 2,000 firms. It aims to provide a representative view of UK firms' R&D and innovation activity, which can help identify particular challenges and opportunities for policy development and support. The data is based on ISNS 2023 and ISNS 2024 information. The 2023 survey covered 2,018 firms and was conducted between November 2022 and February 2023. The 2024 survey covered 2,001 firms and was undertaken between February and May 2024. As an annual survey, the ISNS data relates to firms' innovation activity over the previous year. The data includes micro-businesses with 5-9 employees and includes long-established, local manufacturing and services companies and high-potential start-ups and spin-outs. The ISNS uses targeted online data collection through a business panel and telephone interviews to allow timely data collection. See associated report: https://innovation-research-caucus-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/production/uploads/2024/12/Report-INSIGHT-FROM-INNOVATION-STATE-OF-THE-NATION-SURVEY-ISNS-2023-AND-2024-Final.pdf |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Business innovation - creating or changing products, services, and business methods - is crucial in driving productivity and growth. Evidence from the UK Innovation Survey (UKIS), published earlier this year, currently covers the period up to 2022. Despite some survey-to-survey variation, this suggests a downward trend in the proportion of innovation-active UK firms. The UKIS also suggests an increasing gap between the proportion of larger and smaller firms that are innovation-active. New data from the Innovation State of the Nation Survey (ISNS) brings the story to date based on data collected in early 2023 and 2024. See associated report: https://innovation-research-caucus-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/production/uploads/2024/12/Report-INSIGHT-FROM-INNOVATION-STATE-OF-THE-NATION-SURVEY-ISNS-2023-AND-2024-Final.pdf |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/publications/insight-from-innovation-state-of-the-nation-survey-isns-2023-and... |
| Description | AI new ventures and science base workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshop that is a mix of speakers from industry, policy, universities, and academics. first part of the day would focus on the AI eco-system in the UK and the issues and challenges for university-industry collaboration, and the second part of the day would be more research focused with presentations from academics on their research projects in this area. In collaboration with Prof Ammon Salter project 'Profiting from Science'. This event generated multiple discussions and thought for future areas of research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/sharpening-the-uks-ai-edge-workshop-post-event-summary/ |
| Description | Blog Post: Designing Research for Impact: Part 1: Introduction and Identifying Beneficiaries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The blog post was written by guest blogger, Hannah Clark, Impact Facilitator, University of Manchester, who delivered a session at our Early Career Researchers Conference earlier this year. This is the first of a four part series looking at the key elements to designing research projects to achieve meaningful impact. The aim of these four blogs will be to cover some of the fundamentals of research impact. The first blog looks at 'identifying the beneficiaries of your research project'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/blog-post-designing-research-for-impact-part-1-introduction-and-identifying-b... |
| Description | Blog Post: Enhancing the UK Agri-Tech Sector: Mapping the path to Innovation and Commercial Success |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The blog post was written by Dr Hamisu Salihu and is based on the findings from the Mapping the Innovation and Commercialisation Infrastructure for Agricultural Technology in the UK report. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/blog-post-enhancing-the-uk-agri-tech-sector-mapping-the-path-to-innovation-an... |
| Description | Blog Post: Staying curious is a superpower for researchers who want to have impact |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Blog post written by guest blogger, Professor Alice Owen offering three tips that have helped the author bridge the gap between their research and what people who are not researchers need or want to know. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/blog-post-staying-curious-is-a-superpower-for-researchers-who-want-to-have-im... |
| Description | Blog post: 'UK Firms' R&D Internationalisation: A Comprehensive and Statistical Review' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this blog Jun Du and Dalila Ribaudo share details of their new project 'UK Firms' R&D Internationalisation: A Comprehensive and Statistical Review' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/uk-firms-rd-internationalisation-a-comprehensive-and-statistical-review/ |
| Description | Blog post: Building winners: the policy levers for impactful innovation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this blog, Tasos Kitsos, Dalila Ribaudo, Charlotte Hoole and Chloe Billing share details of their new project 'Building winners: the policy levers for impactful innovation' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/building-winners-the-policy-levers-for-impactful-innovation/ |
| Description | Building Inclusive Innovation Systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was a collaboration between Innovation & Research Caucus, Enterprise Research Centre and Centre for Innovation Management, Birkbeck, University of London. The workshop explored how the innovation ecosystem can be made more inclusive for underserved communities, and the different roles of stakeholders within this. This opportunity allowed the sharing of ideas and aimed to identify research synergies and potential collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/building-inclusive-innovation-systems-workshop-post-event-summary/ |
| Description | ECR Conference 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This conference bought together senior academics from the IRC network, editors from innovation and research journals and representatives of UKRI funding councils to work with you to develop your skills as PGR/ECR researchers, and your ideas for research projects. The event shared the experience and knowledge of senior engaged academics with PGRs & ECRs with interests in Innovation & Research , encouraged networking to form strong cohort bonds and promoted the state of the art in scholarship for Innovation & Research. A panel with editors from innovation and research journals also discussed how to publish research in their journals as well as a panel with senior colleagues from funding councils (UKRI, ESRC and Innovate UK) about how to make research impactful for audiences. The attendees reported new connections made and lessons learnt in the areas of impact, engagement and publication for varied audiences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/early-career-and-postgraduate-researchers-conference-2025-post-event-summary/ |
| Description | ECR/PGR Focused Event - Reach your Potential with Engaged Scholarship |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This ECR/PGR focused two-day mini conference connected senior academics from the IRC network, editors from innovation and research journals and representatives of UKRI funding councils with ECR/PGRs to develop their skills as researchers, and to discuss research projects. Topics included principles of good research communication, routes to engagement and how to publish your research in journals. The event recieved high praise from those attending (both from delegates and speakers) and future events following a similar structure are planned. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/reach-your-potential-with-engaged-scholarship/ |
| Description | Early Careers Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Led by CoE member, Dr Enrico Vanino, this workshop brings together young researchers working on related topics around Economic Geography and provides them with an opportunity to discuss their papers and ongoing research with more established researchers. The workshop will also feature a keynote speech by Prof. Neil Lee (LSE), a training session on advanced analysis of new data sources on innovation led by Dr. Sergio Petralia (Utrecht), presentations from senior researchers, and a meet-the-editors session giving the opportunity to ECRs to discuss research publication with editors from top-ranked journals, as Regional Studies and Research Policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | ICE Framework at the WorldSkills Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The IRC was invited to participate at a workshop as part of Network of Innovation Day hosted by World Skills UK. The IRC was invited to present the ICE Skills Framework in a session lead by Innovate UK on Skills and Mindset Development. Following the presentation, there were several requests for further information and interest in applying the framework in different settings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | IRC networking event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This event brought together research and innovation researchers, thought leaders and funders from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to introduce the IRC and to discuss directions and key evidence needs for research and innovation support. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/news-updates-2/ |
| Description | Invited panel member at the United Kingdom Science Park Association annual conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | "Prof Tim Vorley was invited to speak on a panel at the UKSPA - The United Kingdom Science Park Association annual conference at the University of Warwick Science Park about our work on clusters. The conversation sparked questions and conversations afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Invited to attend townhall event to discuss UKRI strategy and AIRR |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Syahirah Abdul Rahman was invited to attend an in-person townhall event. This event brings together prominent members of the community to discuss and road test aspects of UKRI's strategy in Artifical Intelligence, which is currently being refreshed. The strategy aims to cover AI across the breadth of UKRI activities and remits, and UKRI's role within these; from AI development and application, through to its social impacts, commercialisation and its impact on the research and innovation system itself. UKRI are using this townhall to investigate how the digital research infrastructure will enable their AI strategy, as well as what user needs of this and other compute might be required for UKRI's broad communities. Syahirah was nominated by UKRI AI Steering Group (AI leads from across all councils in UKRI) as someone with suitable experience and knowledge. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Keynote speaker at University of Sussex's "Building capability for SHAPE commercialisation in Universities" workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Syahirah Abdul Rahman was invited as one of the keynote speakers at University of Sussex's "Building capability for SHAPE commercialisation in Universities" workshop on 30 Jan 2024. She spoke about learnings of what works, through the themes of cultural barriers of commercialisation in SHAPE. The workshop was attended by knowledge exchange professionals, with keynote speakers including Mel Knetsch and Huw Vasey at the ESRC and Arnie King at Praxis Auril. The speech is part of a dissemination exercise for the work that she has done on Commercialisation of Research Out of Social Science with the ESRC, and explores the importance of working with an innovation ecosystem to build and sustain SHAPE commercialisation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Networking Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | All day in-person event inviting academics and colleagues in the reserach and innovation system to discuss evidence needs. The event included a panel with colleagues from UKRI, Innovate UK and ESRC discussing the evidences needs of UKRI. This was followed by breakout session when the audience were tasked with putting themselves in the mind of the funders under the themes of economic growth, social impact and evidencing the R&I system. The after covered topic on producing actionable insights and sharing updates around IRC projects. The breakout sessions provided the opportunity for discussion around specific areas. The event recieved positive feedback from attendees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/mays-networking-event-post-event-summary/ |
| Description | Panelist at reSHAPE 2024 Conf |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Syahirah Abdul Rahman, IRC co-investigator, was invited to speak on a panel alongside representatives from ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council and UK Research and Innovation at the reSHAPE conference. The event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors and universities with an interest in social sciences, humanities and arts. The panel discussed how shape research and ventures can tackle the UK's social and economic challenges. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/panel-recording-how-shape-research-and-ventures-can-tackle-the-uks-social-and... |
| Description | Podcast: How shape research and ventures can tackle the UK's social and economic challenges |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is a podcast from the reSHAPE conference took place at The British Academy in November 2024, bringing together policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors and universities with an interest in social sciences, humanities and arts. Dr Shera Abdul Rahman was invited to be part of a panel session alongside representatives from ESRC and UKRI discussing 'how shape research and ventures can tackle the UK's social and economic challenges.' This is a full podcast recording from the panel event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/panel-recording-how-shape-research-and-ventures-can-tackle-the-uks-social-and... |
| Description | Presentation to Korean delegation from KIRD |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | KIRD, Korea's leading science and technology human resource development organization, reached out to learn more about and collaborate with the Innovation and Research Caucus as part of a European tour. Discussions included the IRC model and industry-academia research collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation to UKRI's Investment Strategy Team |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Sharing the findings of an IRC sub-project with UKRI's Investment Strategy Team, which sparked questions and discussions afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation to participants at the workshop 'Skills for Innovation' organised by City-Region Economic Development Institut |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to participants at the workshop 'Skills for Innovation' organised by City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI), University of Birmingham, and Centre for Innovation Management Research (CIMR), Birkbeck, University of London, in collaboration with Innovation and Research Caucus (IRC). This presentation shared the IRC's 'Innovation Skills Framework' and helped set the scene for the afternoons panel discussion around 'How do we fill gaps between policy-evidence' " |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation: Action research to align research grants with impact |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Vorley hosted an interactive webinar to share his experience in designing and running impactful research that maximises engagement, collaboration, and real-world impact. Drawing on insights from leading the Innovation and Research Caucus, he provided examples of how to integrate 'action research' into research. This webinar formed part of a series of webinars for the International Society for Professional Innovation Management,a community of members from research, industry, consulting and the public sector, all sharing a passion for innovation management - how to successfully create new products, processes and services from ideas to stimulate economic growth and well-being. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/timvorley_im-looking-forward-contributing-to-the-ispim-activity-73004... |
| Description | Sharing and learning session with ACCESS (ESRC funded centre) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Members of the IRC met with the leadership from The Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science (ACCESS) (another ESRC investment) to share insights and learnings around running funding calls, engaging with policy makers, outputs for different audiences, co-creation. Those in attendence included members of the leadership teams from the IRC and ACCESS. The leadership noted that the session was valuable. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Who are the Innovators? - Blog Summary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This blog reflects on some of the key findings of the report 'Who are the Innovators? An Analysis Of Innovate UK Applicants and Beneficiaries' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ircaucus.ac.uk/who-are-the-innovators-blog-summary/ |
| Description | Workshop on multidisciplinary, mission-led, commercialisation catalysts |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ESRC, BBSRC and AHRC are keen to pursue a Caucus-led workshop to stress-test the idea that expanding the current ESRC Catalyst model (with some slight amendments) is the right vehicle to achieve their goals. ESRC worked with the IRC to develop a workshop that aimed to gather insights and reflects on the catalyst model via breakout groups. Participants included knowledge exchange professionals, academics and UKRI colleagues. Statement from ESRC following the event: 'The session was extremely helpful in testing out some of our assumptions and approaches, andhas pushed on the discussions nicely.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | invited speaker to AHSS/SVB In Person CoP Meet event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Co-I Shera recieved an invite to speak at Arts, humanities and Social Sciences / Social Venture Building In Person Community of Practice Meeting. Shera was invited to speak on the ""SHAPE Commercialisation: Where we've got to and where we're going"" panel at Praxis Auril on the 4th of June 2024 by Chris Fellingham (ARC Accelerator) & Huw Vasey (ESRC). Both of them were also panellists and the chair was Chris Willis Pickup who is head of charities and social ventures at Mishcon de Reya. The session was attended by a variety of STEM & SHAPE knowledge exchange professionals engaging in discussions on the shape of SHAPE commercialisation and where we are headed to This event was held by Praxis Auril, to celebrate the first year of our AHSS/Social Venture Community of Practice. Event included hearing about member case studies and discussing Community of Practice plans. TTO/KE/Commercialisation staff, academics and wider university staff invited. The event heard from local AHSS commercialisation and social venture building case studies, some external social enterprise/public service stakeholders and cover the latest developments in professional practice and sector support in this area. This event aimed to be an opportunity to be a part of designing the future of university platforms and frameworks in this area. After the event, Shera was approached by Chris Fellingham to apply for funding together. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |