Essex chosen for Knowledge Exchange Framework pilot

The University of Essex is one of 21 universities selected by Research England to take part in a pilot Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) between February and May 2019.

The KEF will aim to provide higher education institutions (HEIs) with new ways to understand, benchmark and improve their performance on knowledge exchange – the way they share knowledge and expertise to deliver wider economic and social benefits to the UK.

Businesses and other users of knowledge from HEIs will also be able to access the information gathered through the KEF.

The pilot exercise will feed into a raft of evidence, including the outcomes of a consultation, on how the KEF will operate in England.

Essex is one of the leading universities for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Innovate UK's flagship programme.

Director of the Research and Enterprise Office at Essex, Vanessa Cuthill, said: “We are delighted that the University of Essex has been selected to participate in this important pilot phase.  The KEF is expected to become a key part of the knowledge exchange landscape over the coming years, and it’s fantastic that Research England are seeking to engage with a breadth of universities in its development.  We are looking forward to playing our part in exploring and testing the various approaches proposed and informing the future of the KEF. ”

Research England received an extremely high response rate to a January 2019 call for expressions of interest to take part in the pilot exercise, with interest expressed from every proposed KEF cluster across England. To reflect this exceptional level of interest, Research England increased the pilot group from a previously published size of between 12 and 16 institutions to 21 institutions.

The 21 universities selected are drawn from all of the proposed KEF clusters, and represent a diverse range of English higher education institutions HEIs, with a good geographical cross-section of institutions from across the country. 

English HEIs not involved in the pilot exercise will have the chance to contribute to how the KEF could work through a survey as part of the consultation, which is open until 14 March 2019.

Research England’s Director of Knowledge Exchange, Alice Frost, said: ‘We are very pleased with the enthusiasm expressed by the sector to engage with the KEF through this pilot exercise. The high level of interest has allowed us to build a pilot group that includes universities from every one of the proposed KEF clusters and with a wide range of other characteristics. Having a fully representative group of pilot institutions is important to ensure the KEF is a robust and useful framework for universities and other users.

Research England will work with the pilot group to test the specific metrics and proposed narrative statements, as well as the cluster membership, and how results should be presented, during a series of workshops between February and May 2019

The outcomes of these workshops will be published in a report evaluating the pilot, alongside an analysis of consultation responses. Research England anticipates publishing these documents in early summer 2019, with final decisions on how the KEF should progress in 2019-20 in late summer 2019.

Research England published a document detailing proposals for how the Knowledge Exchange Framework could work, for consultation, in January 2019, seeking the higher education sector’s views on the proposals. The proposals set out in the KEF consultation document aim to implement a Government policy priority for the KEF set out in the Industrial Strategy White Paper in 2017.

Research England is working with various other organisations to develop the KEF, including the devolved funding councils and executive bodies, learned societies, PraxisAuril, the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), the Office for Students, and other UKRI councils.