Reviewing Collaborative Working Practices between the University & Leeds City Council

The University of Leeds and Leeds City Council have a history of fruitful collaborative relationships. We have now embarked upon a Review of Collaborations to help enhance the value and impact of the research and policy partnerships and maximise the benefits of collaborative working in responding to social, environmental and economic challenges the city faces.

The review aims to:

• Map the extent and nature of existing research and policy collaboration between the two organisations
• Consider ways in which collaborative working might be improved
• Identify potential for making better use of knowledge exchange in addressing the city’s priorities and challenges.

The review will involve an online survey, mapping exercise, and interviews with professionals from both organisations who have prominent roles in working together to develop evidence-based policy. Any views shared during the interviews will be on a non-attributable basis.

The review team will be gathering information and insights to help understand what underpins effective collaboration and what barriers need to be addressed. This data collection and analysis will be conducted over the months of March – May 2020. It will result in a report and recommendations to inform deliberations on future planning and priorities.

Professor Adam Crawford (LSSI Director) is supervising and overseeing the project. Dr Nicola Carroll has been appointed by LSSI as Postdoctoral Research Assistant, and will be conducting the mapping and interviews for the review.  The review was also supervised and overseen by Dr Tom Knowland (Head of Sustainable Energy and Climate Change) and Simon Foy † (Head of Policy and Intelligence, Strategy and Resource), both at Leeds City Council.

Funding for the project is supported by Research England’s Quality-related Research programme to accelerate engagement between Universities and policy-makers.

More details about the project and how to get involved can be found here.

† We would like to acknowledge the sad passing of Simon Foy who was a valued contributor to this project, December 2022.