Today a report I wrote for Yorkshire Universities was published, looking at how universities can help attract inward investment and boost trade. You probably won’t be surprised to hear it approaches these topics through a regional lens. Here’s a link to the report page, and a direct link to the report (PDF).

Hotel Viru in Tallinn, Estonia has a museum on the top floor. There are rows of tape recorders on little desks: KGB listening posts to spy on the international guests staying downstairs. The hidden microphone in a hotel room features in countless spy novels and thriller films; the private space rendered public. We have a fascination wi...

I wanted to call this post ‘how to dramatically slash interview transcription times’. However, transcription – at least in an academic setting – is often a process of generating new ideas and uncovering layers of understanding at the same time as you go through your recording word-for-word. It’s a messy and time-consuming task, but the...

This post originally appeared on the Yorkshire Universities website. Politicians are fond of comparing the UK to Germany – usually as a model of how we could do something better. A recent example is Boris Johnson’s speech on levelling up from last month. “I remember going to former East Germany in 1990 just after the wall had gone down...

It was good to speak again at the UIIN University-Industry Interaction Conference this morning. Last year I spoke about the pitfalls of local economic impact studies commissioned by universities, and today I talked about how current approaches to local engagement are impeded by outdated strategic planning models. Although ‘place’ needs...

Next week the Global University Leaders Council Hamburg holds its biennial conference, this time looking at universities and climate change. There’s a 150 page edited volume supporting the event, including seven country case studies. I supported the production of this publication, through UCL Institute of Education.

This was an interesting, data-driven project for Universities UK looking at the potential impact of university partnerships over the next five years. The training of key workers, the value of local regeneration projects, and business and community engagement are explored. All data is broken down by UK nation and English region. Here’s ...

Five universities in Greater Manchester and the Combined Authority recently undertook polling of over 1,000 local residents. The overall summary is interesting – for example that over half of residents have never visited a local university – but there are some gems hidden in the 230 pages of polling data. Take this, for example, from p...

My blog has moved home. Part of the reason for this is rethinking how I do communications around my research and consultancy work, and my PhD. It’s also part of a drive towards simplifying things. This blog will pick up what I talked about on the old site, but perhaps with shorter and more frequent posts. These will be a mixture of ann...