Innovation through academic partnerships
“Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries. Innovation arises from ongoing circles of exchange, where information is not just accumulated or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren’t there before.”
Dr Jessica Stitt has recently joined CAO as one of our expert Associates. Jess is a seasoned heritage professional who combines her expertise with incredible business acumen. We met through our connections at Oxford Saïd Business School and are so delighted to have Jess as part of the CAO team.
We asked Jess to share her thoughts on ‘Innovation through Academic Partnerships’. Something key to CAO’s ethos and approach.
The heritage sector is naturally collaborative yet one form of collaboration which remains under-developed is academic partnership with a university or research organisation. These partnerships have great potential to deliver impact and innovation. So how does a heritage organisation benefit from an academic partnership? What does an academic partnership look like? And how do you partner with a university in the first place?
The Heritage Alliance’s Heritage Day in 2024 focused on the theme of the power of collaboration, showcasing the myriad types of partnership in the sector and the diverse impactful benefits that flow from this. Judging from the discussions on the day, collaboration has the potential to address any of the challenges faced by heritage organisations.
Why partner with a university
An academic partnership can take many different forms that yield different outcomes and benefits for the partners. But why do an academic partnership at all? In a word: innovation. A resilient heritage sector needs to be able to respond to the changing world by trying new ways of thinking and doing, but as a sector we are not known for experimentation and agile adaptation.
Academic partnerships can be transformative for heritage organisations by delivering learning and innovation, not just for our understanding and interpretation of heritage, but also in the way we care for it and also the way we operate as organisations. This happens through the transfer and application of existing academic knowledge and also through new original research.
However, there are a host of additional associated benefits for both sides of the partnership. This includes the potential for external input to disrupt modes of thinking and doing that have become normalised and resistant to change. An expanded network is a powerful means to share learnings in best practice and new approaches both within the sector and beyond. Partnering with academia is just one way for the heritage sector to spread its influence and also open up to new ideas.
Partnership is also vital to universities as a way to demonstrate research impact. Universities are required to demonstrate that their research has an impact on society and the economy. This can be achieved through commercialisation of research outputs, informing and influencing policy, delivering courses and training, and through collaborative research.
Influencing the research agenda
The types of collaborations that spring to mind when thinking of academic partnership are research projects involving clearly defined research questions that aim to plug knowledge gaps in a targeted way. The heritage partner acts as a host, facilitating access to collections, archives and sites for an academic researcher. Research is often done on a project by project basis with external funding. For example, fellowships for early career researchers funded by AHRC.
However, academic research can seem like an intellectual exercise with little practical application. That’s why it’s so important for heritage organisations to collaborate with researchers to influence the research agenda and ensure it is relevant to the sector and addressing the issues that affect us.
Larger organisations are able to maintain their own in-house research capacity so they can set their own research strategy and lead their own projects. Over twenty heritage organisations are now designated as Independent Research Organisations (IROs) by AHRC making them eligible to apply for research council funding and take ownership of funded research projects.
But even for IROs, partnership with universities is vital to pool expertise and resources, particularly where access to facilities is involved. The RICHeS programme, launched in October 2024 with £80million funding from AHRC, was established to create national heritage science research infrastructure involving over 140 partners. One of the key aims of RICHeS is to build a heritage science community and ensure access to research facilities and resources across the sector.
Since 2012, AHRC have funded the Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme and hundreds of collaborative PhDs have been completed. Students receive supervision by both the university and the heritage partner and so are uniquely placed to gain in-depth experience of both academia and the sector. The heritage partner plays a significant role in shaping the research. You do not need to be an IRO to participate in the scheme.
Transferring and translating academic outputs
Even when the heritage partner sets the research agenda, it can be a challenge to translate academic outputs into practical application. Difficulties in translation are equally frustrating for academics who want to see their research make a difference, as well as hugely significant for universities who are required to show that their research has impact.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme is designed to address this gap. The programme was set up in 1975 to support innovation in UK industry by providing a means to commercialise research outputs by partnering a university with a business partner. Now funded by Innovate UK, the scope and impact of the KTP programme is astounding: between 2010 and 2020, £200 million was invested in 2,000 projects, generating an estimated £1.7 to £2.3 billion for the UK economy.
A KTP associate is funded for up to three years at the business partner with support from the university. Crucially, these are not academic research projects. These projects usually involve some research, but the main aim is to ensure that knowledge is transferred and embedded at the business partner so that the benefits continue long after the project has ended. The KTP model delivers a level of integration that makes the transfer of academic expertise more meaningful and beneficial, while the duration of the projects means that purposeful working relationships are established.
Projects are designed around specific benefit to the business partner such as development of a new product or service. However, projects with social and organisational impact are increasingly being funded, and the programme is now open to non-profit organisations and some public bodies.
In recent years, KTP projects have taken place at the National Trust and Oxford University; Pennine Heritage and Huddersfield University; Port Sunlight Village and Manchester University as well as Vindolanda Trust and Newcastle University. The potential for the KTP programme to deliver meaningful change for heritage partners is huge.
A KTP project between Saïd Business School, Oxford University and the Churches Conservation Trust ran from 2022 to 2024. The project supported CCT in development of a commercial maintenance service for historic places of worship, but also helped CCT to develop an entrepreneurial culture with a more commercial mindset. Project work included market research, financial analysis, support for strategy development and workshops with staff.
https://oxford.shorthandstories.com/building-on-expertise/index.html
Pushing at an open door
While there are specific mechanisms for collaborative projects such as CDPs and KTPs, you need to make connections in the first place and establish common interests with your academic partners. Groups such as the National Heritage Science Forum aim to address this by strengthening the engagement between the heritage sector and academia.
Fortunately, universities increasingly set aside resources for developing partnerships and the larger ones have dedicated teams for industry engagement, business development and partnership work. Some have staff that work specifically on the KTP programme thanks to their track record of securing funding for such projects.
A very direct way of tapping into academic expertise is through a paid training course. This can be professional development training aimed at the heritage sector, such as courses run by Oxford University, but professional development can also include charity governance, social enterprise, leadership and management for non-profit organisations. Social impact and evaluation training is of particular relevance to the heritage sector, for example, the course run by the Centre for Cultural Value at Leeds University.
Some universities also offer paid consultancy services aimed specifically at non-profit organisations, such as services provided by CHART at Swansea University, and HILO at Oxford University that grew out of the Kickstarting Heritage Innovations initiative. This can be a way to dip your toe into academic engagement and can lead to more substantive collaboration.
Another hugely beneficial way to engage is by offering voluntary placements and paid internships to students. This not only delivers capacity when resources are tight, but also can bring fresh insights from outside the sector. Perhaps most importantly, such placements provide experience and are a much-needed entry point into heritage that is more structured than other volunteering.
Universities usually offer internships to students through their careers service. Sometimes this provides the platform to connect with potential interns, while some universities will also administer the internship for you. Alternatively, you can connect directly with a specific degree programme if you’re interested in engaging with a particular group.
Final word: invest to innovate
An academic partnership may result in a highly specific output with a particular application. However, for partnerships to have lasting impact you need buy-in at multiple levels of your organisation as well as the leadership to drive things forward. You may need to ask whether, as an organisation, you have a collaborative culture. Will people get defensive or territorial? Are your staff open to change?
Success depends on building relationships so that the partnership is not only productive but also resilient. Part of the challenge is building trust between partners because projects do not always go to plan. Partners need to work together in good times and bad, and that might include coping with failure. Structure (such as project governance) helps, but does not substitute for strong relationships.
These working relationships can take time to build, and this means investing resources to connect with partners and nurture your partnerships. As with any relationship management, it pays to see things from your partner’s point of view. This includes considering terminology (what do you mean by ‘research’ or ‘impact’?) and scheduling (will project meetings coincide with your Board meetings or academic term time?).
The time and effort will pay dividends if the heritage sector is able to forge links with academic fields beyond those traditionally aligned with cultural heritage. Surely there is much for the sector to learn beyond heritage research, and innovation will stem from reaching into unknown territory.