Conference

Policy Week 2024

  • 10.30 - 16.30
  • 22 Apr 2024 - 26 Apr 2024
  • The Knowledge Exchange (Level 1, The Rose Bowl), Portland Way, LS1 3HB
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Policy Week 2024
Join us for an exciting week of discussions, workshops and making connections.

This week-long series of events will enable academic colleagues and regional policy makers to:

  • Share best practice
  • Learn from case studies
  • Explore policy engagement and our impact as an anchor university
  • Record evidence of policy impact which could contribute towards the REF2029 submission

The events will take place at The Knowledge Exchange (Level 1, The Rose Bowl) Mon 22 - Fri 26 April 2024. Each day will feature a morning and afternoon session.

During this engaging week, we will delve into a range of policy topics, bringing together experts, practitioners, and regional policy makers from various fields. Dive deep into the world of policy-making, explore current challenges, and gain valuable insights into our role as an anchor institution.

With a diverse lineup of speakers and interactive sessions, you'll have the opportunity to broaden your knowledge, share ideas, and connect with like-minded individuals. Whether you're an academic, researcher or regional policy maker, these events offer a unique platform to engage in meaningful conversations and expand your network.

Opening Keynote Speaker

About Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Opening Keynote

Felix is the Director of Inclusive Economy, Skills and Culture at the West Yorkshire Combined Authoruty. He has over 20 years of experience in policy-making and delivery. Prior to his current role at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Felix’s career had spanned both the public and private sectors including academia, local government, regional development, and international consultancy. He has worked for South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Mott MacDonald, Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Forward and Leeds Beckett University. He leads a team of circa 130 and is responsible for developing policies, strategies and partnerships that drive investment, nurtures innovation, and enables West Yorkshire’s circa 2.5m residents and 100k businesses to reach their full potential and create a thriving economy that works for all.

Schedule and agenda

Time Speakers Session
10:30 - 12:00 Simon Baldwin
Associate Director for Knowledge Exchange
Felix Kumi-Ampofo
Director of Inclusive Economy, WYCA
Welcome to Policy Week and Opening Keynote
Welcome from Simon Baldwin, Associate Director for Knowledge Exchange and Opening Keynote from Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director of Inclusive Economy, Skills and Culture, West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 14:00 Professor David Glew
Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute
Achieving sustainability policy impact via research
A summary of policy impact achieved by Leeds Sustainability Institute and an overview of approaches for researchers to engage with policy.
14:30 - 15:00 Video: Parliament for Researchers - how to engage with the UK Parliament
15:00 - 15:30 Video: Parliament for Early Career Researchers

Time Speakers Session
09:00 - 09:30 Video: Parliament for PhD students - how to engage with the UK Parliament
10:30 - 12:00 Professor Jane South
Professor of Healthy Communities
Navigating by stars: how to create policy impact as a researcher on the inside
Jane will draw on her extensive experience and learning gained from 9 years working as an academic within the national public health agency. Attendees will learn:
  • Tips for engaging (successfully) with policy makers and policy networks
  • How to make evidence ‘stick’ – with practical examples from the public health system
  • Learning from the experience of being a ‘knowledge broker’ in the pandemic and what the legacy is.
A Workshop on maximising policy impact in your research career will follow the talk. This will give attendees the opportunity to share ideas on how their existing skills and knowledge can be applied to achieve research impact in policy and policy networks.
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 15:00 Duncan Radley
Reader of Obesity and Public Health
Systems thinking for policy change
It has become commonplace for many of society’s problems to be characterized as systemic, indicating that they are deeply rooted, structural and difficult to resolve. This session will use systems thinking to help attendees begin thinking about and mapping out the different levels of abstraction within a system — from observable events to underlying patterns that generate them, to supporting structures and policies, and ultimately our beliefs and values. We will first map the existing system on these different levels and then progress to identify possible new models, structures, patterns and events that we would wish to see in the future system — reflecting on what it might take to get there and the implications for policy along the way.
15:30 - 16:00 Video: Parliament for Knowledge Mobilisers

Time Speakers Session
09:00 - 09:30 Video: Parliament for PhD students - how to engage with the UK Parliament
10:00 - 12:00 Neil Barnett
Research Fellow
Andy Mycock
YPERN Regional Policy Engagement
The session will give attendees an overview of the complex governance and policy environment in the Yorkshire region, highlighting issues around the implications for academics seeking to engage with policy makers in this fragmented field. It will cover the differing points of access, policy cycles, decision-making procedures of the varying organisations and discuss ways of working with and identifying relevant policy makers, building up relationships and the role of the academic in providing research and advice which can have policy impact.
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 14:00 Paul Hayes
Senior Policy Engagement Fellow
Fiona Bolam
Head of Economic Policy
Jo Barham
Policy Manager Economic Growth
Policy engagement from the Policy maker perspective
Join a policy maker panel to discuss policy engagement. Panellists include: Paul Hayes - Senior Policy Engagement Fellow at Leeds University Business School, Fiona Bolam - Head of Economic Policy at Leeds City Council and Jo Barham - Policy Manager Economic Growth and Business Resilience at West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
15:30 - 16:00 Video: Parliament for Researchers - how to work with select committees
17:30 - 19:00 Nicky Chance-Thompson MBE
David Hopes
Helen Pheby
Vivienne Gaskin
A thriving cultural sector? Success, opportunity and funding in West Yorkshire
Leeds Business School welcomes Nicky Chance-Thompson, Chief Executive of Halifax Piece Hall, Helen Pheby, new Head of Culture, Heritage and Sport at West Yorkshire Combined Authority and David Hopes Head of Leeds Museums and Galleries to discuss the importance of culture and creative businesses in our region and the prospects for future investment in and support for the sector.

Time Speakers Session
09:00 - 09:30 Video: Parliament for Researchers - exploring select committee evidence
10:30 - 12:00 Sue Backhouse
Director of Research, School of Sport
Stuart Morris
REF and Research Policy Manager
Recording policy impact for REF2029
Colleagues will be provided with an overview of the support that we can provide to help them record their policy research impact for the purposes of REF2029.
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 15:00 Juliet Harrison
Research Impact Officer
Ellen Pearce
Commissioning Editor, Policy Press
Publishing for Policy Engagement
Benefits of Publishing for policy engagement. Examples of resources to support staff with writing for policy. Examples of recent publications. Recommended publishing formats for Policy relevance. Resources for identifying relevant publications.
15:30 - 16:00 Video: Parliament for Researchers - how to write for a parliamentary audience

Time Speakers Session
09:00 - 10:00 Video: Parliament for Researchers - how to engage with devolved legislatures
11:00 - 12:00 Sharon Jandu
YABA
Mark Casci
Head of Policy and Representation
Partner Panel - Influencing Policy
An open conversation with Leeds Beckett's key partners on policy impact and the impact of policy in the region.
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 15:00 James Nobles
Senior Research Fellow
The Ripple Effect - How to capture it!
Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) is a participatory and qualitative method which can capture the wider impacts - planned and unplanned - of a project or initiative. The method has grown rapidly in its popularity in the last two years as it fulfils a much needed gap, and provides evidence for stakeholders which was previously seen as too difficult to collect. This two-hour workshop will introduce attendees to REM, describe its benefits and the circumstances in which it is useful, and will then provide attendees with a hands on opportunity to apply REM to their own work. Given the participatory nature of REM, please ensure that you sign up in groups of two or more who have a shared experience of your project / area of work.
15:30 - 16:00 Video: Policy Engagement for Researchers - how to engage with Government

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