Impact @ Wolverhampton

From research to impact

From realising intelligent infrastructures to sustainable construction, from the arts in criminal justice to exercise as medicine, from presenting the self in cyberspace to creating cultural networks, and from designing for people with dementia to new discoveries in diabetes research - impact sits at the heart of all our activities.

Across the University, scholars within our Research Centres work closely with commercial and civil society partners in a wide range of research and translational projects.  

The University of Wolverhampton is also partnered with the following networks, highlighting how our research can impact on policy:

- The UK Universities Policy Engagement Network, UPEN
- The UK Universities Climate Network (UUCN) 
- The Midlands Engine pan-regional partnership
- The West Midlands Regional Economic Development Institute (WMREDI)
- The Midlands Impact Group

Equality and Diversity

The University of Wolverhampton is committed to issues of Equality and Diversity, and to enabling all staff and students to succeed.  Our policy statements on Equality and Diversity can be found here.  The University holds both the Athena Swan Bronze award in recognition of its work in developing a gender equality plan, and the Race Equality Charter Bronze Award.  The impact of our research in this area has national and international reach - for instance our work on board processes and behaviours have brought new feminist perspectives on corporate governance impacting practices across the sectors.

Place:
Best Practice

Our work as an Impact Team involves engaging with themes and ideas coming from Policy. An important theme to have emerged over the last few years has been Place. Place has been prominent in the Government’s Plan for Growth and was discussed numerous times in the Levelling Up White Paper. One of the reasons why it has so much resonance at Wolverhampton is that Place is also central to the University’s Strategic Plan and the identity of the University is bound up with its Place geographically, something given additional weight and presence in the Black Country.

Enabling Universities to Engage Better in their Place: An Outline Toolkit - The Team has developed a Best Practice Toolkit, the result of a survey of HEIs, which has provided best practice on how to engage with Place, and it was released through the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN). 

You can read more about how the University of Wolverhampton is engaging with the changing character of Place here.

Seminar Series on Place

The Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) held a series of three seminars, informed by the work of the impact team, each dealing with a separate Place-related theme. These were: Place and Partnership; Place and Impact; and Place and Funding.

The resulting Best Practice from the Seminar Series has been distilled into a Checklist, which is also on the ARMA Website, along with a blog. 

You can read more about how the University of Wolverhampton is engaging with the changing character of Place here.