News / 13 Feb 2024
Research partnership aims to boost local opportunity
Research
A Yorkshire project to give more power to low-income, marginalised and isolated communities across the region has been awarded £5m in funding from UK Research and Innovation.
Yorkshire and Humber Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP) is a collaboration of university, public, private and third sector bodies in Yorkshire and the Humber, including all 12 universities in the region overseen by Professor Gary Dymski, University Leeds, Principal Investigator.
Professor Sam Broadhead, Head of Research at Leeds Arts University, is a co-investigator on this project. She is part of a team of YPIP co-investigators drawn from the public and third sectors, as well as from each of Yorkshire’s 12 universities. In particular Professor Broadhead is interested in how people from the creative and cultural industries can access and participate in policy development.
A key aim of the partnership is to give more power to low-income, marginalised and isolated communities in the research and decision-making process. At the heart of the partnership will be the YPIP community panel, comprised of 12 members with diverse experiences of disadvantage, marginalisation and/or isolation.
Yorkshire and Humber Policy Innovation Partnership aims to address the following:
Data analytics: The team will build the Yorkshire Engagement Portal - a data hub for the region to provide up-to-date, legitimate evidence about the region’s economic, social and environmental status.
Inclusive growth: Using inclusive business practices to increase entrepreneurial opportunities in the region.
Sustainable living: Address key regional challenges in the move to net zero carbon, including retrofit guidance for the region’s high proportion of older buildings and close collaboration with the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission.
“YPIP will use innovative approaches to empower low-income, marginalised and isolated communities confronting the challenges posed by climate change, widening inequality and left-behind places in Yorkshire and the Humber. It will connect the expertise of the region’s 12 universities with the efforts of its residents, councils, and businesses to create a more inclusive and sustainable society. It will extend the reach and impact of the collaborative regional infrastructure put in place by Yorkshire Universities, the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement Research Network (Y-PERN), the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, and the Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaborative, along with these initiatives’ many partners.”
Professor Gary Dymski, University of Leeds, Principal Investigator.
There are four Local Policy Innovation Partnerships (LPIPs) projects, across the four nations, and they are supported by a Birmingham-based LPIPs hub, which will gather and share data, evidence, learning and best practice with the UK government, local authorities and researchers who are focusing on regional inequality. The LPIPs programme is funded by UKRI through the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Innovate UK.
“Local Policy Innovation Partnerships demonstrate UKRI’s commitment to bringing together a diverse range of partners, from local and devolved government, communities and businesses. Through these long-term collaborations, we will accelerate the use of research and innovation to reduce regional inequalities and drive sustainable, inclusive growth.”
Professor Alison Park, Head of UKRI’s creating opportunities, improving outcomes theme
Creating opportunities and improving outcomes is one of five cross-cutting strategic themes for UK Research and Innovation. Work funded under this theme will improve outcomes for people and places across the UK by identifying solutions that promote economic and social prosperity.