Into Uncharted Waters; heading up Knowledge Transfer at the AHRC
| 11:37 UK time, Thursday, 11 June 2009
Susan Amor is the Head of Knowledge Transfer at the AHRC. Here she gives her thoughts on the KEP partnership from her current position, while drawing on her experience as Knowledge Transfer Programme Manager responsible for the development of the scheme until I took over.
Jo.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Future Media and Technology (FM&T) have been working together since 2005 to develop a long-term collaborative strategic research partnership underpinned by AHRC's strategy to enable collaborative research and development in the arts and humanities. ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ FM&T were actively seeking to exchange knowledge and develop new research and development collaborations with academic partners in the arts and humanities to consolidate and extend the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s public value in the digital age. The AHRC is working to address barriers to innovation in the Creative Industries and this joint initiative with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Future Media and Technology is providing a valuable platform for scoping a framework for innovative collaborative funding programmes.
Since I joined the AHRC in May 2006, I have been directly involved in the scoping, development and delivery of the Knowledge Exchange Programme (KEP) leading for the AHRC and working in partnership with Rowena and Brendan at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. I believe that the success of the AHRC/³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ collaboration and the KEP has been due to the inclusive shaping and dedicated relationship building by both organisations from the early, exploratory stages through to present day and this is essentially down the people involved although we didn't always get everything right first time!
Jo Pollock took over the AHRC lead for the collaboration in November 2008 and has quickly established and continued a close rapport with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ colleagues through the Knowledge Infusion Programme and the end of programme showcase event 'AHRC/³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Knowledge Exchange Programme: a collaborative journey' held on 27 April 2009. This was an extremely successful day in many ways. One of the highlights was the panel debate 'Collaboration in the 21st century' which produced some very interesting insights and view points from panellists and event delegates. The event also provided me with the opportunity to meet up again with Rowena and Brenda and the KEP project award holders which has always been a pleasure.
The next stage is to evaluate the collaboration and the KEP and to identify the best means for taking our partnership forward strategically and in a sustainable way. I look forward to the outcomes of the evaluation and to continuing the close working relationship we have forged with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.
Congratulations to all involved in the collaboration at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and AHRC and to the KEP project award holders for producing such excellent and exciting outcomes from their joint research.
Susan.
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