Abstract:

Research networks are an essential element of academic life and act as vital mechanisms for: sharing best practice amongst peers across institutions and their research centres in the UK and overseas; discussing distinct methodologies to specific subject enquiries; sharing insights on research, on complexities in evidencing impacts as practical outcomes, on progressing proposals for external funds and/or consultancy commissions to more practical challenges in managing knowledge exchange and dissemination activities amongst academics and institutions and with practitioners from the public and/or private sectors and directly with the public. At the heart of our networking is essentially required a collaborative thus supportive environment.

Each of these factors has underpinned the key purpose for launching in March 2017, the Applied Research & Knowledge Exchange Network (ARKEN). Since this time, ARKEN has attracted from numerous HE institutions, seasoned academics and early career researchers, postgraduate research students and final year undergraduates in progressing ideas for research, publications and simply sharing of best practice in research and mentoring support at Symposiums, Conferences and through co-working publications for peer reviewed journals. Although the relationships being developed across Faculties at the host University of Winchester and farther afield at other Universities in the UK has proven to be successful in terms of academic outputs, what has been particularly notable is the interest being demonstrated for engaging with ARKEN by practitioner communities from the public, private and community sectors.

To-date the academic-practitioner relationships that have developed have resulted in establishing multiple formal agreements on co-working research bids and research programmes, on making research designs and their outputs practical for converting into impactful realities in practice, and ultimately are providing for numerous examples of enhanced programmes of policy formulation and implementation. The result to date of ARKEN has been of a win-win scenario for academics, our students and our practitioner members.

With its focus on Applied Research and Knowledge exchange, ARKEN’s aim and purpose are timely in the UK, mindful not least of external contextual considerations concerning Brexit and serious questions on the quality of our HEIs, on increasing pressures for funding our operations and research centres. Contributing to address these key concerns, ARKEN fulfils a strategic role in its contribution to developing and delivering against criteria derived from the upcoming Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).

Nevertheless, albeit successful so far in contributing to address these concerns, challenges are equally evident and are primarily concerned with the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of the research projects that have resulted. These challenges, the solutions to address the same and further opportunities for networking across sectors and multidisciplinary projects will be shared with interested delegates during this open and discursive session on the use, operation and outputs of academic-practitioner networks.

Keywords:

Networks, collaborations, partnerships, mentoring, win-win, impacts.