At UWE Bristol we are proud of our active and collaborative research community of bold and innovative thinkers that are breaking research boundaries.
Our four key research strengths are:
Creative industries and technologies
Digital Futures
Health & Wellbeing
Sustainability and Climate Change Resilience
Over the past three months we have been sharing content around our research strength, Sustainability and Climate Change Resilience. We are now moving onto our next focus: Digital Futures.
Our research strengths in this area include:
robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced engineering
industrial digitalisation, high-value design and next generation services
future mobile communications, ubiquitous computing, data science and cybersecurity.
To introduce this research strength, we are going to share with you two of our Digital Futures research case studies:
Cyber crime: Helping authorities worldwide to tackle financial crime
Being as vast and intangible as it is, the internet has proved one big loophole for cyber criminals – until now. Turning the tables on fraudsters is the raison d’etre of experts in cyber security and financial crime, who are helping police forces across the world to close in.
“We know that the rapid exchange of information between cyber criminals, and the lack of information sharing across police forces and countries is a major barrier to success in tackling the issue,” says Professor Phil Legg, Associate Professor of Cyber Security. “Our goal is to work with police forces to understand what tools they currently lack and how we can help by using our research intel to come up with a solution.”
Phil is working alongside Professor Nic Ryder, Professor of Financial Crime, on a multidisciplinary project to address the evolving nature of crime online, and to develop technological solutions for facilitating law enforcement in this globally connected space.
Much of Nic’s work has already helped shape improvements in how law enforcement agencies across the world tackle terrorism financing and money laundering. As well as training police authorities in Rome, the Netherlands and the UK, he has worked with NATO, the UK Home Office and the Centre of Research Evidence and Security Threats (CREST).
A seminal piece of work is the development of a fraud typology that enables agencies to identify where financial crime is being used to fund terrorist activity. The typology is a robust toolkit based on evidence from convicted terrorism cases, which revealed how terrorism is often connected to fraudulent activity in areas including immigration, identity theft, credit cards, tax, student loans and insurance.
Digital ethics: Balancing creativity with ethics on and off screen
What happens when you give people the power to raise the dead? Aside from the creative potential for screen directors to shock audiences into paying attention, the deep fake phenomenon which does precisely that, raises a host of ethical and legal challenges. Who better to test the balance of such powers than Maggie Thatcher…?
Digital face replacements are commonplace in the high budget film industry, with the widespread use of CGI and digital effects by Disney and the Star Wars franchise, among others. Since 2017 the open source, lower resolution alternative of deep fakes has become widespread, providing an affordable means of translating existing images into a simulated context.
For television and film directors like UWE Bristol’s Dr Dominic Lees, Associate Head of Department, Filmmaking, this is interesting territory that poses both creative and ethical questions when it comes to examining a director’s intentions and the potential for shifting perceptions.
“We have a moment in technological development that is really exciting,” says Dominic. “It’s the democratisation of what has been an extremely elite part of the studio and film process for some years. Philosophically, it raises questions around why we would want to do this, how we do it, and whether we even ought to.”
These are the questions that Dominic is exploring in collaboration with colleagues from Law, and Engineering and Technology, via the Virtual Maggie project, digitally resurrecting the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for a contemporary short film set in the 1980s.
Having filmed several scenes with a real actor, they are now testing out open source (artificial intelligence) AI technology to recreate the actor’s scenes with a simulated version of Thatcher’s face.
Dominic says: “It’s both interesting and rattling to consider whether I want people to completely believe that this is Margaret Thatcher, which I could never do because the audience knows she wasn’t alive when I was shooting this film? Or whether I want it to be slightly unbelievable so that viewers are aware of the artifice of what I’m doing, and appreciate the fakeness?”
The Women Researchers’ Mentoring Scheme (WRMS) aims to promote and facilitate professional development for women researchers working at UWE Bristol, helping them reach senior research roles. This scheme provides support to female staff to develop and strengthen their research portfolio, making them more able to compete for senior research roles alongside their male counterparts.
This scheme offers a specified number of mentoring opportunities, which aim to provide mentees with encouragement, support and advice from experienced colleagues in order to help the mentee realise their potential and fulfil their research career aspirations.
The new application cycle for the Women Researchers Mentoring Scheme (WRMS) is now open. The scheme is open to all women in academic and research roles, employed by UWE, who wish to develop their careers.
The benefits of being involved in the scheme by becoming a mentor or mentee could assist your development and progression. The scheme will entail a nominated woman researcher being matched to a mentor, who can be a woman or man. Training will be provided to all new participants. The application deadline is Wednesday 12 January 2022.
UWE Bristol will deliver Green Skills for Jobs and Entrepreneurship aimed at helping Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic young adults young adults into green jobs.
The project, led by UWE Bristol and in collaboration with NatWest and the Black South West Network will help the West of England region transition to a green economy.
Green Skills for Jobs and Entrepreneurship will be delivered alongside an ambitious programme of skills development and training for people and businesses in the West of England, delivered by UWE Bristol’s Regional Skills Academy. Working with partners, the Regional Skills Academy is reskilling and upskilling the region’s workforce to support economic recovery, meet the demands of a digital and zero carbon society, and provide lifelong learning opportunities for adults from all communities and backgrounds.
Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor, President and CEO of UWE Bristol and President of UUK said: “At UWE Bristol, we passionately believe in inclusivity and opportunity, recognising the key role education has in helping transform society, to the benefit of all individuals and communities. We are delighted to have been chosen to help deliver the Government’s Community Renewal Fund which recognises the vital role that Universities have to play in helping the UK build back. Not just better, but faster, stronger, and greener too.
“This fantastic partnership with our colleagues at Black South West Network and NatWest will provide unique skills, employment and start-up opportunities to young people from communities across our region, generating an inclusive pipeline of talent for local businesses and driving the West of England’s transition to a green economy. The country needs its universities more than ever to help drive our post-Covid recovery, to support our NHS and to create good, sustainable jobs in our local communities. We are ready to turbocharge this recovery – fuelling inclusivity, growth, opportunity, mobility, and prosperity.”
This is one of four successful bids to the UK Community Renewal Fund, submitted by the West of England Combined Authority. A total of £2.4m has been secured to support people and communities most in need across the region.
UWE Bristol, in partnership with the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), is delivering a series of fully funded ‘Inclusive Digital Bootcamps. These courses are being delivered in response to the growing demand for Digital Skills in the region and to support those whose progression, development or employment has been affected by the pandemic.
UWE Bristol are delivering three different bootcamps to develop medium-to-high level Digital Skills in the region. These targeted bootcamps will deliver both digital/specialist skills and the interpersonal soft skills that employers expressly need.
These bootcamps will be delivered over a period of 12-16 weeks. Throughout their learning, participants will have 1:1 mentoring support and will link with relevant industry to work on and understand real-life digital projects and showcase their skills to potential employers.
Each of the bootcamps will finish with a two-week preparation for employment module, where learners will be provided with a wide range of in-person and online support tools focused on entry into medium/higher level employment opportunities.
The Bootcamps
Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Bootcamps
Starts 8 November
Equipping learners with skills needed to be at the forefront of emerging technologies across different industrial sectors.
Mathematics and computer programming
Data science fundamentals
Software development
Machine Learning & AI approaches
Data Bootcamp: Cloud-based skills
Starts 29 November
Developing learners’ cloud-based skills & creating Microsoft Power experts that will be an asset to any forward-thinking organisation.
Master Microsoft cloud-based apps
Understand and use Microsoft Power Platforms
Access the Microsoft Learn programme
UX Design Bootcamp
Starts 15November
Know what makes a good user experience and understand responsive design for smart-phones, robots and more.
Learn advanced aspects of UX design for digital platforms
Responsive design for smart phones and robots
Specialised support to access ‘Disability Confident’ employment
Understand UX design trends for a range of platforms
The bootcamps are primarily aimed at:
19-25 year olds
Female learners
Those living with health conditions or impairments
Anyone can still apply to take part, but priority access is given to those who meet one (or more) of the above criteria.
These bootcamps are fully funded for adults and are designed to be manageable alongside existing employment.
The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) has opened its final round of the Digital Innovation Fund (DIF). The scheme offers eligible businesses grants of £10,000 to £40,000 to undertake digital innovation.
The scheme has already supported 34 companies across the West of England and is offering businesses a final chance to apply for funding before the programme closes. Eligible businesses will be offered one to one support to develop their projects and application forms.
The scheme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, offers small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in, Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire grants from £10,000 to £40,000 to fund up to 35% of project costs. Projects must be completed by December 2022.
The deadline for applications is 12.00 (midday) on 16 November 2021
Director of Research, Business and Innovation at UWE Bristol, Tracey John commented: “We want to fund strong innovation projects from dynamic businesses that are creating jobs in the region. This is a great time to support R&D activities that boost growth and competitiveness. We actively support SMEs that are delivering digital innovation or research and development projects. We provide one to one support for eligible businesses to help them through the application process. We are proud to support businesses in the West of England.”
Notes to editors
European Regional Development Fund:
The project will receive up to £1,900,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund.
Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit here.
West of England region: All organisations with a presence in Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) scheme is a UK-wide programme helping businesses to improve competitiveness and productivity. A recent graduate is placed within an organisation to help solve a business problem, with access to our academic expertise.
The below case study is from our KTP with Craven Dunnill Jackfield:
About Craven Dunnill Jackfield
Craven Dunnill & Co Ltd is a historic business, founded in 1872. It has been producing ceramic wall and floor tiles for 150 years and is the oldest surviving purpose-built tile factory in the world. It is part of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage site at the heart of Britain’s Industrial Revolution
The challenge the KTP was set up to address
Each individual project requires the application of ceramic modelling skills to create new working models and moulds for the restoration of architectural features and to interpret the complex three-dimensional shape of the item beneath the glaze layers of an original sample.
This is a highly skilled art, and ceramic modellers with this ability are few in number and expensive to employ. Across the industry modellers with the necessary hand skills are reaching retirement age and are difficult to replace which will significantly impact the future sustainability of the sector. The situation is a major bottleneck in the production process and limits the ability of the company to expand this part of the business.
The application of 3D technologies, specifically 3D scanning to derive the surface shape of the original ceramic pieces and 3D CAD to recreate the aesthetic of the original work, combined the CNC milling can be used to produce master models and moulds for the reproductions.
Why was a KTP the right mechanism to achieve this?
The KTP allowed us to test machinery and processes at the University in a way that would have been time consuming and expensive to achieve without the partnership. The CFPR’s knowledge of both ceramics and digital manufacturing technology were a perfect fit for Craven Dunnill’s needs. There are limited organisations with the knowledge of both subjects. Years of research from university staff fed into the project and allowed us to address the problems which arose when combining the traditional hand craft process with digital technology.
How did the KTP meet the need (the activities / solution)?
By utilising the expertise offered from the University, new technology was brought in to improve lead times and open new areas of business, specifically in 3D scanning. The development budget provided opportunities for learning new skills which were applied to the project.
Outcome – Impacts & Benefits
What changed as a result of the KTP?
Craven Dunnill invested in a CNC milling machine and a 3D scanner, both of which were required to embed digital design into their traditional mould making process. Moulds, tiles and artworks can be 3D scanned and manipu- lated to produce new block moulds, the block can be directly plaster cast from, saving time and cost.
As well as being utilised for mould making, CAD now plays a role in the initial contact with customers. Vector drawings and 3D models are used to visualise end products, before we commit to producing physical models.
Layouts for wall and floor tile are designed within Rhinoceros3D. This allows for tiles to be automatically counted and layout issues to be resolved before committing resources to a project.
Broad benefits and impacts for all partners, (including economic, environ- mental and/or social perspective)
For CDJ:
Having the 3D capabilities in house has opened up the possibilities of additional revenue streams. Many projects can now be completed in house.
For UWE Bristol:
The Centre for Fine Print Research has a strategic objective and a long history of collab- orating with industry that constitutes around a third of its research.
The success of the KTP with Craven Dunnill Jackfield will add to the Centre’s reputation for combining traditional methods with modern digital technologies both in academia and commercially.
The project validates this research and highlights the value of this method.
The initial concept used was based on an Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) project conducted in the early 2000’s and the development of these ideas into a successful industrial outcome is likely to generate further research questions for investigation.
It demonstrates how embedding digital technologies into traditional processes can generate benefits for both of the partners.
For the KTP associate
As the KTP associate, I am very pleased with how the project concluded. KTP has opened doors for me and given me the opportunity to develop as a project manager. I have attended multiple courses and conferences over the project, developing both my key skillset (CAD/3D Design) and other elements which will improve my efficiency at work such as Finance/ management/business.
Quantifiable benefits (the numbers bit!)
Improved product development time by 72% (From 2 weeks of model making, down to 4 days)
Reduced development costs on specific projects by up to 79% (Based on price of model board compared to traditional block and casing)
What the partners are saying?
“Through a challenging time for businesses, the KTP programme has been a true shining light, surpassing our expectations as a Company. It is critical for a 150yr old Company like ours to stay dynamic and explore ways in which new technologies can support and compliment traditional craftmanship. The KTP has brilliantly highlighted the way in which business and academia can come together to develop new capabilities and embed them into our operations. ”
Simon Howells, Managing Director, Craven Dunnill Group
“The Craven Dunnill Jackfield, CFPR/UWE KTP project shows that a committed Company and Academic team combined with an excellent, dedicated Associate can overcome the difficulties and adversities of operating during a pandemic to drive through to success. The project has been very successful and has exceeded the expectations of both partners.“
David Huson Senior Research Fellow, UWE Bristol
“The KTP program has been the most exciting part of my working life to date. It has given me the opportunity to develop my skills and interests within 3D design and technology, whilst allowing me the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge developed during my degree. “
Jed Leonard-Hammerman, 3D Technologies Specialist Craven Dunnill Jackfield
“This project could not have been done without the unusually wide skill set of the Associate who was equally at home in the application of complex digital technology and the practical traditional skills required to manufacture three dimensional tiles together with the support of his academic and company supervisors”
UWE Bristol has been awarded the opportunity to deliver the ICA Mentorship Scheme from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The ICA Mentorship Scheme offers individuals holding doctoral or post-doctoral ICA awards the opportunity for free one-to-one clinical academic career mentorship by an appropriate mentor.
The scheme is positively received and recognised as providing a crucial layer of support to aspirant clinical academic awardees. As a result, and following agreements between HEE, NIHR and Versus Arthritis (a merger of Arthritis Care and Arthritis Research UK) mentorship through the scheme is also available to approved NIHR Fellowship awardees and nominated Versus Arthritis fellows.
UWE Bristol is in a unique position to be able to offer the ICA mentorship scheme through the combination of the UWE Bristol Business School (BBS), which offers accredited training in ‘Coaching and Mentorship’, and the multidisciplinary team of clinical academics that are hosted by the Centre for Health and Clinical Research (CHCR). The partnership across faculties within the university will provide an excellent opportunity to enhance and develop the existing ICA mentorship scheme.
The award commences 01 November 2021 and runs to October 2023, with the possibility to extend.
Fiona Cramp, Director of the Centre for Health & Clinical Research and Professor in Long Term Conditions, commented:
“We are delighted that UWE Bristol has been selected to deliver the mentorship programme for the ICA awardees; mentoring is an incredibly valuable aspect of the individual’s journey and will optimise their development during and after the funding period. We look forward to bringing together a cadre of clinical academic mentors from throughout the UK to work with us in delivering this exciting programme.”
Lynda Williams, Associate Director Stakeholder Engagement Bristol Business School and Bristol Law School, commented
“The Business School is delighted to work with our colleagues from CHCR in delivering the mentorship programme for the ICA awardees. We feel that our individual areas of expertise will complement each other well to provide an excellent partnership and learning opportunity for ICA awardees.”
Health Education England (HEE) was established on 28 June 2012, working as a shadow Special Health Authority from 1 October 2012. It took on its full operational responsibilities from1 April 2013. It has five national functions:
providing national leadership on planning and developing the healthcare and public health workforce;
promoting high quality education and training that is responsive to the changing needs of patients and local communities, including responsibility for ensuring the effective delivery of important national functions such as medical trainee recruitment;
ensuring security of supply of the health and public health workforce;
appointing and supporting the development of LETBs; and
allocating and accounting for NHS education and training resources and the outcomes achieved.
The mission of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.
NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.
Over the next few months, we will be bringing you Research Spotlights on some of our research centres and groups to give you and understanding of the work undertaken within each area.
This first spotlight focuses on the Bristol Leadership & Change Centre:
Bristol Leadership and Change Centre (BLCC) is a research centre within the Bristol Business School, with 52 members including 32 faculty members, 8PhD students and 12 visiting fellows/professors. BLCC has built a thriving community of academics, practitioners and students all actively engaging with and exploring the complex nature of leadership and change in contemporary organisations and society.
The focus of their work ranges from promoting leadership and organisational change in the NHS, to supporting people with complex multiple needs in Bristol, developing entrepreneurial learning in Turkey and supporting malaria elimination in Southern Africa. Such examples demonstrate the potential for inclusive and collaborative leadership to build a shared sense of purpose and commitment that makes a real positive difference to the lives of many people. It is a welcome antidote to the myth of the hero leader and the divisive and destructive practices that feature all too often in news and social media headlines.
Within the Centre members focus on key research themes based around the question ‘How to mobilise and sustain responsible change in complex and uncertain contexts?’ Their research sits within four broad themes:
Leadership & Followership in a Changing World: including responsible and sustainable leadership; complexity, paradox and ambiguity; distributed, shared and systems leadership; and alternative ways of organising.
Cultures of Leading and Organising: including equality, diversity and inclusion; space, place and time in organisations; language and indigenous leadership; and power, influence and identity.
Leadership and Organisational Learning and Development: including ethics, wisdom and spirituality; action research, collaborative enquiry and evaluation; leadership & Management Learning; and coaching & Mentoring.
Behaviour Change and Social Influence: including social Movements; Systems Change; Social Practice Theory; and Creativity, innovation and enterprise.
The following projects showcase a snippet of the work they have been involved with over the last two years, but please visit the research pages to find out more.
Case Study 1: Our Work with the NHS Leadership Academy
Bristol Leadership & Change Centre is involved with a number of projects with the NHS Leadership Academy, below we have showcased two of the projects they are currently working on.
Project 1: Leadership Landscape in London – Learning from the pandemic to inform future leadership development – Richard Bolden, Professor of Leadership & Management
Leadership Landscape in London is led by Professor Richard Bolden and has been commissioned by the NHS London Leadership Academy to capture learning and insights from the Covid-19 pandemic to inform the design and provision of leadership development interventions for NHS staff (and affiliates) across the health and care system in London.
The NHS in England is facing a series of substantial challenges that raise questions about what kind/s of individual and collective leadership capacity is/are required and how this can be most effectively developed within the current context.
The overarching research question for this study is:
‘What has the pandemic revealed about the nature and purpose(s) of leadership in health and care and how effective leadership capacity can be nurtured for the future? ‘
Through a mixed method, qualitative study, we aim to capture a diverse range of perspectives on issues including:
How leaders, managers and staff across the health and care sector within London have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
How individuals, teams, organisations and the wider system have responded to the challenges and what learning and insights have emerged.
Where there are examples of innovation and adaptation that could be drawn on to inform future leadership and/or management practice and development in London and beyond.
What gaps/limitations have been revealed around current leadership/management capacity and support and what needs to be done to address this.
How to begin addressing the trauma and inequalities revealed by Covid-19 through the creation of spaces for open and honest discussion and opportunities for reflection on lived experience.
Findings will be presented in a report to the NHS London Leadership Academy and partners to review, revise and develop leadership and management development provision in the region.
Project 2: Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System OD Collaborative – Carol Jarvis, Professor of Knowledge Exchange & Innovation
Given the well documented and significant challenges facing the Health and Social Care system, organisations need to develop new and different ways of doing things to sustain their success, and this includes tapping into the potential of their staff to develop creative, innovative and technologically advanced ways of working and caring for patients and service users.
Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System (ICS) is leading the way on integration to close the gap in health and wellbeing outcomes against a backdrop of limited finances, increasing population numbers and increasing numbers of people living in ill health. To support this, partners are working as an Organisation Development (OD) Collaborative across the whole system to develop well supported, informed and involved leaders and services that have the ability to influence the wider system into working effectively with partners across health, social care and the voluntary sector to provide joined up patient/service user care.
In preparation for the introduction of ICS’s on a formal footing in 2022, a team from BLCC led by Professor Carol Jarvis has been commissioned by NHS Midlands Leadership Academy (Leadership and Lifelong Learning) to conduct a pre-diagnostic study. This research seeks to develop recommendations, grounded in a robust investigation of current and best practice, that will support the implementation of a sustainable, system-wide community of practice, with an emphasis on cultural development; service improvement/innovation methodologies; and leadership and in support of providing joined up patient/service user care.
Case Study 2: Shaping the Teaching & Researching Environment in Turkey – Selen Kars, Senior Lecturer Organisation Studies
In 2020, Arthur Turner, Carol Jarvis, Harriet Shortt, Hugo Gaggiotti and Selen Kars designed and delivered a one-week workshop on “Creativity in Research” to over 30 management researchers across Turkish universities. This workshop forms part of the Knowledge Exchange Partnership with Izmir University of Economics (Turkey) Faculty of Business, funded by British Council Newton Fund Research Environment Links and was led by Selen Kars. It aims to transfer UWE Bristol Business School’s three areas of distinctiveness to the lead project partner, Izmir University of Economics to improve the partner’s research environment. More information about the project can be found here. During the week-long programme of synchronous and asynchronous sessions amounting to 24 hours of interactive material, Turkish management researchers were introduced to a range of creative approaches to management research from finger puppets to collage, from photography to storytelling. They discussed examples from their own practice and co-reflected with participants how these approaches can be adopted to participants’ own area of research. The workshop was received with enthusiasm and resulted in four research ideas that participants are keen to forward in collaboration with the workshop team, and has also been nominated for higher Education Council Turkey’s Outstanding Performance Award.
Case Study 3: Improved Healthcare service delivery for infectious diseases in Africa – Peter Case, Professor of Organisation Studies
Professor Peter Case secured a prestigious Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant (in collaboration with the Malaria Elimination Initiative research centre based at the University of California, San Francisco) to assist the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) in Zimbabwe to improve HIV prevention. The project, entitled ‘Optimizing Stakeholder Operating Models for HIV Prevention in Zimbabwe’, is running from June 2020 to December 2022 with an overall aim of integrating prevention services and moving them forward in a more sustainable way. Using a variety of methods, such as, key informant interviewing, participatory action research and action learning, the study will focus, in particular, on the transformation and integration of Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision (VMMC) services. The research objectives are to:
Identify and quantify the barriers and enablers for uptake of key VMMC and prevention program responsibilities.
Identify the current state of motivation, organizational and individual ability to change stakeholder operating models, and organizational intervention gaps to achieve sustainability.
Identify the drivers (e.g. incentive structures, information, and other triggers) to achieve a sustainable HIV prevention and VMMC program.
Segment community and system stakeholders by their behaviour towards the uptake of VMMC program responsibilities in order to better target interventions.
Engaging the Community and Society
Alongside research projects, BLCC engages with the wider community through a number of projects including;
Unleadership
“In integrating unleadership into organisational life after the pandemic, we anticipate a flourishing of creativity and the humanising of our workplaces to accommodate the human spirit.”
Covid-19 has brought unprecedented disruption to our lives and workplaces. The leaderly acts that have emerged have often been from unexpected places and have achieved outcomes that inspired us. Professor Carol Jarvis and Selen Kars have characterised these acts and associated practices, descrbing them as ‘unleadership’ (Jarvis et al, 2020; Kars-Unluoglu et al, under review).
Unleadership Logo
Carol and Selen are curious about how these leaderly practices can allow communities and organisations to tap into their latent leadership potential. Through seeking out the less obvious and illuminating the spaces in-between they want to create a new movement for unleadership. They will collaborate, reflect upon and be inspired by the leaderly actions of others co-creating innovations that keep developing the concept and practices of unleadership.
Through a series of participative, co-creation workshops and interviews of unleaders they plan to create a resource for others to draw on as we all strive to build back and organise ourselves differently in the future.
To join the Unleadership movement follow us on Twitter @Unleadership.
Find out more about the work undertaken by the members in Bristol Leadership and Change Centre below:
A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with VQ Communications has been graded Outstanding by Innovate UK.
The two year project aimed to embed knowledge of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine how ML/AI can be applied to VQ Communications complex systems to reduce support costs, boost engineering productivity and enable deployment of larger networks at lower cost and higher levels of service.
Mike Horsley, VQ Communications CEO commented: “It is very pleasing to see the investment made and the hard work, expertise and tenacity that the UWE/VQ team placed into this KTP being recognized in this manner.
VQ continues to invest in the AI/ML technology developed during the KTP and we are getting extremely encouraging results. The team has expanded to include an additional software engineer and we continue to work with the UWE team via a professional services agreement.
Advanced technology is difficult; it requires expertise and managed risk-taking. The KTP program enabled VQ to master a new technology and we are very excited about how the resulting new products and services will help our customers solve the problems they face and, by doing so, will enable VQ to further extend its market leadership and demonstrate continuing growth”.
Lead academic Professor Jim Smith, Professor in Interactive Artificial Intelligence, commented: “The partnership has been a fantastic opportunity to develop AI-based solutions together with a company, and the area: (improving video communication tools) couldn’t have been more topical during the pandemic.”
Based in Chippenham, VQ Communications produces software that allows customers to deploy and manage large video conferencing (also known as “Unified Communications”) services. VQ has established a leading market position over the last 15 years and VQ’s current product generation works with Cisco’s Meeting Server products and is being used by customers world-wide to deliver enterprise wide conferencing. VQ is a Cisco Solution Partner with Cisco recommending and selling VQ’s product.
UWE Bristol and VQ communications plan to continue their relationship together and have recently signed contracts to develop their work on the technology further.
The KTP scheme is a UK-wide programme helping businesses to improve competitiveness and productivity. With the help of graduate talent and access to UWE Bristol academic expertise, a KTP can help your business to transform and solve problems to achieve goals.
To find out more about KTPs please visit our website.
UWE Bristol have been selected to deliver the Small Business Leadership Programme with the first cohort starting in January. Spaces are available but limited, sobook now to avoid disappointment.
The Small Business Leadership Programme supports senior leaders to enhance their business’s resilience and recovery from the impact of COVID-19. It helps small and medium-sized businesses to develop their potential for future growth and productivity.
The fully-funded 10 week programme will be delivered online by small business and enterprise experts from world-leading business schools.
Participants will develop strategic leadership skills and the confidence to make informed decisions to boost business performance.
To join the Small Business Leadership Programme, individuals must meet the following criteria:
Your business must be a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) based in England
Your business needs to employ between 5 and 249 people and have been operational for at least one year
The participant should be a decision maker or member of the senior management team within the business with at least one person reporting directly to them
The participant must be able to commit to attending the full programme
A maximum of 2 individuals form any one organisation may attend
Our four cohorts will start on the following dates, with the full dates available on the registration page:
Cohort 1 – start date Monday 11 January 2021, 13.00 – 14.30 Cohort 2 – start date Tuesday 12 January 2021, 15.00 – 16.30 Cohort 3 – start date Monday 18 January 2021, 17.30 – 19.00 Cohort 4 – start date Tuesday 19 January 2021, 09.30 – 11.00
Small Business Minister Paul Scully said: “The strength of small businesses up and down the country will be vital as we begin to bounce back from coronavirus and re-build our economy. The Small Business Leadership Programme will help to equip small business leaders with the leadership and problem-solving skills they need to grow their firms in the wake of this pandemic.”
