defining our vision for the new knowledge economystrategy+booklet+2016+.pdf · defining our vision...

Defining our vision for the new

knowledge economy

O U R S T R A T E G Y 2 0 1 5 — 2 0 2 5

“Strategic plans are what make ambitions happen. As Chancellor, I am proud to be supporting

Bradford in making these ambitions real.

K A T E S W A N N , C H A N C E L L O R

”

Universities should play a strong role in society by using knowledge and understanding to deliver value directly to improve people’s lives.

The Corporate Strategy of the University of Bradford builds on its heritage and strengths to achieve our vision over the next ten years. Bradford has already taken significant steps over the last two years to build strong leadership, governance and financial foundations. With these strong foundations, our corporate strategy sets out the next steps for how we will deliver our Vision and Mission.

This strategy is the journey we will take over the next ten years in order to achieve our vision to make knowledge work; become a world-leading technology university; deliver cutting-edge research and knowledge transfer; put students at the heart of learning; be internationally leading and diverse; and improve our world-leading eco-campus.

As the University reaches its 50-year milestone we should and are taking the time to reflect on our great achievements over the years, but more importantly we are putting a great deal of thought and planning into the next 50 years to ensure they are even better. This strategy is the foundation of our next 50 years.

We thank you for your continued support in helping to shape the future of our University, and look forward to working with you.

This strategy is the foundation of

Bradford’s next 50

years

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD

FOREWORD

Professor Brian Cantor, Vice-Chancellor

Baroness Ann Taylor,Chair of Council

The world economy

The nature of the world economy has changed dramatically in the 21st century. Free movement of goods, money and information has created a global market in information, technological know-how and services. Economic success now depends on the generation and exploitation of knowledge, and most countries are competing aggressively to build up a knowledge economy.

The role of universities

Universities have also changed dramatically. They used to be ivory towers for abstract teaching, reflective scholarship and fundamental research. Now they play the key role in the knowledge economy, as the creators of wealth and the motors for economic and social change. The most important universities are technology-based with strong links to industry, business and the professions.

The world student population is about 100m, worth $1.5t and growing at 6% p.a. The world market for research is another $1.5t, with a similar growth rate. There are about 40,000 universities worldwide, and the number is growing rapidly. Emerging middle classes in developing countries are thirsty for the advantages of a university education. And all countries want the economic drive of a successful university sector. Thus, for instance, China has doubled the size of its top 20 universities in the last five years, the US and Germany have dramatically increased spending on R&D by $21b and 18b euros respectively, and there are over 1,000 universities each in Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia. Technology universities are in the vanguard of this development.

Global challenges

The world in the 21st century is facing major challenges, unlike any it has seen before. Problems such as ill-health, poverty, climate change, energy and water supply, food security and terrorism are global, systemic and complex, requiring for their solution a deep understanding of science, engineering and social, political and cultural behaviour. Universities, and in particular technology universities, are essential to do the research which will provide this understanding, and to teach the next generations of world leaders who will grapple with these problems and find the solutions.

02/03


EXTERNAL CONTEXT

Britain’s position

Britain is a post-industrial trading nation, which must develop a strong knowledge economy if it is to compete internationally. Since the 1960s, the UK has lost many millions of jobs in manufacturing, but created many more millions in financial, technical and information services. Britain is, however, hampered by intrinsic problems, such as the legacy of its industrial past, a class-based disdain for engineering, professionalism, money-making and the world of work, and a deep divide between a wealthy South-East and relative poverty elsewhere. The UK cannot succeed with a single-piston economy based on the South-East alone.

The UK government is beginning to understand some of these issues, as shown by the ten-year science and innovation framework and the new industrial policy. In the North, we must seize our own destiny and build a knowledge economy, based on our outstanding universities and the talent and hard work of our people.

Britain’s universities

The global financial collapse of 2008, the world economic downturn and the UK’s austerity programme are all driving increased competition for student recruitment and research funding. British universities must concentrate on their key strengths if they are to compete effectively and do well. There are great opportunities in UK sectors such as manufacturing and health, and in overseas student and business markets.

The world student population is worth

$1.5 trillion

Our visionThe University of Bradford is a technology university with great strengths. Our ambition is to build on our heritage and these areas of strength, and to be a world leader in:

(a) The creation of knowledge through fundamental and applied research

(b) The dissemination of knowledge by teaching students from all backgrounds

(c) The application of knowledge for the prosperity and wellbeing of people

Making knowledge work

This vision is summarised well in the phrase making knowledge work. On the one hand, cutting-edge research underpins knowledge transfer into productive capacity, leading to the creation of new jobs. On the other hand, high-quality university teaching produces educated self-learners, whose career prospects are substantially enhanced.

A world-leading technology university

The University of Bradford has always been a technology university. It began as the Bradford Institute of Technology. A broad definition of technology is that it is the application of knowledge to create goods and value for people and society. We believe in doing research and teaching in vocational and professional subjects, to deliver economic development and job creation, and career opportunities for our students.

Our strengths correspond well with this vision, in the physical sciences and engineering, life sciences and health services, management and business, and international relations, politics and societal impact. We want Bradford to be known as a world-leading technology university.

Many of the best universities in the world are technology universities: the IITs in India; the Technische Universitäten in Germany; the Grandes Écoles in France; KAIST, Postech, HKUST and NTU in the Far East; and MIT, Caltech and Georgia Tech in the USA. The UK has strong technology universities in the South and Midlands, such as Imperial, Bath, Surrey and Loughborough. But Bradford is the only focused technology university in the North of England.


OUR VISION & VALUES

04/05

Our values Our vision needs to be realised in the complex external context described opposite, and in line with our underlying fundamental values. Our values describe our expectations of the ways in which we will operate and how staff, students and visitors behave towards each other.

We will create opportunities for everyone to reflect on how they demonstrate these values and we will challenge behaviours that do not align with our agreed values, which are as follows:

(a) We encourage participation and openness

(b) We encourage creativity and innovation

(c) We support academic freedom, and respect the right to express diverse points of view

(d) We provide equal opportunities for all staff and students to achieve their full potential

(e) We apply the best ethical standards in everything we do

Our vision is summarised well

in the phrase

‘Making knowledge

work’

Our three academic themesWe have developed three overarching academic themes:

1. Advanced healthcare

2. Innovative engineering

3. Sustainable societies

These themes are used to frame our decisions about developments in teaching, research and knowledge transfer, and to guide our partnerships. All three academic themes span the University’s five Faculties: Engineering and Informatics; Health Studies; Life Sciences; Management and Law; and Social Sciences.

1. Advanced healthcare

With a strong track record in health research and being a major provider of healthcare practitioners to UK and global healthcare industries, our academic endeavours surrounding advanced healthcare seek to develop new models of healthcare delivery, health promotion and technology-enabled treatment modalities. This focus will reduce the burden of avoidable illness, reduce health inequalities and enhance the effectiveness of health and care interventions.

Key research areas are:

Cancer Therapeutics

Dementia

Vision Science

Pharmacy

Pharmaceutical Innovation

Digital Health

Medical Sciences


OUR THREE ACADEMIC THEMES

06/07

We are developing two innovation facilities within DHEZ:

• The Health and Wellbeing Centre, to be built on the University’s city campus and opening in early 2017, will integrate research, learning and service innovation around the prevention and management of long-term conditions. The Centre will host: new research programmes in health promotion, digital diagnostics, evaluation and trials and health informatics; new learning provision in the Eye Clinic and postgraduate programmes leading to Postgraduate Diploma (Physicians’ Associates) and Master of Public Health; and innovation space for companies working in care delivery.

• The Digital Exchange, in the Little Germany area of Bradford, is opening in early 2016; it will host small and start-up digital technology companies, providing a supportive environment for their development and growth. Key will be the opportunities to harness the University’s research, learning and technology transfer capacity through, for example, collaborative development projects, student placements and IP licensing activities. The University’s capabilities in the theme of Innovative Engineering will feature prominently, in fields such as data analytics, software engineering, wireless communications and cyber-security.

Several initiatives are under way, aimed at commencing significant activities in these new facilities when they open. The Digital Catapult Centre Yorkshire, led by the University of Bradford alongside the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, four Yorkshire universities, several digital SMEs and two Local Enterprise Partnerships, is one of three regional nodes working with the national Digital Catapult to advance the UK’s best digital ideas. DigiCatYorks is developing collaborative projects in the theme of health-related personal data, privacy, security and trust.

IMPACT CASE STUDY: DIGITAL HEALTH ENTERPRISE ZONE (DHEZ)

Global challenges including an ageing society, dementia, diabetes and cancer and how to deliver personalised healthcare are increasing demand on services, at a time with fewer resources to deliver them.

Digital technologies offer enormous promise in meeting these challenges. By enabling self-care, remote monitoring of patients, personalised care, remote access to expert clinical advice, and the ability to share clinical networks across geographies, innovations are enhancing the quality of life for millions of people in safe, ethical and cost-effective ways.

A £13m partnership led by the University, with BT and the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, DHEZ is one of four University Enterprise Zones, part-funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, reflecting the University’s ambition to be a great technology university, leading in research, learning and impact in the field of advanced healthcare.

DHEZ functions as an innovation system bringing together citizens, health and care providers and commercial organisations with relevant academic capability. It enables companies developing new healthcare products and services to connect with Bradford’s outstanding capabilities in healthcare systems research, practice-based medicine and information and communications technology. It opens up new trading markets for digital health companies through the University’s extensive international links. In the last 12 months we have worked with the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network to deliver two open innovation workshops in China.

Changing people’s

livesthrough innovations

in digital health and care

2. Innovative engineering

Our academic enterprise in innovative engineering centres on research that advances the fundamental understanding of engineering and applied science to create technological solutions to real-world problems and needs.

Through engaging in multidisciplinary learning and research, our undergraduate and postgraduate students develop the creative capabilities that enable them to develop outstanding skills and expertise in engineering design, innovation, management and problem solving.

Importantly, our expertise is leveraged through partnership working with industry and commerce to co-develop and apply our technology, engineering and management know-how.

Our research areas are:

Advanced Materials Engineering

Artificial Intelligence

Applied Mathematics

Communication Systems Engineering

Cyber Security

Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

Medical Engineering

Vision Sciences

Wired and Wireless Networks

Strongly supported by Research and Knowledge Transfer Centres concerning Advanced Materials, Automotive Engineering, Computer Imaging and Sustainability. Centres are well connected internationally, as exemplified by the Science Bridges China platform in Advanced Healthcare.



08/09

Radically improving root canal treatment

for thousands of dental patients

As well as overcoming the technical challenges of the material itself, the team has developed an automated production process using University micro moulding equipment and specialised techniques, which allows DRFP to meet the growing demand for its innovative ‘SmartSeal’ root canal device.

Clinical trials have shown that the device has reduced the five-year failure rate of root canal treatments from 11-30% to approximately 1%, and patients have reported excellent healing and much lower levels of post-operative pain.

The technology has won several awards for innovation and the product – now with a history of use over five years – has proven benefits, as demonstrated in leading dentistry journals, and is in increasing demand in a highly risk-averse marketplace. DRFP has expanded its product range and is scaling up its production after securing FDA approval for SmartSeal’s use in the USA. DRFP continues to work with the University of Bradford in developing new solutions to manage the scale-up as the company grows and to refine its products further, and the University is exploring further applications of these technologies to develop bespoke micro-injection moulded products for a range of other companies.

This work demonstrates the University’s ability to deliver research projects that are near-market, and key to the success of this particular R & D project is the University’s underpinning research and specialist knowledge on polymers.

IMPACT CASE STUDY: SMARTSEAL – REVOLUTIONISING ROOT CANAL TREATMENT IN ORTHODONTISTRY

Researchers at the University of Bradford have applied their micro- and nanotechnology expertise to develop a new manufacturing process and a new material that have radically improved root canal treatment for thousands of dental patients in the UK and Europe.

Working with UK dental products company, DRFP Ltd, the University’s team of researchers based in the Centre for Polymer Micro and Nano Technology at the University developed DRFP’s idea for a better and easier way to fill a root canal’s cavity, especially randomly-shaped ones. A bespoke material and a hydrophilic coating were created for the application to ensure a complete 3D seal, which is much simpler to use than conventional techniques, gives quick, long-lasting results and a better outcome for patients. In addition, the team has developed the polymer material so that it consistently combines the necessary ceramic powder ingredients to make it visible in X-rays and exhibits properties compatible with mass-manufacturing techniques. These are qualities that DRFP had been unable to source anywhere else.

3. Sustainable societies

Many countries across the world face significant challenges in developing sustainable societies. Many countries are riven by war and conflict; energy, food, water and other resources are being rapidly depleted; weak governance and economic models have led to corruption and stark inequalities.

The academic theme of Sustainable Societies will support growth in economic, political and relational wellbeing for current and future generations through innovative research and teaching, and through knowledge transfer programmes.

Our research that supports Sustainable Societies is located in the following Centres:

The Centre for the Study of Political Islam

The Centre for African Studies

The Centre for Research in Organisations and Work

The Bradford Centre for Sustainable Environments

The Bradford Centre for Business in Society



10/ 1 1

CASE STUDY: ESTABLISHING RECOGNITION OF DIVERSITY AND EQUALITIES IN PRISONS

Research carried out at the University of Bradford has directly and indirectly influenced how prisons in England and Wales respond to issues of diversity and equalities; consequently impacting the lived experience of those working and residing in prisons. The research has contributed to the development of a national equalities policy framework; the development of new national and local policies and guidance for the care and management of transgender offenders; revisions to and widening of the mechanisms for prisoner reporting and investigation of discrimination and inequality; and the development of human capital through a more equalities-literate workforce and prisoner population.

The impacts arise from a six-year programme of collaborative research led by the University’s Dr Victoria Lavis, together with colleagues – Professor Charles Elliott, Dr Emily Turner and Dr Matt Merefield, and Professor Malcolm Cowburn from Sheffield Hallam University.

Dr Lavis’ work received recognition in the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) prestigious Celebrating Impact Prize 2015, awarded second place for ‘Outstanding Impact on Public Policy’ for the direct influence of her continuing work on the policy and practice of prisons in England and Wales, responding to issues of diversity, including guidance on the respectful and decent treatment of transgender prisoners.

Specifically, the research has shaped the first Single Equalities national policy framework in several areas, including:

• Revised mechanisms for prisoner reporting and investigation of discrimination and inequality

• Local and national policy guiding the care of transgender prisoners

• Development of reference guides to help staff respect diversity when searching prisoners and visitors

• Improved training for prisoners who act as Equalities Representatives

• The development of equalities literature for prisoners and staff, mediation to address inequality and wider use of the research methodology

• Appreciative Inquiry to engage prisoners and staff in designing effective responses

The University believes that the impacts are an excellent example of what can happen when appreciative inquiry methods are used in partnership working. NOMS Women and Equalities Group and the individual prisons that the University has partnered with have worked hard to ensure that the national and local impacts have been shared across the public sector prison estate, such that many of these practices are now common features of prison staff’s everyday good practice in responding effectively to diversity and working to ensure equality.

Transforming prison policy

and impacting the lived experience of those working and residing in prisons

Our strategic objectivesThe University of Bradford’s strategy has four overarching objectives:

1. Excellence

2. Internationalisation

3. Equality and diversity

4. Sustainability

These objectives will help us achieve our vision, within the context of the external environment, at the same time as maintaining our fundamental values. They will act as guidelines for our future development, and will be used to prioritise activities over the next five to ten years.

1. Excellence

Academic and operational excellence should be a hallmark of all our activities. We will:

(a) Recruit and retain high-quality staff and students

(b) Ensure excellence in teaching and learning and in research and knowledge transfer

(c) Enhance the quality of the campus and its facilities, in particular the IT infrastructure, as befits a technology university, and which supports an excellent student experience

(d) Collaborate, wherever possible, with other excellent universities, institutes, laboratories, companies and funders

Overall we aim to do cutting-edge research and knowledge transfer, and to put students at the heart of learning.


OUR STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

12/ 13

We believe in a campus that is

international and diverse

2. Internationalisation

Universities participate in the global market as drivers of the knowledge economy. We need to be internationally involved and internationally visible. This sits alongside our long-standing commitment to the local and regional communities and economy, and we will use our international reach to support our local and regional partners. We will:

(a) Do research that impacts on policymakers, society and business leaders worldwide

(b) Deliver teaching that prepares students to become leaders in the global economy

(c) Create opportunities for international exchange with partners overseas

We aim to be a university where international teachers and researchers want to work, and overseas students want to study. We aim to be a world-leading technology university.



14/ 15

We aim to be a

world-leading

technology university

3. Equality and diversity

The University of Bradford is well known for its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity; and for its friendliness and interdisciplinarity. We believe that a vibrant intellectual atmosphere derives from a mix of people from different backgrounds. We will:

(a) Recruit and retain students and staff from all regions and countries, irrespective of background or characteristics, guided by the principle that those people have the ability to succeed at the University of Bradford

(b) Develop a varied programme mix, with an inclusive curriculum and a welcoming and supportive environment

(c) Encourage cross-disciplinary research and teaching, both within Bradford and externally with partners

(d) Build links with the city and region, as well as nationally and internationally

We believe in a campus that is international and diverse.

Measuring our successOur University Strategy will be delivered through a number of supporting strategies, which include detailed objectives, deliverables, milestones and key performance indicators.

Those strategies are:

Academic

Learning & Teaching

Research & Knowledge Transfer

Student Experience

International & Partnerships

People

Information Technology

Financial

Estate

4. Sustainability

We aim to balance academic, social, financial and environmental concerns. We want people and society to benefit from our activities, while ensuring financial viability by maintaining surpluses and cash flow, and minimising environmental impacts. There is no merit in running an outstanding university which becomes financially insolvent or destroys the environment. We are proud of having a world-leading eco-campus. We will:

(a) Promote integrated planning of our financial and human resources, to support excellence in teaching and learning and research

(b) Minimise and recycle waste, increase biodiversity, promote energy-efficient transport, and reduce carbon output wherever possible

(c) Develop a positive and healthy campus which supports student and staff wellbeing and success

(d) Undertake and act on regular assessments of our environmental impact



16/ 17

Our outstanding teaching and

research are making

knowledge work

We will be known as a world-leading

technology university

We will deliver cutting-edge research and

knowledge transfer

We will put students at the

heart of learning

We will create intellectual vibrancy by being

international and diverse

We are proud to have a

world-leading eco-campus

Our key messages are:

To find out more visit bradford.ac.uk/strategy

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