CiviCast

To mark the publication of NCIA's "Civic Capitals at Risk: The Fragile Foundations of the Civic University" report, we're joined by its co-author Dr Julian Dobson, NCIA Special Advisor Prof John Goddard OBE, and London Higher's Civic Network Chair and London Met University's Director of London Engagement Sophie Cloutterbuck for a deep discussion of its findings, recommendations and learnings for the HE sector.

Read "Civic Capitals at Risk: The Fragile Foundations of the Civic University"  by  Dr Julian Dobson and Dr Femi Owalade, Centre for Regional Economic & Social Research (CRESR), Sheffield Hallam University.

Read Dr Julian Dobson's HEPI blog on the report here.

Read "Beyond Boroughs: Unviersities Collaborating for a Thriving Capital" blog by Sophie Cloutterbuck & Darren De Souza here. 

London Higher Civic Network

Wonkhe.com article "Embed! How to save the civic agenda"

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

We welcome Cardiff University Business School's Professor Deborah Hann and Dr Marcus Gomes for an in-depth discussion of their Society & Economy module. The module is mandatory for all first year students on their Business & Management Programme and focusses on community engagement and impactful local campaigning. We discuss the challenges and opportunities in making local engagement a mandatory part of the student curriculum, how this can make a positive impact in their region, and what learning the UK civic university movement can take from Deborah and Marcus' experience of developing and delivering the module.

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

Experience slow radio to connect with nature and improve wellbeing. 

This special episode is a collaboration between Wild Medicine and CiviCast as part of the River Dôn Project. The project aims to reconsider our relationship with the environment through art projects, citizen science, technological tools and public engagement.

Credits

Contributors in order of appearance:

• Danaé Wellington (Writer, artist and poet laureate)
• David Cotterrell (Artist, Professor of Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University)
• Amy Carter Gordon (faethm Curator & Innovation Manager at Sheffield Hallam University)
• Harriet Tarlo (Poet, Professor of Ecopoetry and Poetics at Sheffield Hallam University)
• Ella Barrett (Community Creator, Bantu archive programme)
• Adam Leach (Programme Director, National Civic Impact Accelerator)
• Joanna Rucklidge (Artist, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication at Sheffield Hallam University)
• Erika Phoenix (Catchment Partnership Officer at Don Catchment Rivers Trust)
• Joanne Lee (Artist, Writer, Researcher, Course Leader in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University)
• Dr. Rose Butler (Artist, Senior Lecturer Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University)
• Alban Krashi (Co-founder of The River Don Project/ Opus Independents)
• Jonny Douglas (Co-founder of The River Don Project/ Opus Independents)
• Dr David Bramwell (Podcaster, Broadcaster, Author, Musician)

Music in chronological order:

• Ocean Moon - Angel Falls (Music From Memory)
• Om Unit - Lonely Cities
• Ruf Dug - Blue Sky Thinking (Episode 7-8) (Ruf Kutz)
• Ocean Moon - Ways To The Deep Meadow (Music From Memory)
• Son of Chi - We Carry Eden Part 1 (Music From Memory)
• Shrinkwrap - Beautiful Dub Thing (Delia Recordings)
• Ruf Dug - Elephant Skank (Caroline True Records)
• Richard Norris - Music For Healing - Oceans 2
• Echoplex — Wintering (February 2025 Full Snow Moon)
• 9 Voices - Ocean Swell (JIM Remix)
• 9 Voices - Ocean Swell (Chris Coco Remix)
• Lobster Shower - Danu
• Curtain Twitcher - Analogue Epilogue (Ambient Mix)
• Son of Chi - We Carry Eden Part 2 (Music From Memory)
• Ocean Moon -  Alaksura (Music From Memory)
• Ocean Moon - Aqua (Music From Memory)
• Torn Sail - Mud People Rise (Delia Recordings)
• Huw Costin - Save The World By Dawn (Delia Recordings)
• Ocean Moon  - Golden (Music From Memory)
• Ocean Moon - An Ending Full of Light (Music From Memory)

With special thanks to:

Lauren McConnell (faethm Creative Producer), Joe McDonnell (artwork), Rob Gawthrop & Rose Butler (field recordings), Tako at Music From Memory, Ruf Dug at Ruf Kutz, Huw Costin at Delia Recordings, Grace Griffin, and Sophie Heaton at Sheffield Hallam University (episode artwork / photography).

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

NCIA's Jacob Coburn, Knowledge Exchange Manager at the Institute of Community Studies, explains how their series of Co-Commissioning Panels helped to shape the NCIA's Evidence Reviews on civic university impacts. 

The Evidence Reviews explore the economic and social impact of universities across the following key domains:

• Healthy Universities, People and Places
• Shaping Sustainable Universities
• Society, Culture and Locally-Connected Universities
• Universities and 'Economic Placemaking'

Read the Evidence Reviews here.

Find out more about the National Civic Impact Accelerator programme here.

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

Professor Katy Shaw, Director of the UKRI/AHRC Creative Communities programme and Professor of Writing and Publishing at Northumbria University, talks to NCIA's John Fell about a range of topics including:

• Creative Communities outputs, including their recently-launched podcast series on their Community Innovation Practitioners.
• Devolution as an opportunity to supercharge change and growth locally.
• Devolving R&D and innovation at a local level.
• How universities can help foster diversity in creative industries.
•  The Case for Culture Report's recommendations, and the impact of Covid on the creative industries and geographic decentralisation.
• Using university cultural spaces as a gateway to engage with the public. 
• And more!

Creative Communities homepage
Creative Communities Podcast
Creative Communities Policy Labs
The Case for Culture Report (2022)

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

In the last of our special series of conversations between Prof John Goddard OBE and leading voices in the HE sector:

John talks to Sjoerd Louwaars, founder of Onbound, to get an international perspective on the civic university movement, including:

- How the UK can learn from Europe and vice versa.
- Universities as 'mulitiversities'
- Approaching institutional transformation as an urban area development
- Perspectives on leadership development in Higher Education from France
- Territorial development building bridges around missions in Spain
- Students as key players in the civic engagement agenda in The Netherlands
- The value of intermediate organisations for interdisciplinary education and research
 - and more!

Introduction by NCIA's John Fell.

https://www.onbound.org
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en
https://plnt.nl/en
The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus alliance
The Una Europa European Alliance 

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

In the fifth of our series "in conversation with Prof John Goddard OBE", John talks to Dr Philippa Lloyd, Vice-Principal for Policy & Strategic Partnerships at Queen Mary University of London, about a range of topics including:

- Her experiences working in government roles and in the university sector.
- How universities interact with government departments.
- The relationships between Higher Education and Further Education, and implications for the skills agenda.
- The London City Institute of Technology and its formation.
- The civic role of universities in East London.
- The idea of a civic university manifesto, to help partners work together.
- Universities' accountability to their communities in a competitive environment.
- Priorites for the NCIA programme moving forward.
And more!

Introduction by NCIA Policy & Partnerships Manager John Fell.

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

Des McNulty, Chair of the Local Policy Strategy Innovation Hub at University of Birmingham and former member of Scottish parliament, talks to John Goddard about a range of subjects including:

• How civic universities work with policy partners. 
• How devolution could build stronger partnerships between universities and their regions.
• Learning from Scotland, and the interface between academics and government. 
• Reflections on international examples of civic-related work.
• The capacity of central government in creating a civically engaged higher education sector.
• What levers could be put in the system to better enable civic university activity?

This is the fourth in our series of six conversations between Prof John Goddard OBE and insightful voices from the HE sector, giving their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for the civic university movement. 

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

Dr Shaid Mahmood MBE, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Durham University, talks to Prof John Goddard OBE on a range of topics including:

- His role at Durham University.
- Civic university activity in the Northeast of England.
- The links between Further Education and Higher Education in civic work.
- The opportunities and challenges of devolution.
- The differences in working in a local government role vs a university role. 

Introduction by John Fell, NCIA Policy & Partnerships Manager.

This podcast was brought to you by the National Civic Impact Accelerator programme, funded by Research England and powered by the Civic University Network. 

To find out more, visit the NCIA website

Jane Robinson, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Engagement & Place at Newcastle University, discusses a range of subjects including:

• Her experiences moving from a local government role to a university leadership role.
• Her work leading Newcastle University’s engagement and place strategy
• Her role as Strategic Board Chair for Insights Northeast - a collaboration between Newcastle and Northumbria universities, the NHS and local authorities. 
• Universities’ ability to work at a local, regional, national and global level.
• Setting up a shared strategy with local partners.
• Policy drivers that incentivise universities to take civic engagement seriously.
• The impact and opportunities of devolution for civic university activity.

Interview by Prof. John Goddard OBE.

Introduced by NCIA's John Fell. 

https://insightsnortheast.co.uk/ 
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/who-we-are/engagement/

To find out more, visit the NCIA website