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The N8 universities are delivering research that will prove
essential for ensuring our rapidly changing towns and cities
adapt to provide an effective Northern economy and a better
society. By studying housing, transportation, causes of
inequality, health, sustainability, and other areas, N8 seeks
to help transform Northern communities into interconnected,
vibrant hubs.
The N8 Policing Research Partnership illustrates the huge
potential of this approach. By working with all the police
forces and police and crime commissioners in the North, we
can identify existing and emerging needs in policing policy.
Through this unique programme of research co-production and
knowledge sharing we can create solutions informing future
policing policy and addressing key issues of public safety.
Other major projects are helping to improve the evidence and
policy basis for effective interactions with city partners, offering
insights into city planning, urban living, cultural improvement,
and ways to engage more effectively with diverse Northern
communities. For example, a recent report from N8 highlights
learning and expertise in effective Co-Production of practical
research with our local communities.
We want to transform the
relationship between police and
academics so that we co-produce
the knowledge that will inform and
improve the policing strategies of
the future.
Professor Adam Crawford, University of Leeds and Director of
the N8 Policing Research Partnership
The North’s economy is held back by a key gap in the
productivity ‘toolkit’ - innovation. N8 has pioneered the Industry
Innovation Forum model to help address this gap. By bringing
real-world needs from industry together with academic solutions,
and fostering new research relationships, the Forum supports
innovation through collaboration. This Innovation Forum model
is used widely across N8 projects.
N8 also supports academic-business collaboration through its
extensive database of high value research equipment that can
be accessed by businesses for collaboration, and by delivering
a shared infrastructure in a key research tool, High Performance
Computing.
N8’s High Performance Computing facility, called N8 HPC,
has led to over 90 collaborations between universities and
businesses to date, using a range of complex problem-solving
and analysis techniques.
N8 HPC is much more than a facility – it is also a centre of
excellence for building communities of practice around research
challenges and methodologies, providing support and shared
training to new and existing users. The scientific impact of N8
HPC has been significant; featured in 84 grant applications
totalling £59.8m and its use acknowledged in 377 published
research papers to date.
Urban & Community Transformation
Enabling greater innovation in the North