The KE Step Change Project:
Piloting KE Culture Change across the ECR/PGR
Community in Scotland
Alison McCleery – Director of Research
Convenor of Universities Scotland
Research Training Sub-Committee
Universities Scotland
KE Step Change 2009
Supporting Scottish Researchers to Engage in Knowledge Exchange
WWW.NAPIER.AC.UK/KESTEPCHANGE
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
KE and the 21st Century Research Degree
• Q. What do PhDs do? A. Prove the 1 in 8 rule
• What should PhDs be doing?
Transcending discipline boundaries
Transcending national boundaries
Speaking employers’ language
Engaging with the public
• Q. How? A. By adding value through generic
skills training which builds KE capacity
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Scottish HE Research Collaboration
• Research competitiveness through collaboration
• Prior example of doing research through pooling
• Can collaborative KE researcher training also work?
• Sector-wide R&KE training committee willing to try!
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Scottish KE Research Collaboration
• Wider context of Research Excellence with Impact
• KT and KE increasingly critical to Impact Agenda
• Impact good for economy & society as well as REF
• Cross-sector KE Step Change programme launched
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
The KE Step Change Challenge
What: to translate research into impact through a
cross-sector culture change across the cohort of
ECRs/PGRs
How: by changing the researcher mindset so that KE is
perceived as a core element of the normal research
portfolio
Why: to instil attributes of openness, flexibility and
adaptability and so make an impact beyond the
academy
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Academic Excellence into Impact
The researchers: ECRs/PGRs are the research leaders of
tomorrow to whom we owe a duty of care
The requirement: ECRs/PGRs must make a real world
impact and be capacity built in order to do so
The rationale: initial investment in personal gain
translates in turn into delivery of public good
The reach: sector-wide approach to delivery produces
essential cross-fertilisation of ideas as well as
desirable economies of scale
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Engaging Experiences
• Across discipline boundaries: opportunities for
semi-structured encounters between
ECRs/PGRs from a range of disciplines
• Across sector boundaries: opportunities for
formal or informal encounters by ECRs/PGRs
with entrepreneurs and innovators
• Across institutional boundaries: opportunities
for exploring key national institutions and
analysing their inter-linked functions
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
KE Step Change:
A Targeted Programme
• Strand 1: First Steps in KE for researchers new
to the concept and actuality of Knowledge
Transfer/Knowledge Exchange
• Strand 2: Leadership Innovation for those who
understand the concept and need help to
turn it into reality
• Strand 3: Scottish Crucible for hand-picked high
fliers who could benefit from intensive
exposure to KE ideas and activities
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Something for Everyone
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Something from Everyone:
Genuine Collaboration
Coordinated by Universities Scotland & funded by
Scottish Funding Council with buy-in from:
• All of Scotland’s Higher Education Institutions
• Scottish Funding Council & Government
• Royal Society of Edinburgh
• National Endowment for Science, Technology
and the Arts (NESTA)
• Key business stakeholder representatives
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Investment in Impact through …
•
•
•
•
•
Universities as social capital
Capacity building of emergent talent
Added value of inter-disciplinarity
Inspiring innovation & encouraging enterprise
Breaking down barriers & working together
For the benefit of economic prosperity, social
well-being and community cohesiveness
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
From Rhetoric to Reality
• Strategic Barriers?
– political, institutional, financial, definitional
• Operational Challenges
– too little, too late, but also too much, too soon
• Sensible Solutions
– evaluate and explain, then revise and repeat
• Difficult Dilemma
– the tricky business of Full Economic Costing
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Price, Cost and Value
• Price
– £100k from the Scottish Funding Council before
the downturn kicked in fully
• Cost
– blood, sweat and tears in the shape of staff
time not accounted for through TRAC
• Value
– more than 4 X the original investment including
in-kind contributions and new money
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
Looking Forward
• Strategic Barriers
– comprehensive continuation difficult in downturn
Operational Challenges
– hard to reach non-traditional PhD candidates
• Pragmatic Solutions
– evaluate, explain, convince, collaborate, innovate
• Difficulty of in-kind and fEC
– project’s greatest strength is its main weakness
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
The view from the ground
• ‘Worthwhile but time-consuming’
• ‘Worthwhile and thought provoking’
• ‘No magic answer ... just confidence and a
prepared approach’
• ‘If it makes sense, then we can do it – maybe!’
• ‘Life-changing’
And for some participants life did indeed change
almost immediately for the better
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011
The view from the top
In November 2010 The Universities Scotland
Research Training Sub-Committee won the
Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding
Support for Early Career Researchers
Sponsored by Research Councils UK in association
with Vitae
Recognising the highly successful collaborative
outcome of the KE Step Change Project
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland Bologna
Seminar Brussels March 2011
Thank you for your attention
First of all: are there any questions?
Next: let’s try some KE scenarios!
Universities Scotland
KE Step Change 2009
Supporting Scottish Researchers to Engage in Knowledge Exchange
WWW.NAPIER.AC.UK/KESTEPCHANGE
Alison McCleery QAA Scotland
Bologna Seminar Brussels March 2011