July 2017

Directors' Update

Welcome to the July issue of the N8 Research Partnership Newsletter.

Our flagship research projects continue to deliver with a series of awards and key events held over recent weeks.

June saw the launch of a major £3.3 million research project into global food system resilience. IKnowFood is funded by the Global Food Security Programme and supported by the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI) and N8 AgriFood. The four year programme is a major collaborative project led by the University of York, in partnership with colleagues at the University of Manchester and the University of Liverpool.

This month the 2017 annual N8 Agrifood conference – Food Production for the Future - attracted 200 UK and international delegates. Addressing the challenges of maintaining global food supply from resilient and sustainable agricultural systems, the conference was organised jointly by Durham University and the University of Leeds.

The N8 Policing Research Partnership (N8 PRP) also held their annual Knowledge Exchange Conference in Darlington. The event brought together representatives from academia, policing and other agencies across the North of England, with their US counterparts, to discuss experiences of policing domestic violence and share knowledge of successful intervention programmes.

Recipients of the N8 PRP small grants programme were invited to showcase their research at an event in Newcastle, featuring a keynote from Dame Vera Baird DBE QC. This follows the recent announcement of the latest recipients of the N8 PRP seed-corn funding – five new research projects have been awarded seed-corn funding to support studies into urgent areas of police work over the next 12 months.

We celebrate the news that eight start-ups have been selected to receive expert help in becoming ready for investment from a new North of England Life Science Accelerator (NELSA) worth £500,000 - including three from N8 universities (Durham, Leeds and Newcastle).  The programme provides direct access to mentors, coaching and workshops and will help the start-ups on the next stage of their commercial journey.

This is just a snapshot of our portfolio of collaborations. As the academic year draws to a close and parliament breaks for summer recess, we continue to plan for the months ahead – if you have ideas or want to work with us to build the Northern economy please get in touch.

Nick Goldspink & Laura Partridge
Acting Co-directors, N8 Research Partnership